Students in a Macroeconomics class recently won a contest sponsored by Cengage Learning with a video titled “$pend Dat Money.”

The project started a year ago when a select group of students were charged with creating content that would challenge them to incorporate their knowledge gleamed from Macroeconomics into a music video spin-off of their choosing. 

Katy Wick, assistant professor of economics, and students, including Ty Kelly, Sebastian Langdon, Chance Harris, Connor Lamberth, Taen Johnson and Grayson Burch, all brainstormed and came up with a clever remake of Lil’ Dicky’s music video $aving Dat Money.

They incorporated many of the concepts from their class, such as the aggregate demand equation, government spending, GDP and others. The remake is oddly entertaining, and even if you’re not specifically inclined on these particular topics, it plays to many levels of understanding.

Wick said she loves the assignment and enjoyed “seeing the creativity. In their own words, it was an interesting way to hopefully make the concepts stick.”

This change from the typical regurgitation of knowledge on tests to actually creating content around the subject matter gives students a break from the norm and create something that is both fun and educational, something difficult to achieve in a typical classroom setting.

Flipping the classroom has produced mixed reactions in the world of academia, but there’s no question that it can produce some awe-inspiring results. Taking Lil’ Dicky’s concept on wanting to create the most extravagant rap video ever while using the least amount of money, and using it to create a spin-off that is both entertaining and educational is truly a feat worthy of note. 

Professors from other universities had the same notion, voting the spin-off a winner of a Cengage sponsored contest. And although the physical prizes are minimal (plaque and $100), the bragging rights are numerous.

The video can be viewed on YouTube.