Nerdcore Science Rapper Defends Darwin's Theory of Evolution—and Is Still Entertaining

Few rappers can brag they've bagged a positive review from a prominent New York Times science writer, but Olivia Judson, columnist and self-identified science geek, didn't or couldn't hold back--a literal rave--after seeing a live performance of The Rap Guide to Evolution, calling it ..the most astonishing, and brilliant, lectures on evolution I've ever seen. But then, few rappers are more nerdcore--unless they have a generic science-guy haircut and can voice-text complex cosmological concepts from a wheel chair. Watch his music video on natural selection in the upper right window. Now that you've seen the video, it won't surprise you that his master's thesis compared modern hip hop with Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. And yes, rapper Baba Brinkman, hyper-white congenial Canadian, AKA Dirk Murray Brinkman, Jr., now has professional bragging rights. He's carved out a comfortable niche for himself--not just as a white rapper but as Richard Dworkin's aurally sampled right brain-- and the "go-to" for a TEDtalks after dinner mint of easily digestible infotainment. You can also watch a music video about his writing process, which he also ties to evolution, and a live performance of the same song.

The 33-year-old rapper is now releasing 10 online music videos from the album to his hit show The Rap Guide to Evolution, and with financial assistance from the Wellcome Trust, he's providing a free virtual teaching aid to high school teachers and college professors looking to pump up normally dry lectures. And students don't have to worry about accuracy, because when Brinkman wrote the lyrics, he sent them to be peer-reviewed by a professor of microbial genomics. Anyone can go to his website and sample the other videos and learning aids.

Can you recommend other rappable science?

Photo: Baba Brinkman w/ red shirt, Baba Brinkman website Photo:Performance, wikipedia