Tahir Hemphill is an American multimedia artist, ethnolinguist, and design researcher. He developed the Hip Hop Word Count database.

Early life

Hemphill grew up in New York City, in the Lower East Side neighborhood. He graduated from Brooklyn Technical High School with a Regents diploma concentration in Electrical Engineering. He is African-American.

Hemphill graduated from Morehouse College with a B.A. in Spanish. He has a certificate in Strategic Planning from Miami Ad School. He has a master’s degree in Communications Design which he received from Pratt Institute.