Lupe Fiasco is no stranger to academic honors. Last May, he was honored as an MLK Visiting Professor at MIT. Today, Lu was named a Saybrook Fellow at Yale University. This marks yet another position of prestige at one of the top schools in the world. The announcement of his new position came straight from the Saybrook Dean’s Twitter. “Prof. @LupeFiasco welcome to the Saybrook family!” he tweeted. Lu responded directly to the tweet to say how honored he was by the announcement. What this new position will entail in the day-to-day for the professor and rapper is unknown. Still, the announcement alone speaks volumes about Lu’s intellectual acumen.
Lupe Fiasco is a Chicago-born rapper, songwriter, and record producer. His debut album, Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor featured his socially conscious lyrics and creative production technique. It propelled him to fame in the mid-2000s. Frequently, Lu’s music explores political issues, social justice, and personal conflict. He is known by many for his razor-sharp lyricism and complicated rhyme schemes. Throughout his career, he has continued to release critically acclaimed albums. He also makes a habit of collaborating with a wide range of artists from different genres. He has had a long and storied tenure. His academic positions serve as further proof of his mastery of rap as an art form.
Learning With Lu
Last year, Lu took to Twitter to announce his MIT course. Anyone who has followed his career should not be surprised by his intellectual endeavors. Still, teaching a course at MIT is nothing to scoff at. About the announcement, Lu tweeted, “I been holding this for a while. I’ll put together something more sophisticated later that really captures the nuance and gravity but for now I’ll just say it straight and raw: I’m going to teach Rap at MIT.”
Last December, Professor Lu did just that. The rapper taught his first course at MIT, entitled “Rap, Theory, & Practice: An Introduction”. The class is an investigation of the basic purposes, structures, and principles of rap. Surprisingly, and to the delight of many up-and-coming artists, the class was made available to everyone via Youtube. This allows those who would not otherwise have access to his teachings a way to learn from the master himself. It is yet another philanthropic move from Lu that proves he is for the people, no matter how many prestigious titles he is given.
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