Hip-hop pioneer, HBCU professor headed to Hall of Fame
Hip-hop pioneer MC SHA-ROCK, a professor at HBCU Bowie State University, will receive one of the biggest honors of her career with induction into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.
Sharon Jackson, known throughout the music world as MC SHA-ROCK, will join the Hall of Fame's Class of 2026 this fall. The Wilmington, North Carolina, native is widely recognized as hip-hop's first female MC and one of the culture's foundational voices.
The honor recognizes a career that began nearly five decades ago, when the art form was still developing in New York City neighborhoods.
As a founding member of the Funky 4 + 1, MC SHA-ROCK helped establish the microphone techniques, lyrical delivery and stage presence that became central to hip-hop. The group made history in 1981 when it became the first hip-hop act to perform on national television with an appearance on "Saturday Night Live."
"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."
Jackson will be honored alongside a class that includes go-go pioneer Gregory "Sugar Bear" Elliott of Experience Unlimited, jazz pianist and composer Billy Strayhorn and Parliament-Funkadelic founder George Clinton, who will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award.
Hip-hop history enters the HBCU classroom
While the Hall of Fame induction honors her past, MC SHA-ROCK is also helping shape hip-hop's future at Bowie State.
Jackson serves as an adjunct professor in the HBCU's Visual Communication and Digital Media Arts program. She is also an architect of Bowie State's Hip-Hop Studies and Visual Culture minor, which the university describes as the first program of its kind at an HBCU.
The program, launched in 2016, examines hip-hop as more than entertainment. Students explore its history, visual culture, entrepreneurship, creative expression and role in social change.
"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," Bowie State professor Tewodross Williams said.
Outside the classroom, Jackson co-hosts "That's the Joint" on LL Cool J's Rock the Bells Radio channel on SiriusXM with Grandmaster Caz.
Her Hall of Fame induction connects two important pieces of her legacy: helping create hip-hop history and ensuring that history is protected and passed on to another generation through an HBCU classroom.
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This story was originally published July 17, 2026 at 10:14 AM.