Yale's Bad Bunny course reveals the future of learning

Yale University just launched a course on Bad Bunny. Easy to roll your eyes, right? But hang on. There's something much smarter happening here…

Bad Bunny is a Puerto Rican rapper who's become a global phenomenon. He was Spotify's most-streamed artist worldwide for three consecutive years (2020-2022) and his album "Un Verano Sin Ti" is Spotify's most-streamed album EVER. This particular bunny rabbit is big as well as bad.

But the Yale course isn't about celebrity worship - it's using Bad Bunny as a lens to explore:

• Puerto Rican diaspora experiences
• How reggaeton connects to colonial legacies and policing
• The musical evolution from bomba and plena to modern sounds

It came about when Prof. Albert Laguna, an associate professor of American Studies and Ethnicity, Race & Migration at Yale was inspired while walking around New Orleans listening to Bad Bunny's latest album.

Pop culture at its best becomes the doorway, not the destination. The beats grab you, pull you in, and suddenly you're exploring colonial history and migration patterns. That's the sleight of hand that makes learning stick - when you're vibing to the rhythm but also absorbing something deeper.

The key challenge is that the learning design has to be even better than usual - sharp, relevant, substantive. When you nail it - that's when the magic happens. Art & Science in perfect sync. When the cultural figure becomes a lens for learning, not the learning itself.

A question on my mind for you:

Which cultural figure - living or dead - would make for the most fascinating university course? And why?