Professorial lecturer Omékongo Dibinga’s dissertation provided the Blueprint for his popular three-credit class, which explores biography as a form of historical writing.

As a doctoral student at the University of Maryland, Dibinga examined the life and rhymes of Brooklyn-born rapper Jay-Z. Since his 1996 debut, Reasonable Doubt, all 13 of Jay-Z’s albums have been certified platinum, selling more than 33 million units.

The decision to research the 24-time Grammy award–winner marked a change of tune for Dibinga, himself a rapper, poet, and motivational speaker. “I was not a big fan of Jay-Z because I would go into schools and prisons and tell them not to do the things that Jay-Z was rapping about. I felt like his message was a problem for my community.”

It wasn’t until Dibinga contemplated the lyrics to “Moment of Clarity” that he had one of his own. “Jay-Z says ‘I would love to rap about politics and Black empowerment, but you’re not going to buy it. I want to help people, and I also want to be rich. So, I gave you what I wanted, I got rich, and now I’m able to help people the way I want,” explains Dibinga.  

Dibinga learned that “everybody’s story is worthy of study” and that the best way to do that is to start long before their birth—lessons he conveys to students, who write their own historical biographies about everyone from Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) to a favorite schoolteacher. 

In the class, “We put somebody’s life in context,” Dibinga says. “We talk about what they inherited that will determine their life chances and their life story.”