Michael Eric Dyson, the “Hip Hop Intellectual,” addressed UW-Madison students Wednesday at the Wisconsin Union Theater about how hip-hop culture is under assault in America.

Dyson, a professor at Georgetown University and author of several published books, spoke as part of the Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Distinguished Lecture Series, which hosts several lecturers throughout the semester.

Dyson was introduced by Craig Warner, the chair of the African American Studies department.

Warner said in Dyson’s works, he is able to give a simplistic notion of what “black” means.

Dyson said although hip-hop is “one of the most intriguing art forms,” people evaluate it narrow mindedly and only focus on modern hip-hop’s derogatory slang. He claimed America ignores hip-hop’s ability to provide opportunities for men to experience upward mobility.

UW-Madison freshman Cydny Black said she was impressed with “the way he analyzed things and his insight into our society and the various cultures of people.”

“People look at Bob Dylan’s lyrics and go, ‘Oh my god, this is genius.’ They look at Jay-Z’s lyrics and say, ‘You’re reading too much into this,’” Black said, emphasizing Dyson’s point that society discredits the value of hip-hop.

Dyson said hip-hop is targeted as the source of America’s societal problems and “making people do things they wouldn’t normally do,” but claimed these are not a result of hip-hop.

He also said hip-hop is targeted for being the center of all manners of evil in society, all rising rates of homicide in inner cities and the cause for rising rates of teen pregnancy. However, he asked the audience, “Do you really think misogyny started 30 years ago with hip-hop and Snoop Dogg?”

America has a history for blaming aesthetic expressions for societal problems, according to Dyson. He used jazz as an example of an art form once viewed negatively as a sensual representation of black culture.

“The same thing they’re saying about hip-hop now is what they were saying about jazz back then,” he said.

Regardless of the expressive, insightful content in hip-hop, according to Dyson, America downplays its significance because of the socioeconomic status associated with hip-hop artists.

“Black art has always been demonized because [society] missed the genius of their folk expression because of their underclass status,” Dyson said.