The nerd becomes the teacher. The rapper once known for his Revenge of the Nerds mixtape is now going to be teaching rap at MIT, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
As a part of MIT’s MLK Visiting Professor Program for the 2022-23 academic school year, Lupe Fiasco will teach what he knows best, rap. He previously spent time at the university during the 2020-21 academic year as a Visiting Artist at the MIT Center for Art, Science & Technology.
The Cool MC 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.”
This announcement comes as the Chicago rapper is gearing up to release his eighth studio album Drill Music in Zion on June 24.
During his time as a Visiting Artist, Fiasco ran the “Code Cypher” programming competition at the university. Alongside Professor of Digital Media Nick Montfort, Fiasco taught rapping cyphers in a “computational way.”
In a video with the university, Fiasco said “MIT is where nerds are born and where nerds go to be with the other nerds to let them into the field of nerddom.”
Fiasco’s upcoming studio album has been hailed as the best rap album of the decade by Kanye West’s engineer Craig Bauer. In an Instagram story, he wrote, “The new @lupefiasco record is Rap Album of the year.”
He continued, “Nah. Decade. If you don’t feel something after listening to this…. You may want to check your pulse.”
Those are high expectations coming from a guy who has been in the room while incredible music has been made.
But, if anybody can reach them, one of the best lyricists of this century can.