An English course focusing on the poetic foundations of hip-hop is among the 46 courses offered to students during wintersession 2009. The poetry class — English 2027 — will look at the style, lyrics and beats in hip-hop music and how major movements in African-American poetry influenced hip-hop. Wintersession will be the first time the course is offered to students. “Using hip-hop is a way to draw in some people who may be intimidated by poetry as it often seems hard or scary for people,” said Sue Weinstein, assistant professor of English and course instructor. “It’s a nice way to help people to see the value in rap when it’s sung really well and a way to bring people into poetry in a way that’s not as intimidating.” Weinstein said the course will look at lyrics by artists Mos Def, Nas, Lupe Fiasco and early artists like Grandmaster Flash, as well as other  student favorites. “I’m going to walk them through like, ‘Well, let’s look at this Nas lyric, and then let’s look at this poem from the 1920s and see what we notice with the overlaps,'” Weinstein said. Weinstein — whose research area is literacy studies and who works with teenagers who write poetry and raps — said she has always been interested in teaching a course about hip-hop because she finds the history and the connection to the different movements in history fascinating. “I didn’t really grow up listening to rap, but I started learning about it after I realized how much it influenced the teenagers I worked with,” Weinstein said. “[The teenagers] started introducing me to a lot of rap, and then I just kind of got hooked.” The course will be “something different” for students because professors don’t often incorporate hip-hop into their classes, Weinstein said. If professors do incorporate hip-hop into their classes, only students majoring in that professor’s area have the opportunity to work with the genre in their class.”The nice thing about doing [hip-hop] at the 2000-level is that it’s open to everybody,” Weinstein said. “African-American culture, in general, is such a big part of Louisiana and Baton Rouge, and it should be a big part of the University.”A variety of other courses for undergraduates and graduates will also be available for students during wintersession. Lynn Evans, program director for Extended Learning, said intersession classes are often classes in high demand during the regular semester or are special interest topics to professors that aren’t able to be taught in the regular semester. Evans said intercession classes allow students to take a smaller version of a large lecture class, help students trying to catch up for graduation earn three credit hours and also give students a chance to take a special interest topic as an elective. “Some students even take intercession classes to get ahead,” Evans said.Students may register for wintersession courses until classes start Dec. 14. Students are recommended to register early to ensure a spot in their respective course.—-Contact Brianna Paciorka at [email protected]