This is an excerpt of an article from Vibe magazine

http://www.vibe.com/news/online_exclusives/2006/09/hip_hop_education_101/

Such creative strategies are redefining the way we think about curriculum. The “classics” as we know them generally refer to books authored by and primarily about dead, white men. NYU Professor, David Kirkland, 30, says, “I have argued that you can learn just as much about language and literature from reading Tupac as you can from Shakespeare. The themes and conflicts present in Shakespeare are all present in hip hop.”

Tupac confirmed this, in a 1995 interview, “I love Shakespeare. He wrote some of the rawest stories, man. I mean look at Romeo and Juliet. That's some serious ghetto ****. You got this guy Romeo from the Bloods who falls for Juliet, a female from the Crips, and everybody in both gangs are against them. So they have to sneak out and they end up dead for nothing. Real tragic stuff.”