The famed Chicago emcee adds the world-renowned institution to a resumé that already includes MIT and Yale University.
Lupe Fiasco has long been one of hip-hop’s most thoughtful and thought-provoking emcees. His albums are often densely packed listening experiences that highlight Fiasco’s talents for both songwriting and lyrical performance. Now students at Johns Hopkins will get to experience that talent for themselves.
Fiasco recently announced via Instagram that he will be joining Johns Hopkins University in Fall 2025 as a Distinguished Visiting Scholar in the university’s Peabody Institute, the oldest conservatory in the United States. Fiasco will teach a course on Rap as part of the conservatory’s new Bachelor of Music in Hip Hop program, a program that sounds as fascinating and engaging as any I’ve ever heard of. According to the schools website:
“The new Bachelor of Music in Hip Hop will combine the resources and strengths of Peabody’s industry leading Music Engineering and Technology programs with the Conservatory’s long history of excellence in performance training. The department is headed by award-winning composer, producer, beatmaker, pianist, and professor Wendel Patrick.
Following the one-on-one studio model of a traditional conservatory education, you will develop your skills in lessons with a private instructor—turntable majors will study with a world-class turntablist; Rap majors with a chart-topping emcee. And you’ll get to perform, with and for your colleagues, in an environment that encourages experimentation and authenticity.”
Um, where do I sign up?
While this degree program may be new, Fiasco’s foray into teaching isn’t.
In 2022, the rapper tapped for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s (MIT) MLK Visiting Professor and Scholars programg to teach a class titled “Rap Theory and Practice” in MIT’s Comparative Media Studies and Writing department. As if Fiasco wasn’t busy enough, in 2023, he was chosen for Yale University’s four-year Saybrook Associate Fellow program. Needless to say, Fiasco seems to enjoy academia, and with an award-winning artist at a teacher, hopefully his students will enjoy the lessons too.
Panama Jackson is a columnist at theGrio and host of the award-winning podcast, “Dear Culture” on theGrio Black Podcast Network. He writes very Black things, drinks very brown liquors, and is pretty fly for a light guy. His biggest accomplishment to date coincides with his Blackest accomplishment to date in that he received a phone call from Oprah Winfrey after she read one of his pieces (biggest) but he didn’t answer the phone because the caller ID said “Unknown” (Blackest).
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