The First Lady of Hip-Hop Makes Bowie Classroom Her Home

Long before Sharon Jackson became MC SHA-ROCK, also known as hip-hop's legendary first female MC, she was a kid from Wilmington, North Carolina, experiencing the birth of a culture in real time. She didn't know then that she was making history. She just knew she loved the mic. 

Nearly five decades later, that history is catching up with her. This fall, renowned hip-hop pioneer and cultural trailblazer MC SHA-ROCK will be inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame's class of 2026, honored alongside artists who have also shaped American music across genres including go-go music pioneer and E.U. band leader Sugar Bear (Gregory Elliott), jazz composer and pianist Billy Strayhorn and Lifetime Achievement Award recipient George Clinton, founder of Parliament and Funkadelic.  

 Today, Bowie State students have the opportunity to learn directly from one of the artists who helped define hip-hop culture., because Professor Sharon Jackson, better known as (MC SHA-ROCK), is also a Bulldog. She is an adjunct professor in the Visual Communication & Digital Media Arts (VCDMA) program in the Department of Fine & Performing Arts. As the department's resident MC, hip-hop pioneer and historian, she isn't a guest lecturer trading on old fame. She's a working architect of the university's Hip-Hop Studies & Visual Culture minor, the first of its kind at any HBCU in the nation. 

As a founding member of Funky 4 + 1, MC SHA-ROCK helped define the elements that would become hip-hop's DNA: microphone technique, lyrical delivery and the art of commanding a room with nothing but rhythm and voice. In 1981, her group made history as the first hip-hop act to perform on national television, appearing on Saturday Night Live and introducing a still-underground culture to living rooms across America. 

"My induction into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame is more than a personal honor," Jackson said. "It is recognition of a history that helped shape a culture heard and felt around the world. As the first female MC of hip-hop culture, I have dedicated my life to preserving the truth about our beginnings and ensuring that the pioneers who built this movement are never forgotten." 

"We are proud to celebrate Professor Jackson's induction into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame, recognizing her extraordinary contributions to hip-hop culture, education and the creative industries," said Tewodross Williams, professor and program coordinator of the Visual Communication and Digital Media Arts (VCDMA) program. "As a pioneer, educator and mentor, she has been instrumental in shaping our Hip-Hop Studies & Visual Culture program and inspiring the next generation of artists and scholars. We are honored to have her as part of the Bowie State family." 

Since Bowie State launched the Hip-Hop Studies & Visual Culture minor in 2016, the university has grown its hip-hop scholarship across disciplines, cementing its role as a national leader in treating hip-hop not just as entertainment, but as a field of serious academic inquiry, artistic expression and social change. 

In addition to her roles at Bowie State, she  hosts a daily hip-hop show, "That's the Joint," on LL Cool J's Rock the Bells Radio channel on SiriusXM, alongside fellow hip-hop pioneer Grandmaster Caz. Beyond her work in media and education, MC SHA-ROCK continues to advance conversations around entrepreneurship and economic empowerment she participated as a distinguished panelist during the 2023 HBCU + Entrepreneurship Conference hosted by the Entrepreneurship Innovation Center for the "Let the Dollar Circulate: 50 Years of Hip-Hop and Building Generational Wealth for Our Community, Family and Our Future" session. Drawing on her experience as a hip-hop pioneer, entrepreneur and cultural leader, she shared insights on ownership, intellectual property and the importance of building sustainable wealth in Black communities, reinforcing the entrepreneurial spirit embedded within hip-hop culture. 

For all her accolades, Professor Jackson returns again and again to a single theme: that this recognition was never really about her. "Hip-hop has become a global language, yet its roots remain grounded in the communities, voices and innovators who dared to create something the world had never seen before," she said. "This recognition honors not only my journey, but the countless women and pioneers whose contributions shaped the foundation of this culture. It reminds us that history is something we must protect, document and pass forward, and that true innovation belongs to those willing to challenge expectations and move the culture forward." 

That's the lesson Bowie State students get from her, not from a textbook, but from someone who lived the history she's teaching, and who has decided that her next chapter is making sure they carry it forward.