As part of its entrance examinations, for which the 2025 general knowledge theme is ‘Judging’, Rennes School of Business is offering a new format designed to enrich candidates’ thinking while also appealing to a wider audience: students, music enthusiasts and social science aficionados.

A new RSB format to explore musical countercultures and fuel reflection on the theme of ‘judging’
Rennes School of Business launches Avant de juger… écoutez (Before you judge… listen), a podcast produced in collaboration with Ludovic Groussard, a professor at the school.

Through a series of episodes, this format explores musical countercultures and questions how our aesthetic, social and symbolic judgements are formed.

This project is part of the oral exams, whose theme of ‘judging’ invites candidates to develop personal, well-supported and nuanced thinking. The podcast aims to offer a variety of ideas, references and perspectives to help students stand out. However, it is aimed at a much wider audience: students at the school, alumni, teachers, professionals and curious listeners.

A first episode devoted to hip-hop and rap
The first episode, ‘Hip-hop and rap, closed musical genres?’, looks back at the origins of rap, from its rebellious roots in the Bronx to its global expansion.

It analyses the tensions between marginality and the cultural industry, the often contradictory judgements made about the genre, and how rap transforms violence, identity and rebellion into artistic language.

A playlist of the tracks mentioned is available in the episode description for further listening.

A format designed to stimulate reflection
With this podcast