Young Guru will be joining the faculty of the University of Southern California (USC) Thornton School of Music as an Artist-In-Residence for the 2013-14 school year, according to a press release. A Grammy Award-nominated engineer, DJ and producer best-known for his work with Jay Z, Young Guru will work with Thornton students in the Contemporary Music Division, including those in the Popular Music, Music Industry and Music Technology programs. He is slated to lecture students studying Hip Hop, Electronic Music, the music industry and songwriting.
“I would like our culture to understand its value and its reference point in history,” Young Guru says in the press release. “I want to preserve the culture and value of hip hop so that people understand how big it is across the world. I want it to be fully understood by people, to be studied and revered the same way you would study jazz artists or opera at a class in a university.”
In his USC post, Young Guru will also consult with Thornton faculty on the development of a new degree program in Music Production. His first lecture at USC Thornton will be available via Live Stream.
The USC position continues Young Guru’s link to education. He recently partnered with SAE Institute Cape Town, South Africa and Heal the Hood to offer one-year scholarships in sound production, according to a press release. Young Guru has also lectured at NYU’s Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music, Emory University, Loyola University New Orleans, Middle Tennessee State University and Drexel University, as well as at Google Headquarters, PopTech, Pandora Headquarters, TED, NAMM and AES.
In addition to engineering Jay Z’s material for more than 10 years, Young Guru helped shape Jay Z’s sound, leading to 12 #1 albums, more than Elvis Pressley and the Rolling Stones. Beyond his work with Jay Z, Young Guru has also engineered and shaped releases for Rick Ross and his Maybach Music Group, Beyonce, Stalley, Drake, Snoop Dogg, De La Soul and a host of others.
Other Thornton School of Music Artist-In-Residence have included guitarist Steve Miller, R&B artist Patrice Rushen, and Motown songwriter Lamont Dozier.
