Lupe Fiasco to become professor of hip hop on new university course
GRAMMY Award-winning rapper and producer, Lupe Fiasco, is set to become a professor of hip hop in a new undergraduate degree course.
The hip hop Bachelor’s course, which has been launched by John’s Hopkins University’s Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, will take in its first students in Autumn, 2025. It’s the first ever hip hop degree course in the US.
The University’s hip hop curriculum will reportedly teach essential skills like rapping, turntablism and beatboxing, alongside the history and evolution of hip hop. It’ll also give students the opportunity to receive private instruction from world-class musicians.
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While the degree is the first of its kind in the US, the UK’s first ever hip hop degree was launched in September 2019 by the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM).
ACM has campuses in London, Guildford, Surrey and Birmingham and its famous alumni include Ed Sheeran, The 1975’s Matty Healy and Amelle Berrabah from the Sugababes.
Peabody’s new degree was created by the musician, composer and professor Wendel Patrick — according to The Fader, a seed of the idea was planted in 2016 by a student while Patrick was first teaching at Peabody.
The student had asked a member of the University’s faculty if hip hop could be represented, which later led Patrick to develop and teach the course ‘Hip Hop Music Production: History and Practice’, featuring guest talks from stars like Lupe Fiasco, Rakim and Bomb Squad’s Hank Shocklee.
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Speaking to The Fader, Patrick said: “You often hear people say ‘hip hop came from nothing’, and while I understand what that means, I think a lot of times people say ‘nothing’ because it didn’t start with a lot of money.
“But that’s not nothing. Something that comes out of human experience in life is very much something. And I think that that context is important.”
The programme will begin accepting applications from 24 January.
Henrietta Taylor is Mixmag’s Digital Intern, follow her on Twitter
