Science Lush

Baba Brinkman: Darwin and the Life of a Rap Troubadour

When it comes to topics for hip hop, science isn't usually first on the list. But this year when I attended the Science Online conference, one of the morning Converge sessions featured a performance by Baba Brinkman, creator of The Rap Guide to Evolution. Brinkman's electric energy immediately woke up the sleepy (slightly hungover) room, and catapulted us into the day as he got the audience to joyfully consider how the process of "Performance, Feedback, Revision" applies both to science and art.  

Brinkman calls himself a "rap troubadour," and finds inspiration in everything from The Canterbury Tales to evolutionary psychology. I was curious about how the writer/performer has managed to meld the worlds of hip hop and science, so I tracked him down and convinced him to answer a few questions for me about how an English Lit guy ended up writing songs about natural selection, who he might like to work with in the future and what it's like to try to find rhymes for "Darwin." 

His show Evolutionary Tales: A Hip-Hop Theatre Cycle, presented by Soho Playhouse Inc., opened Off-Broadway at the Player's Theater on  May 31st, 2013, and runs through June 23rd, 2013. The cycle is comprised of three different shows - The Rap Guide to Evolution, Ingenious Nature and Canterbury Tales Remixed. If you're lucky enough to be in the NYC area during the run, visit www.evolutionarytales.com for tickets and information. 

 

Photo Credit: Tavakoli Photography

You have a Masters in Medieval and Renaissance English Literature, and your thesis drew parallels between the worlds of hip-hop music and literary poetry. How did you get the idea to correlate these two seemingly very different forms of communication? 

I was reading the Canterbury Tales for a class, and I recognized it as a masterpiece of rhymed storytelling, a lyrical chronicle of the lives and power struggles of diverse characters, young lovers, bitter rivals, villains, heroes, murderers, adulterers, kings and beggars; the tales are rich with metaphor and symbolism but also a gaudy circus of sex and violence. At the same time I was listening to albums by Nas, the Notorious BIG, Jay-Z, Big Pun, and Slick Rick, and I recognized their songs as... exactly the same thing.

Given your lit background, doing a hip-hop version of Canterbury Tales seems to make sense. The idea for The Rap Guide to Evolution had its seed in a suggestion from Dr. Mark Pallen, author of The Rough Guide to Evolution. What was your initial reaction when he presented you with the challenge to "do for Darwin" what you had done for Chaucer? 

My initial reaction was excitement and enthusiasm, with an undercurrent of anxiety. In literature there's a wider range of acceptable poetic license when re-telling a story, but with evolution there are serious pitfalls. If the story is misconstrued it can easily shade into pseudo-science, but at the same time I needed room to be playful and entertaining. Dr. Pallen is an experienced exponent of evolution so he helped me toe that line.

Tell me a bit about your process once you decided to take on the project. How much did you know about Darwin? What kind of research did you do? 

When I started the project I had read a few books by Jared Diamond and Richard Dawkins and E O Wilson, so I was familiar with the broad sketch, but the challenge was to create a story with a human face, so it was like a treasure hunt. I was looking for areas of overlap between evolutionary science and human experience, and I found them in the writing of David Sloan Wilson, Steven Pinker, Geoffrey Miller, Sarah Hrdy, and by re-reading the big three I started with to draw out the jewels. Mostly it came down to applications of evolutionary psychology and cultural evolution or "memes". Between those two concepts, you can connect evolution with virtually everything humans do and care about.

You are first and foremost an entertainer, not a scientist or science journalist. When writing, how do you balance scientific accuracy with what may be necessary for theatricality?  

I have an easy benchmark. I imagine myself being "peer-reviewed" by an expert scientific audience after the show, questioned as to what my exact meaning and intention was, and I give myself as much poetic or creative license as I feel I could reasonably defend in response to that audience. In reality, the show has been performed in front of many such audiences, and I have made significant changes in the spirit of "Performance, Feedback, Revision".

"Performance, Feedback, Revision."

Lyrics and performance: Baba Brinkman.Dir Felix Harrison. Music: Nokz from Tehdit. Animation: Dave Anderson. 

 

What scientific term has been the most challenging to find a rhyme for? 

"Darwin" is actually a very difficult word to rhyme on its own. That's why I usually combine it with other words, for instance by rhyming "Storage Container" and "War of Nature" and "Darwin Hater" and "Fornicator".

Tell me about the inspiration to make the show not just about evolution via a hip-hop delivery, but also about the evolution of hip-hop.

I suppose the evolution of hip-hop would be the elephant in the room if I didn't talk about it. There's also something theatrically potent about being in front of an audience and telling them, in real time: "Your response to everything I say determines my fate, if not causally then at least probabilistically. How likely am I to thrive or to go extinct as a performer? That depends on what happens in this moment." It makes people realize that the power of cultural evolution, which is very similar to artificial selection or domestication, is in your hands at all times, as a consumer, as a citizen, and as an audience member. 
 

  

"Natural Selection" - The Rap Guide to Evolution Music Videos.

Lyrics and performance: Baba Brinkman. Music: Tom Caruana. Dir: Felix Harrison. Animation: Tommy Nagle.
Supported by The Wellcome Trust. 

I believe that scientists and artists have a lot in common when it comes to the creative and scientific processes. What - if any - similarities have you noticed as you've traveled down this road of creating science-oriented theater? 

Both artists and scientists are driven by the search to capture the non-obvious. There is serious creativity in the design of incisive experiments, and there is definitely a science to the orientation of attention that drives the performing arts.

Who are your biggest musical influences? Who's on your dream list of future collaborators? 

Nas, Black Thought, Talib Kweli, Tim Minchin, Homeboy Sandman, Slick Rick.

You call yourself a "rap troubadour." What does that mean? How is it different than a traditional rapper? 

I suppose the only difference between a rap troubadour and a traditional rapper is that the former is fully aware of and oriented towards the rich global history of storytelling as a universal characteristic of the human species, a function of the irrepressible instinct that we have to make and consume narrative. The latter is also a practitioner of the craft, but is more oriented towards the present historical moment. I'm certainly not the only one to view rap this way, however; K'Naan also seems to get it. 

K'Naan performing 'Wavin' Flag'. 
A remixed version was Coke's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World cup. 

 

What's been the most surprising or meaningful reaction you've gotten to the show? 
  

This was posted as a response on my blog:

Dear Mr. Brinkman,
 

I am a US Soldier deployed to the Kandahar region of Afghanistan in support of the war the we are currently fighting in Southwest Asia. My wife recently sent me a care package that contained the Rap Guide to Evolution Revised. It is amazing! I listened to to it straight through 3 times! My favorite track is “Worst Comes To Worst”. I have been speaking out against organized religion for years. I can’t wait to share this conversation starting album with my Soldiers. Thank you for this great work of art. I look forward to sharing your gift with everyone around me.

 

 

 

 

Science Online 2010: Am Amazing Experience + Science & Entertainment Panel Review

Finally catching up on some long overdue blogging!

I spent a big chunk of January on the road, first in North Carolina at Science Online 2010, then at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. To read about my festival adventures, head on over to the News on the Doc blog at Documentary.org, where I chronicled my daily dose of movies and events and posted filmmaker interviews for the International Documentary Association.

While I'm a bit embarrassed that it's taken me so long to get something up about Science Online, aka scio10,  it's also been useful to have some time to reflect on the experience (multiple plane rides = good thinking time). A huge thank-you to conference organizers Bora Zivkovic and Anton Zuiker, the masterminds behind the 4th annual event.

I must admit, I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into when I agreed to head out to the Research Triangle. Compared to the rest of the attendees, I'm relatively new to the science blogging community, though I've had a lot of experience in the online space. But something about the participatory nature of the way the conference was put together (and the exuberant nature of Bora's Tweets!) gave me a good feeling, and now I'm so glad I followed my gut and made the trip. I knew it would be a weekend full interesting discussions about science; what I never expected was that there would be so many wonderful conversations about writing as well. Indeed, Science Online is just as much a conference about 21st century communication as it is about what happens in the lab.

Another unexpected delight at Scio10 was the diverse group of panelists and attendees. In addition to the expected authors, bloggers and scientists, there were museum outreach directors, high school students, teachers, science pranksters, iPhone app developers, underwater cinematographers, librarians, software developers, and more. The connective tissue amongst the group was a love for science and an interest in how it's being explored in the online space.

To that end, the event and its attendees made excellent use of Web 2.0 tools. Conference tweets, tagged with #scio10, were projected onto screens at the event venues. While you were in one session, you could see what you were missing in the others by keeping an eye on your phone's Twitter feed. Several panels were streamed into Second Life and live streamed on U-Stream, and those observing from afar could submit questions to the room. The wireless during the sessions, provided by SignalShare, rocked - it was robust enough to allow me to Skype in a guest speaker during my session. Almost everything was videotaped, and Bora & Anton & Co. are in the process of getting the vids online. You can find them here on Science in the Triangle's YouTube channel.

Science & Entertainment Session
I co-hosted a panel on Science and Entertainment with the lovely Jennifer Ouellette, author and science blogger extraordinaire. I presented several examples of cutting edge online campaigns and content pieces that either made use of or were inspired by real-life science, and Jennifer talked about her work with the Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences.  In true UnConference model, we then posed several questions to the audience and opened it up to the whimsy of the room.

Topics of discussion included:

• If science's responsibility is to accuracy and Hollywood's responsibility is to good storytelling, where and how - or should - the two meet in the middle?
• How can science bloggers pursue relationships with Hollywood studios? Does Hollywood really care about what they have to say?
• Studio films such as Angels & Demons, Terminator, Star Trek and Avatar have the budgets to create innovative online content as part of their marketing campaigns. How can science adapt what they've created in the fictional realm and use it to explore real science online in new, attention-grabbing ways?
• With rich media experiences becoming more common online and drawing more eyeballs, how can good ol' fashioned blogging evolve so that it doesn't become the print media of the Internet?
• Currently, it's common for bloggers to point out the errors in the science contained in movies and television. Yet, film and TV have proven to be sources of inspiration for students, as good storytelling stokes the curiosity that eventually leads kids to pursue careers in science. With this in mind, is there a way to establish a more cooperative relationship between the the worlds of science and entertainment?
• As entertainment consumers move from a lean back experience to a more participatory role, how should science on the web adapt? 

Thanks to all who joined in the robust conversation; this sampling of Tweets from our panel will give you a sense of it...

@f1000 talks about scientific consulting on films like Avatar, TV shows like CSI and video games at #scio10 http://bit.ly/5PYlLn

@thegarbagegirl  Love this! http://www.thesoulstoragecompany.com/ Presented at #scio10 session on science and entertainment

@abelpharmboy  Alastair Jeffs: Have to be able to tell a good story; the science is great but...people want a story. Work w/a classical writer

@abelpharmboy  @tamarakrinsky noted that some networks have diversity mandates #scio10 12:09 PM Jan 16th from TweetDeck

@abelpharmboy @edyong209 @docfreeride So if one convinces a filmmaker that a young black girl discovering a drug would be a money-making story...#scio10

@edyong209  Passive consumers of entertainment are becoming active consumers. Want to take part. #scio10

@thegarbagegirl  @tamarakrinsky said something I've believed all along: people want to be involved in the story telling process

@abelpharmboy Hrynyshyn: why aren't there more "normal" people on Bones or House - Jen-Luc says normal does not make compelling characters

Janet D. Stemwedel (@docfreeride) has archived her extensive tweets from the session on a post on her blog Adventures from Ethics in Science - a great collection of observations! 

Another thing I'm digging about Scio10 is the continuation of conversations begun in North Carolina via blogs and tweets. Over on The Intersection, Chris Mooney posts: 

Science and Entertainment: Beyond Blogging – Tamara Krinsky and Jennifer Ouellette: Hollywood getting into science = definitely cool. But will Hollywood’s ace marketers ever see a real need to court science bloggers to get the word out about films, given the relatively small size of our audiences and the vastness of their ad budgets? Not clear to me how much *we* matter, at least so far.

My response to Chris is that Hollywood will care as long as they think there's money to be made. And when I say Hollywood, I'm talking about the studios and the marketing engines...individual creatives like directors and writers usually have much more genuine interests in the science that's inspired them. Increasingly, bloggers fit into that revenue-generating equation. As audiences become more and more fragmented, finding ways to catch hold of the individual shards who may have interest in a film becomes increasingly important. For example, the online campaign for Coraline was built on identifying and generating interest from several different niche audiences. They buzz created by these early fans bubbled up to larger outlets, feeding the campaign and driving coverage by more mainstream media, thus helping the film to attract a wider audience.

LINKS
If you want to take a peek at some of the projects we showcased during the panel, here are some handy-dandy links for ya'...

Star Trek
This is an example of the innovative banner ad campaign designed for the film which allows users to rotate through the bridge (this one appeared on MySpace). At various places, hidden features allow you to launch a picture gallery and videos. Museums and labs take note: this could serve as inspiration for a virtual tours.
Agency Credit: Avatar Labs

Terminator: Salvation
[Note: the title link takes you to images used in the application, which is no longer available]
This Skynet Adobe Air Application developed for the Terminator: Salvation domestic movie release campaign featured a faux information processor. The sinister Skynet Corporation invited users to download the app to their desktops to help process information.  It mysteriously “broke” the day the film was released. This kind of app is an engaging way to distribute new video and text information to fans.

The designers were inspired by “SETI at Home,” a distributed computer programm  where users can download and analyze radio telescope data to help with SETI. Agency credit: Crew Creative

Cold Souls
This film stars Paul Giamatti as a man who puts his soul in storage for awhile so he can deal with some of his issues. As part of the marketing campaign, they created a humorous site for the fictional "Soul Storage Company," which allows customers to store their souls online. Site features include the ability to browse the soul catalog and take an office tour, complete with some lovely B-movie-esque video.

Angels & Demons
The “On Location” section of the movie site is an interactive map that contains factual information about the various historical locations used in the film. Hotspots open images, video, models and behind-the-scenes commentary to bring to light the fact behind the fiction. It's an engaging example of the way that a sci-fi film could potentially showcase real science, differentiating between movie and theory in a way that celebrates both the truth of the science and the imagination of the storytellers.

Avatar
The site for the film features an Adobe Air application which allows users to download an interactive trailer to their desktops that includes regularly updated newsfeeds and links to external content on sites such as YouTube and Twitter. The site creates a community by incorporating social networking tools such as the Typepad community and Facebook Connect.  

Routes Project
This groundbreaking multi-platform exploration of genetics and bio-ethics used a variety of platforms to engage a young audience. The science underpinning Routes was developed in partnership with the Wellcome Trust as part of the Darwin200 program celebrating the bicentenary of Darwin's birth. It included the following elements:

• An eight-part online mini series called ROUTES in which Katherine Ryan, a Canadian stand up comic, submits herself to a series of genetic tests by 23andme. The Routes website tracked Katherine's progress as a video documentary.
• The site featured community challenges and flash based games based on genetics. Taking part allowed users to amass points. The highest scorers each week were entered into a prize drawing for a chance to win a gaming console.
• A corresponding fictional murder mystery intertwined with the documentary. Eight 4-5 minute episodes aired online and on Channel 4. The audience could delve deeper into the mystery through character video blogs, images from the "investigation" on Flickr, and SMS/text clues.
• Live promotional events included a launch event and comedy show.

**A special thanks to Alistair Jeffs from Oil whom we Skyped in during the panel to talk about the details of the Routes project.

Agency Credit: Oil

First Fridays @ the Natural History Museum: Darwin & Plants and Animals

Last night I attended First Fridays, a monthly event at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles. A fusion of science and culture, the evening featured DJ’s, discussions and live bands, not to mention booze and tasty vittles.

First stop, the African Mammal Hall, where we ate dinner in front of the antelope display while listening to The Phatal DJ and DJ Kutmah spin in front of the elephants. Definitely a different experience than the cafeteria meals in the basement I was forced to endure on school trips to the Museum of Natural History in NYC!

Next we headed up to the "Darwin's Evolution" discussion with Lyanda Lynn Haupt, author of Rare Encounters with Ordinary Birds, Pilgrim on the Great Bird Continent and the forthcoming Crow Planet. She explored the life of Darwin using little known-letters, diaries and notebooks. Cute and peppy, she clearly has a love for Darwin and his birds...so much so that she told us a story about her husband feeling like there were three people in their marriage: Haupt, her husband and the Father of Evolution.

We had mainly come to First Fridays to see Plants and Animals, the Montreal band that would be playing later in the evening (check out the cool pics below from photographer Sal Rodriguez). The Darwin chat was a bonus. Having no idea what to expect from the event, I didn’t know if Haupt would have an audience. Therefore, it was very cool to walk into the Hall (there were more animals, but I don’t remember from which continent or time period), and see a packed room. Not only were all the seats filled, but people were lounging on the floors, drinking wine, totally digging the Darwin chat.

Couple of things Haupt shared which I found especially interesting:

• Darwin’s notes were full of self-deprecating humor. According to Haupt, “Like Charlotte Bronte making fun of herself.” I’ve heard Darwin compared to many things, but never Ms. Bronte...
• It’s a myth that Darwin was the official naturalist for The Beagle, the ship upon which  he sailed to the Galápagos Islands. He was actually invited along as a companion by Captain Robert FitzRoy, who was quite depressed. Being a Captain was lonely business, and the previous captain had shot himself, so FitzRoy thought it best to take along someone to keep him company.
• Darwin was Fitzroy’s fourth choice for the journey (hmmm, I can’t imagine why his first three choices turned him down...2 years on a boat with a melancholy leader...fun!). But according to Haupt, both Darwin and FitzRoy loved Jane Austen, so the Captain couldn’t have been too disappointed.
• The original voyage was supposed to last two years, but lasted almost five. Darwin spent most of his time on land exploring. He actually only spent about 18 months on the boat, which was probably a good thing, given that he suffered from perpetual seasickness.
• Darwin was originally studying to be a clergyman, and started off as a creationist.

We snuck out of the Haupt chat a bit early to head downstairs to find a good spot to hear the band. The sound in the hall was a little muddy, but overall we loved the show. Was great to hear them in such an intimate venue, though petite folk like myself beware: get in early so you can get a spot near the front or else you won’t be able to see anything.

When we emerged back out into the main lobby, the line for the bar snaked all the way around the dinosaur skeleton and people were already waiting to get in for the next band, The Little Ones We ducked into the Gem Hall for a look at the sparkling, shiny crystals and geodes. I’ve always been fascinated by rocks (did I mention I have a sand collection?), so I would have been into the exhibit no matter what, but wandering amidst the gemstones late at night with the sounds of a DJ floating was pretty friggin’ cool. In general, being in a museum at night always gives me a teeny illicit thrill because of reading From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler a gazillion times as a kid. 

We called it a night at about 9:30pm, but clearly, others were just getting started. So often we bemoan the lack of culture in Los Angeles. First Fridays proved that there are unique cool things to do in LA – you just have to be willing to share your evening with a dinosaur or two.

Photo credit: Sal Rodriguez