Lupe Fiasco: From Rap Music To Hip Hop Professor

Wasalu Muhammad Jaco, better known by his stage name as Lupe Fiasco, is a hip hop veteran who is set to kickstart his career as a university lecturer.

Lupe Fiasco’s career took off in 2006 with the release of his debut album Lupe Fiasco’s Food & Liquor.

Nine albums and twelve Grammy nominations later, including a 2008 win for Best Urban/Alternative Performance, he has become one of the most inventive voices in rap.

He will teach students the Peabody Institute’s new four-year hip-hop curriculum on how to improve beats, rapping, turntablism and beatboxing, with the history and rise of hip hop.

The hip-hop degree was started by the Academy of Contemporary Music (ACM) in September 2019.

The new four-year Hip-Hop degree program, led by Professor Wendel Patrick, will include Rap instruction from the Hip-Hop superstar. It seemed obvious Patrick would bring Lupe Fiasco on board.

“I first met Lupe in the summer of 2022 when I was finishing up my time as a Nas Fellow at Harvard University and Lupe was beginning his appointment at MIT,” he recalls.

“Since then, we have continuously built, and I’m excited that Lupe, the first new hire with a Hip Hop degree, is joining the Peabody Conservatory.”

Beginning this fall, students enrolled in the Conservatory’s new Hip Hop program will receive one-on-one coaching from the Grammy Award winner.

Notable Alumni, Talented Artists, and Innovative Programs

Famous alumni include Ed Sheeran, Matty Healy of the 1975, and Amelle Berrabah from the Sugababes. The school has campuses in London, Guildford, Surrey, and Birmingham.

Wendel Patrick, a professor, musician, and composer, developed Peabody’s new degree.

The Fader claims that a student first suggested the concept in 2016, when Patrick was just starting out as a Peabody instructor.

After the student asked a professor at the university if hip hop might be represented, Patrick created and taught the course “Hip Hop Music Production: History and Practice,” which included appearances by celebrities including Hank Shocklee of the Bomb Squad, Rakim, and Lupe Fiasco.

The Significance of Hip Hop: Insights from Wendel Patrick

“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,’’ Patrick stated in an interview with The Fader.

‘‘There is a lot of something that arises from the human experience of existence. And that background, in my opinion, is crucial,” he adds.

Applications for the program will be accepted starting on January 24.