Higher Learning: 20 Rappers Who Went On To Speak or Teach at Universities
Source: Discovery Green / Discovery Green
1. Questlove
Questlove, the Roots’ drummer and frontman, is currently teaching a Classic Albums program at New York University alongside Universal Music’s Harry Weinger.
The Clive Davis School for Recorded Music at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts offers the course, which examines significant albums in music history (Michael Jackson’s Off The Wall, the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique) and their capacity to withstand the test of time.
2. GZA
In recent years, GZA of The Wu-Tang Clan has been asked to guest lecture at Harvard University and the University of Toronto. Some subject matters of his lectures include the Wu-Tang history, hip hop as a civic media, astronomy, physics and more.
3. Lupe Fiasco
Lupe Fiasco previously presented a lecture at MIT on Rap Theory & Practice, and it was recently announced that the Chicago native will serve as a distinguished visiting professor at Johns Hopkins University later this year.
Fiasco will teach rap as part of the institute’s new 4-year hip hop degree program, led by professor and musical artist Wendel Patrick.
4. Swizz Beatz
Swizz Beatz was NYU’s first producer-in-residence at the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at the Tisch School of the Arts. The star producer provided students with one-on-one sessions, group lectures and mentoring.
5. MC Lyte
In 2024, MC Lyte was guest lecturer at Michigan State University for the 24th annual Dr. William G. Anderson Lecture series. The series gives the community the opportunity to interact with multicultural leaders. Among other things, she spoke about the role her mother played in the development of her art.
6. Bun B
In 2011, the UGK rapper and entrepreneur was appointed as Distinguished Lecturer at Rice University in Houston.
During his time there, he helped create and teach a course called Religion and Hip-Hop Culture for the school’s Humanities department. The subject was really popular among students, with enrollment doubling by the end of the semester.
7. KRS One
Hip Hop legend KRS-ONE lectured on the topic “10 Years of Hip Hop History Education” at Fresno State University, during which he reflected on the Stop The Violence movement in 1985 and the organization and unionization of Hip Hop.
8. Eve
Rapper and actress Eve is a Scholar-in-Residence at New York University’s (NYU) Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development for the 2024–2025 academic year. The year-long residency began on September 21, 2024.
9. Jermaine Dupri
In late 2024, it was announced that rap mogul Jermaine Dupri would be teaching select students hands-on what it takes to be a major play in entertainment as part of an internship program at Emory University.
“I’ve always been a person that gives younger individuals and people who want to be in this business a chance,” Dupri said in a press release. “I’m looking for superstars that are not on the stage, and I hope that I can find them in this So So Def/Emory intern partnership.”
10. 9th Wonder
Super producer 9th Wonder has made his mark not only in the world of music but in modern academia as well.
He started teaching a hip-hop history course in North Carolina Central University in 2007 as Artist In Residence. Since then, he has taught classes at Harvard and Duke as well as being quoted as claiming he plans to leave music behind to follow a career in academics.
11. Producer Tay Keith
In 2021, producer of “Sicko Mode” and “Look Alive” became an honorary professor at his alma mater Middle Tennessee State University.
“From the days I was struggling in class, failing, trying to get candidacy for the College of Recording Industry to coming back and becoming a honorary professor show you that hard work with passion pay off,” he wrote in an online post. “S/O my alma mater acknowledging me and my team, and letting me come educate and motivate the youngins who in the same shoes I was in just a few years ago. Respect always been some that’s earned, and it ain’t given, and real ones always win in the end.”
12. Killer Mike
Mike was invited to speak at esteemed university MIT in 2014 as apart of the its Hip Hop Speaker Series, “Race Relations in the US.”
He gracefully addressed a variety of topics including solid business sense in Rap, culture appropriation, the impact of social media and police brutality.
13. Kanye West
‘Ye was invited to Oxford University to speak to a group students in 2015. During his lecture, West discussed what it’s like to be a living celebrity, how he approaches creativity like a sport, his public mage, and the art of collaboration.
14. Lil B
Lil B is known to give legendary lectures at New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For example, in 2022 he spoke to a group of students in the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory.
Topics discussed included human empathy, workplace efficiency, and genetically modified organisms. He then followed up with a fascinating conversation about art, gender, racism, and a host of other free-related issues.
15. Lil Jon
The Atlanta crunk legend himself, was invited to Oxford Guild to engage in a lecture in 2015.
While there, Lil Jon discussed a wide range of subjects, including his opinions on President Obama’s administration, media relations, what he would be doing if he weren’t a rapper (psychologist!), his initial response when asked to speak to the Oxford Guild (he felt like he was being catfished), and—perhaps most importantly—where his former backing band/steady sidekicks, The Eastside Boyz, are at.
16. Chance The Rapper
In 2015, Chicago native Chance The Rapper was invited by the Harvard Hip-hop Archive & Research Institute to speak before an audience of Ivy League students. During his lecture he spoke on a variety of topics related to the hip hop culture and even held a live Q&A session.
Topics included his recording process, Soundcloud, misogyny in hip-hop, the link between hip-hop and violence, and much more.
17. The Migos
The ‘Bad and Boujee’ rap group taught a college course examining their impact on music and pop culture.
The one day lesson at New York University’s Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Film Center was hosted by 300 Entertainment, Quality Control, Nue Agency, and the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music.
18. T.I.
In 2023, T.I. held a conference with a group of students at Wiley College with dreams of making it big in media. The Mass Communications majors, who all share a passion for filmmaking, were shocked to learn that Atlanta-based Propel Center awarded the university a $300,000 grant to film a short movie with the T.I.’s production company.
19. Lil B
Lil B certainly has a cult rap fanbase, but he’s also done quite well for himself on the lecture circuit. After speaking at NYU and MIT in 2012 and 2014, Lil B took his college lecture tour to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburg, PA in 2015.
21. Mia X
Mia X of the No Limit crew started her first semester as a professor at Loyola University back in 2019. She covers hip hop and shared the following message on social media around that time:
“It may seem silly to some but I cried when I got this. I remember telling my classmates that I was going to be a rapper and them laughing while my teacher twisted up her face at me,” she wrote below a photo of her faculty ID. “Who would have thought that I would indeed become a rapper make a career out of what I truly LOVE.”
Higher Learning: 20 Rappers Who Went On To Speak or Teach at Universities was originally published on thebeatdfw.com
