On The Move
Dropping science: A&M sociology professor doubles as campus rapper
Texas A&M sociology professor Reuben May raps on campus as his creative persona Reginald S. Stuckey.
The first time Texas A&M student Tyra Preston saw Dr. Reuben May, he was atop one of the benches outside of the Academic Building, prowling from end to end, spraying rap verses as students passed.
Preston wondered, “Who is this crazy guy?”
The first day of class the following semester, she walked into her sociology of African American studies class, and learned that the “crazy guy” was her professor.
“I was shocked, but I think I was more intrigued, because I just wanted to know what that was about and why he does that,” Preston said. “Most people take his class because of word of mouth, and I had no idea who he was until I walked into class.”
May calls his rapping alter-ego Reginald S. Stuckey, and the persona includes sunglasses, two gold chains — one with an “R” and one with an “S” — along with a gold watch on each wrist.
Small crowds sometimes form as students shuttle from class to class. Passersby will pull out their phones to take pictures or video. Some offer high-fives. And, as May says, some offer awkward looks. He’s heard, “He’s a homeless guy,” followed by, “No, that’s my professor.”
“It’s always fascinating for me to see that people can’t see that you can have this duality,” May says. “… You can be a serious scholar, teach at high-level places, write, wonderful scholarship, but then also be a down-to-earth person who gets inspiration from — and provides inspiration to — other people through this particular art form.”
May likes to say, “I didn’t find sociology, it found me.” He grew up in Chicago and earned a degree in criminal justice from Aurora University in Illinois. He briefly attended law school, then says he stumbled upon sociology, which piqued his interest. May received his master’s from DePaul University and his Ph.D from the University of Chicago, both in sociology. He came to A&M in 2005 after teaching for 10 years at the University of Georgia.
The interest in rapping began in the mid-1980s, and May mentions Eric B. and Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul and Ice Cube among his favorites of the time. He used to play around with songs as a DJ, laying his vocals over the beats of popular songs — so Run-DMC’s My Adidasmorphed into Reginald S. Stuckey’s My Nikes.
“I tell people now, I’m a hip-hop fan, but I’m not a fan of a particular person,” he said. “I couldn’t tell you anyone’s lyrics. I don’t know music that way. I don’t know people’s stories that way. … I think that hip-hop is powerful to the extent that people can hear something and connect to it.”
Lyrically, May says his songs are biographical and often written in code. For example, he raps about two women competing for his attention. The song is really about two universities that were trying to recruit him at the same time, May says.
Sometimes, the lyrics are more literal, like in his song U.O.E.N.O.: “I got a Ph.D. for free, you don’t even know/I taught at MIT, you don’t even know.” May says the “Ph.D.” line is a fan favorite.
“They see that as something real, so they connect to it,” May said. “But I’m not writing a song so they can say that. I’m writing it because it’s part of me.”
Rapping was originally a private hobby for May. When he discovered Garage Band and iMovie, he began producing songs and videos. After some encouragement by a former student, Stuckey went public in 2011. He started performing on campus to get comfortable with an audience.
“I realized from doing that, I felt free,” he said. “What happened after that, people began being drawn to me as an inspiration, because I was being free. So, now it’s just like the drug that never stops giving.”
As for the Stuckey persona, May came up with it during his senior year at Aurora, while playing college basketball. The name “personifies the notion of the best person you can be,” May said.
Stuckey has a social media presence, as well. May engages with fans on Twitter and will sometimes have back-and-forths between his own account and his alter-ego’s. Many of his songs can also be found on his YouTube channel “TheStuckeyProject.”
May films videos around town and includes clips of friends, family and students. He says he gets stopped regularly by students asking to be in the videos, and calling it a “bucket list” item.
“I’ve had students come up to me: ‘I’ve got to take a picture with you. It’s one of the things I have to do before I graduate A&M,'” May said. “Then people walk up to you, ‘Oh! You’re the guy who raps! I love you!'”
Back in the classroom, May says he tries to be a mentor to students — just as his mother and others were to him — and that “every student has a story to tell me, something they can provide me with, and it’s my responsibility to open up for it.”
Preston said he’s just as energetic and engaging as he is out on the benches.
“He’s really awesome because in college you don’t encounter professors who are so interactive with their students and the entire class,” she said. “Stereotypically, college classes are teacher-centered, and Dr. May’s classes are student-centered.”
The level of effort and energy can be challenging, May says, but positive feedback from former students helps to fuel him. May recently received a letter from a former student’s mother, thanking him for the impact that he had on her son’s life.
“Those kinds of things, you don’t really think that’s your intent, but it plays out in that way and you feel really great about what you did,” May said. “That’s the reward for me. If people are inspired by Stuckey, I love it.”
