Princeton students are using all that brain power on a musical question.

Inside Higher Ed reports.

Music Criticism, Race and Gender

This article contains explicit and potentially offensive terms that are essential to reporting on this situation.
Should music that plays to stereotypes be condemned? Should musicians who do so be hired to perform at universities? Should standards for condemning music be similar for work that offends for promoting racist stereotypes and music that demeans women or gay people?

These are some of the questions that have surfaced at Princeton University in the last week. A video of a performance of Urban Congo, a student group, prompted widespread condemnation for seeming to make fun of Africans, and the organization quickly disbanded, apologizing for the offense it caused. But at the same time, the university is preparing to welcome the rapper Big Sean to campus for a party that is a highlight of the spring semester. Many consider his lyrics to be sexist and vile (while plenty of fans have made him a star). So far, the university is not calling off his appearance. Many students are asking about what seems to be a contradiction in the responses to various kinds of offensive music.

The performance of Urban Congo shows a group of apparently white male students, clad in bathing suits, performing before other students (who from the sound appear to enjoy the show) by beating on trash cans and their stomachs in some sort of faux native tradition.