what school did chance the rapper go to

From its beginnings in the Bronx cake parties hosted by DJ Kool Herc, Afrika Bambaataa, and Grandmaster Flash, hip-hop has been a ground-level art – people's music, popular music, even folk music. For generations now, rappers accept aimed for authenticity, and ofttimes that authenticity means narratives of dropping out of school, living a life of crime, and a sudden rise from poverty to wealth. Fifty-fifty rappers who went to college will oftentimes play down their instruction as not existence real enough. Meanwhile, hip-hop has become a serious field of academic study – consider producer 9th Wonder's residency atNorth Carolina Cardinal University, or theHarvard Universityfellowship for hip-hop scholarship established by Nas. Majoring in hip-hop isn't fifty-fifty one of the most unusual college degrees anymore. However, rappers themselves don't usually take college education seriously – it's simply non on-brand for most.

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Rappers Who Went to College: As Real every bit it Gets

That'south not to say that rappers do not possess extraordinary gifts: Flava Flav, before he was a reality-show embarrassment, was a musical prodigy, capable of playing more than a dozen instruments by ear, without any formal musical preparation, by his teenage years. Eminem raps with a vocabulary rivalling Shakespeare's, while Wu-Tang members GZA and Ghostface Killah have vocabularies even larger. Hip-hop producers take been responsible for more technical innovations in recording than they volition probable e'er be fully credited for. For the most part, though, those skills are self-taught, not from formal teaching. What about the rappers with higher degrees?

Rappers who went to college are equally unique as tin be – Native Tongues and backpacker MCs, hard-core gangsta and Dingy South rappers, pop stars and underground. Their degrees are from major enquiry universities and liberal arts colleges and HBCUs. The College Consensus ranking of the Height 10 Rappers with Higher Degrees is focused on the hip-hop legends and stars who have done their fourth dimension in college education and earned degrees – even if they don't boast nigh their BAs along with their gold chains and Lambos (although rap stardom might be a good way to pay off educatee loans).

Artists are ranked not according to their skills, but according to the Consensus score of their alma mater.

one. Young MC, Academy of Southern California

The British-born rapper and producer known as Young MC is forever defined past his biggest hit, "Bust a Move," but don't reduce Marvin Immature to a one-hit wonder. Growing up in Hollis, Queens (as well the domicile of Run-DMC), Young MC started rapping at 10 years erstwhile, because that was the civilisation in the air. But he was besides the son of hard-working, striving Jamaican immigrants, and slacking off, running the streets, and getting in trouble was not an option. Instead, the bright, dedicated student excelled at Hunter College High School (a secondary school operated by Hunter Higher) and was accepted into Hunter. Young MC'due south ambitions took him to the other side of the state, however: to the University of Southern California.

At USC – one of the most prestigious private enquiry universities in the West – Young majored in economics while honing his rap skills, communicable the ear of 2 classmates who had started Succulent Vinyl Records. They signed Young as their first artist, merely their starting time major success came with Tone Loc, spitting rhymes written by Young MC. Then, of course, "Bosom a Move" swept the world, a Grammy-winning, meridian-10 striking that became an albatross. Unfortunately, Young MC was a victim of timing; he became a sensation precisely at the same fourth dimension that his witty, clever, and harmlessly positive style became passe. Not that Young MC is bitter; in the years since hip-hop left him backside, Immature has connected to write, make records, and tour equally a proud legacy artist. Not a bad career for a kid from Queens.

Degree: Economics, University of Southern California
Image Source: Lyrics Wiki

2. Saweetie, University of Southern California

Diamonté Quiava Valentin Harper – amend known as Saweetie – has never been shy about the importance of education in her life. Born to a Filipina-Chinese female parent and an African-American father, Saweetie grew upwardly in Sacramento, CA, surrounded by the sounds of West Coast hip-hop. While she loved classic artists like Lil Kim and Foxy Brown, and started writing verse as a teenager, Saweetie cites hearing Nicki Minaj in loftier school as the motivation to begin rapping herself. But offset, she knew she wanted to become to college.

Starting at San Diego State Academy, Saweetie went out on a limb and gave herself a choice: spring into music full-fourth dimension, or transfer to the University of Southern California. Her ambition – and a compelling letter of the alphabet to the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism – got her a identify in one of the top communications programs in the world. And a business professor encouraged her to go for her hip-hop dreams, rather than settle into a boring corporate career. Her communications and business organisation didactics has served her well, with a slew of endorsements and a place in Forbes' thirty Nether 30 list. And 2022 will detect her back at USC, this fourth dimension as a guest lecturer in the entrepreneurship department!

Caste: Communications

Paradigm Source: Wiki Eatables

3. Childish Gambino, New York Academy

Among rappers who went to higher, Donald Glover is i of the most extraordinary multi-talented artists to come along in a generation. From a network television writing job directly out of higher, to starring in Community, to stand-up comedy, to writing, directing, and starring in Atlanta, Glover has to be one of the busiest men in amusement. Oh, and don't forget Childish Gambino, his hip-hop change-ego. As Childish (from an online Wu-Tang proper name generator), Glover has been one of the most prolific hip-hop artists in the business, and that's on something that is essentially a side project. V mixtapes, an EP, and 3 albums (Camp, Because the Internet, and "Awaken, My Honey!"), all in less than a decade, have earned Glover a reputation for e'er having his finger on the pulse of the civilisation. In 2018, with the release of his extraordinary video for the single "This is America," Glover went even farther, injecting the Childish Gambino spirit into American consciousness the manner that only a superstar can.

And it all started at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where Glover studied Dramatic Writing, graduating in 2006. That was Yr Nix for Glover's career, when a spec script for The Simpsons got him a job in the author's room of xxx Stone. While Glover had DJ'd and made a mixtape in higher, information technology was writing (and, afterward, making cameos) on 30 Rock that brought Glover into the public center. When Glover returned to music in 2008, with his get-go mixtape, the Dirty Due south-influenced Gambino project was supposed to be a more than personal, not-commercial manner to express himself during professional person frustrations (he would leave Community shortly after). However, against all odds (when Glover first announced his new persona, many wondered if information technology was a joke), Kittenish Gambino has proven to exist an ideal creative outlet for a young genius with manifestly unlimited potential and free energy. He's a perfect example of what rappers with college degrees can do.

Degree: Dramatic Writing,New York University
Image Source: Hip Hop Wiki

4. Talib Kweli, New York University

Any ranking of the greatest hip-hop lyricists that doesn't include Talib Kweli near the top is automatically wrong. One of the all-time rappers with higher degrees, Kweli comes past his verbal dexterity honestly, growing upward in a highly literate family that includes an English professor (his mother), a college administrator and sociologist (his male parent), and a law professor (his brother). As a kid, Kweli wrote poetry and stories, getting into rapping only because it was a mode for him to be popular in school, but, equally with Mos Def, music was largely an afterthought. At NYU, Kweli studied theater like Mos, a childhood friend, and began collaborating with producer DJ Hullo-Tek on a projection chosen Reflection Eternal in 1997. Of course, it was getting back together with Mos Def that made 1998's classic Blackness Star possible.

As an MC, Kweli is known for his dense, intricate rhymes, including complex polysyllabic rhymes and internal rhymes, likewise as his wordplay. Not surprisingly, Kweli also scores as one of the rappers with the highest vocabulary, a product, most probable, of his deep reading in biographies, history, politics, and philosophy, all of which appear prominently in his socially enlightened lyrics. While Kweli may not talk a lot about his theater degree, his career as an activist has been devoted to literacy and social justice. Kweli and Mos Def are the owners of a cultural sensation centre, the Nkiru Center for Education and Culture, which they established from an Afrocentric bookstore that was in danger of closing; Kweli's mother, Dr. Brenda Greene, chairs the lath.

Degree: Theater,New York University
Image Source: Monstercat Wiki

5. Yasiin Bey aka Mos Def, New York University

I of the virtually admired MCs of his generation, Dante Smith aka Mos Def aka Yasiin Bey is known for his socially-witting lyrics, his restless reinvention, and his distinctive drawl. While Mos burst into hip-hop as a guest on records by Native Tongues groups Da Bush-league Babees and De La Soul, Dante Smith had already had a successful career in amusement as a child actor. With steady piece of work in TV movies, theater, and sitcoms, the kid who would exist Mos Def dropped out of high schoolhouse to pursue his acting career, and credited his passion for acting as the force that protected him from the violence and crime of the Brooklyn projects.

It was while studying theater at NYU that Mos Def stepped, most accidentally, into hip-hop. During the early 90s, Mos had gained some attention reading his poetry in venues similar the fabled Nuyorican Cafe, and formed a hip-hop group with his brother and sister in 1993. That earned him the attention of the Native Tongues collective, the hyper-lyrical, Afrocentric scene that included the Jungle Brother, A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, and Queen Latifah. Forming a duo with swain theater pupil Talib Kweli, Mos Def released ane game-changing record equally Black Star earlier starting a solo career divers by lyrical excellence, political activism, and a fearless commitment to his art – whether it's rap, acting, or whatever Yasiin Bey decides to do next.

Degree: Theater,New York Academy
Image Source: Dexter Wiki

6. Guru (Gang Starr), Morehouse Higher

Half of the iconic Gang Starr – the East Coast duo known for pioneering the New York hardcore style (along with groups like Public Enemy and Boogie Down Productions) – the late Keith Elam was the human known as Guru. Elam liked to accident his pseudonym out to Gifted Unlimited Rhymes Universal (equally on the song "Class of Intellect"), and it wasn't an exaggeration; Guru was, quite simply, one of the almost intelligent and wise MCs on the scene, known for crystal-articulate observations on politics, philosophy, man nature, and art. He could battle with the best of them, as well, and boasted about his brilliance with confidence. Born in Boston, Guru'southward begetter was a guess and his mother the director of libraries for the public school arrangement – a perfect example of upper-heart grade black excellence.

It'southward no surprise that Guru could concord his own at the most competitive and aristocracy historically blackness college in the nation: Morehouse College. And what was Guru's major? Of course the human being who wrote Hard to Earn majored in business, and at Morehouse – ranked one of the well-nigh entrepreneurial colleges in the nation – business organisation is no joke. While that foundation may accept given Guru the business sense to keep Gang Starr in the black, information technology was his rhymes, combined with the influential beats of DJ Premier (who attended Prairie View A&K University), that made the duo legends in the secret. Guru'south work is steeped in the history and pre-history of hip-hop, equally his Jazzmatazz albums demonstrate; experimental collisions of jazz artists, hip-hop beats, and rapping, the iv Jazzmatazz records are like an alternating universe hip-hop. Sadly, Guru passed from myeloma in 2010, at just 43 years erstwhile, leaving a legacy that all the same looms over hip-hop.

Caste:Business concern,Morehouse Higher
Image Source: Rap Genius

7. J. Cole, St. John's University

Jay Z's first protege at his Roc Nation record label, J. Cole is a Renaissance homo of the hip-hop craft, a student of the genre and a creator as practiced backside the boards every bit he is behind the mic. Built-in in 1985, Cole began rapping at 12 and making his own beats at fifteen, with a sampler given to him by his mother. Cole was the kind of kid who seemed to excel at everything he did – an honors student, offset chair violinist in his high school orchestra – and if he wasn't immediately practiced at something, he worked at information technology; after being cut from the high school basketball game team in his freshman and sophomore years, Cole practiced until he was a starter in his senior yr. That kind of dedication shows in every aspect of an impressive, and still developing, career that is already going on a decade.

Cole's piece of work ethic and intellect paid off with a scholarship to St. John's University in New York City; the honors high schoolhouse graduate (with a 4.2 GPA) chose New York with a rap career in mind, but still graduated with highest honors in communications and business. The same year he graduated from college (2007), Cole released his first mixtape, earning underground buzz that caught Hov's attention. With a flow that meshes Jay with his New York rival Nas, Cole's hostage but unsentimental reflections on life, politics, and life take gained him a massive post-obit, while other artists seek him out for guest verses and beats – fifty-fifty people who were once his idols, like Kanye West and Talib Kweli.

Degree: Communications and Business concern,St. John's University
Image Source: Survivor Org Wiki

8. Chuck D, Adelphi University

One of the most politically outspoken hip-hop MCs of all time, Chuck D has spent more than three decades courting controversy and demanding justice equally the leader of Public Enemy. Born Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, Chuck D'due south rap career began right alongside the Large Bang of hip-hop – the legendary 1977 New York City blackout, when the 17 twelvemonth onetime was inspired to write rhymes past the postal service-blackout flare-up of creativity in the city. Distinction took a while, though, and while he was perfecting his craft, Chuck earned a BFA in Graphic Design from Adelphi University, where he met fellow student William Drayton. With Drayton – who called himself Flava Flav, and worked moving piece of furniture for Chuck's father'south business – Chuck recorded a unmarried called "Public Enemy Number 1." The rest is history.

Chuck D may accept majored in graphic design, but he's not known for his visual style – he'southward known for one of the most recognizable voices in hip-hop. Modeled on the sports announcers he admired equally a boy, Chuck'southward lyrics blast out over the beats in a booming baritone, enunciating every word as conspicuously as a newscaster no matter how fast the flow. It was not by gamble: Chuck famously called hip-hop "CNN for blackness people," and zero was more important than the message. Alongside fellow New York duo Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy pioneered a provocative, unabashedly political hip-hop that assumed its listeners were smart, conscious, and prepare for an teaching. Chuck has made education and activism the heart of his career, from speaking to college students to producing documentaries nearly hip-hop and political issues.

Degree: Graphic Pattern,Adelphi Academy
Prototype Source: Wikipedia

9. Ludacris, Georgia State Academy

Okay, so academics isn't the start affair you think of when you think of the creative person behind Chicken-due north-Beer and "Act a Fool," just Ludacris is a man of many surprises. A Screen Actors Guild and Grammy Accolade-winning artist, Chris Bridges may have gotten famous on some less-than-intellectual party jams, simply the homo himself is a mogul and a business mastermind. Growing upwards in Chicago, Luda came of age in Atlanta, where he would assistance pioneer the Dirty South sound. Earlier that, though, Ludacris was studying music management at Atlanta'south Georgia State University, getting his foot in the door as an intern at Hot 97.5, and even DJing at Freaknik.

So yes, Ludacris wrote "Move B—-" and "Freaky Thangs," but he also graduated with honors from Georgia State and congenital a business organisation empire estimated at $25 meg. One of the nearly influential Southern rappers of all time, Ludacris made his career on a combination of earworm hooks, inventive videos, and an image that was tough enough to maintain street cred, simply comical enough to be relatable to a broad range of fans. With smart business sense, Luda likewise bankrupt numerous younger Southern rappers, such equally ii Chainz, using his Disturbing tha Peace record characterization as a major forepart for the genre. Of class, to many younger people, Luda will ever exist amend known for The Fast and the Furious than for his rapping, but that's okay – the business major always gets paid.

Caste: Music Management,Georgia State Academy
Image Source: Hip Hop Wiki

ten. Megan Thee Stallion, Texas Southern University

Megan Pete was born with hip-hop in her blood; her female parent, Holly Thomas, was an underground Houston rapper associated with DJ Screw'south Screwed Up Click. Despite toting little Megan to recording sessions when she didn't have childcare, Thomas had one requirement when Megan wanted to become a rapper – wait until you lot're 21. Then earlier she could become Megan Thee Stallion, Megan enrolled in the land-grant HBCU Prairie View A&M Academy. However, when Megan began posting freestyles to YouTube and Instagram, and destroying local rappers in the nix, fame wasn't far backside.

Despite the best efforts of A Tribe Called Quest's Q-Tip to become her signed to Columbia or Def Jam, Megan made her style independently, building her reputation on her preternaturally confident flow, fearlessly explicit lyrics, and some of the well-nigh quotable punchlines since Biggie. Her mother (who passed from a brain tumor in 2019) would be proud, only maybe even prouder of Megan's extra-rap aspirations. In 2021 she completed her caste in Health Administration at Texas Southern Academy, and is defended to using her coin and influence to plant more healthcare and assisted living facilities in Houston. Pretty hot.

Degree: Health Administration

Prototype Source: Wiki Commons

Honorable Mention: Water ice Cube, Phoenix Plant of Engineering

As a member of N.W.A. and as a solo artist, Ice Cube was at the eye of the West Coast gangsta rap miracle, putting himself in the crosshairs of the culture wars with songs similar "F— the Police force" and "Amerikkka's Most Wanted." Earlier he was a effigy the media loved to detest (and way, style earlier he was the lovably gruff confront of family unit comedies), O'Shea Jackson was the younger son of a center-class family in Baldwin Hills, the nicer side of Due south Central Los Angeles – a background that gangsta rapper Ice Cube preferred to continue repose. Later high schoolhouse, when a rap career seemed unlikely, Cube went out to Phoenix to study architectural drafting, hoping his love of architecture and design would serve as a fallback if hip-hop didn't work out.

Apparently, hip-hop worked out for Water ice Cube. Hired by Dr. Dre to write rhymes for his group, the Earth Form Wreckin' Cru, Cube went on to partner with Dre, Eazy-E, and MC Ren equally N.W.A., trading in glitzy party records for a hard-hit, street-reportage style. Too his own verses, Cube wrote for Eazy and Dre, crafting lyrics that fit their voices and personas. In interviews, Ice Cube has attributed his systematic planning to his architectural grooming, and it has served him well every bit he has built a three-decade career that has spanned from rap to acting to movie producing. And Cube has never forgotten his honey of design, either, fifty-fifty serving every bit the Getty Museum's representative for a Charles and Ray Eames showroom; Cube compared their mid-century style to sampling and mash-ups, always keeping it existent in the rap game.

NOTE: Ice Cube gets Honorable Mention just because the technical school he attended no longer exists. We dear you lot, Cube!

Caste: Architectural Drafting, Phoenix Institute of Technology
Image Source: Rap Wiki

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Source: https://www.collegeconsensus.com/features/best-educated-rappers/

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