Eike Rüdebusch, born 1985 in Germany, has a master's degree in American Studies and practical Literary and Media Studies as well as a bachelor's degree in Literary, Cultural, and Media Studies. He studied at the Universities of Duisburg-Essen and Siegen in Germany, as well as at Arizona State University in the United States. Early on in his academic endeavors, Eike Rüdebusch started focusing on African American culture, its history and politics. Already with his bachelor thesis on the influence of Barack Obama's first presidential campaign on political Rap, he underlined his interest in showing the interdependency of culture and its surrounding political conditions