A Harvard student has become the first in the university's history to submit a rap album for his senior thesis.

Student Obasi Shaw, who will graduate from the prestigious university next week, produced his album Liminal Minds while other classmates wrote novels, poems, and short stories.

The 10-track album is the first to be submitted as a senior thesis at the university, and weaves inspiration from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with the current race issues.

Mr Shaw was awarded a summa cum laude minus mark for his album - the second highest grade a student can receive in the department.

"[African-Americans are] free, but the effects of slavery still exist," Mr Shaw told the Harvard Gazette. "Each song is an exploration of that state between slavery and freedom."