Adnan Rasool is a political science Ph.D. candidate who has worked as a government official and political columnist in his native Pakistan.
He studies the role of bureaucracies in democratization. He’s also a huge hip-hop fan who has been using mapping technology known as GIS to pinpoint locations mentioned in the lyrics of some of Atlanta’s seminal rap artists — Outkast, Ludacris and Donald Glover, who performs under the name Childish Gambino. This passion project is called Rap Maps.
“Mapping is at the forefront of the digital humanities,” he said. “We are using technology to understand the human condition.”
As a storytelling art form, Rasool said, hip-hop is rich with minute details — like which MARTA bus line connects Lithonia with Decatur (the 86). It’s also focused on authentically representing one’s neighborhood and often, a specific block.
“These guys aren’t from the affluent northern suburbs,” he said. “They are from places around the city that have been struggling for a long time.”
Rasool pulls up a map showing all the locations tagged in Rap Maps.
“It’s a path of economic depression that runs from College Park to Stone Mountain,” he said. “How is it possible that the same places have the same problems for all these years?”
Rasool said the technology tools he has learned to use open up unlimited possibilities for humanities students and scholars.
“We use mapping to look at how people self-sort, to see how the city lives,” Rasool said. “Once you play with maps, you see the city as a living thing. It grows up. It falls down. We can tell you everything about gentrification.”
After completing his studies this summer, Rasool said he plans to continue to build on everything he’s learned about mapping. But right now he’s still at work expanding Raps Maps, adding in another ATL hip-hop legend. Next up: 2 Chainz.
Story by Randy Trammell
Photo by Steven Thackston