A.D. Carson is an award-winning performance artist and educator from Decatur, Illinois. His work focuses on race, literature, history, rhetorics & performance. He received a Ph.D. in Rhetorics, Communication, and Information Design at Clemson University. His album, i used to love to dream, released with University of Michigan Press is the first-ever rap album peer-reviewed for publication with an academic press. This work extends from his doctoral dissertation, Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions, which he submitted in rap album form as the primary feature of a digital archive at phd.aydeethegreat.com. His dissertation garnered international press and was also recognized by Clemson’s Graduate Student Government as the 2017 Outstanding Dissertation. Dr. Carson was also a 2016 recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award for Excellence in Service at Clemson for his work with students, staff, faculty and community members to raise awareness of historic, entrenched racism at the university through his “See the Stripes” campaign, which takes its name from the poem featured on his dissertation album. Dr. Carson’s work has been featured by Complex, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Forbes, The Guardian, Journal for Cultural and Religious Theory, NPR’s All Things Considered, OkayPlayer, Quiddity International Literary Journal and Public-Radio Program, Time, USA Today, and XXL among others. His projects are available to stream/download free from aydeethegreat.com. Dr. Carson is currently an assistant professor of Hip-Hop & the Global South at the University of Virginia.
Link to view latest project, "i use to love to dream."