These youngsters and their rap music : Pharyngula

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« Another review of Miller's recent talk | Main | What's John Holbo doing now? »

These youngsters and their rap music

Category: Entertainment
Posted on: April 14, 2009 5:54 PM, by PZ Myers

I'd say that's pretty groovy, but then they'd kick me out of the hep cats club, wouldn't they?

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Comments

Posted by: GaryB, FCD | April 14, 2009 6:01 PM

Looks like these youngsters are doing things we should have been doing 30 years ago.

Posted by: Alex | April 14, 2009 6:07 PM

Eh, I didn't like it very much, but to each their own I guess.

Posted by: Glen Davidson | April 14, 2009 6:07 PM

I always think of "Christian rock" and other attempts of the uncool to be cool when I see and hear junk like this.

This sort of framing is most questionable due to the fact that it really doesn't work.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592

Posted by: AJ Milne | April 14, 2009 6:08 PM

It'd say that's pretty groovy...

It's their happening, baby, and it freaks me out.

Posted by: JD | April 14, 2009 6:08 PM

Team .05

Posted by: BrainFromArous | April 14, 2009 6:08 PM

I liked the science shout-outs, but the rap completely sucks.

Posted by: AJ Milne | April 14, 2009 6:19 PM

I always think of "Christian rock" and other attempts of the uncool to be cool when I see and hear junk like this.

Subtle but important difference: I'm pretty sure these guys know they're not really cool, and they're not really pretending to be terribly hard, either...

See also: y'know how the wild and crazy guys will never be cool, but Steve Martin always sorta was?

But y'know how it is with humour like this. Which is to say: I've said too much already.

Posted by: GaryB, FCD | April 14, 2009 6:23 PM

Doesn't matter how well it was done, what does matter is they're making science something more than just geeks are interested in and making geeks feel a little less uncool.

Science is the most powerful tool against the irrational, it should be made cool enough to encourage geeks and nongeeks to pursue it. Even bad rap helps this along.

Posted by: Lana | April 14, 2009 6:27 PM

I'm getting jiggy with it. (Is that how you spell it?)

#10

Posted by: Duae Quartunciae | April 14, 2009 6:28 PM

I too, am fluent with the slang used by young people. I have been for many years. I also learned it all back in the 60s. I don't understand why people keep laughing at me.

#11

Posted by: Fred the Hun | April 14, 2009 6:54 PM

I have a geeky 14 year old science nerd who will be going to public high school next year here in South Florida. I doubt that most of his classmates will be down with science kickin some ass, so I'll just save this in case he needs a little ammo for self defense so to speak.

#12

Posted by: Slaan | April 14, 2009 6:54 PM

The lord privy seal! ARGH!

Pretty decent otherwise

#13

Posted by: JThompson | April 14, 2009 7:19 PM

"Get dope by osmosis"?
Last time I tried that I woke up three days later in the hospital with chemical burns, no wallet, a pounding headache, and a warrant out for my arrest.
Are these really the values we should be teaching children?

@Glen D
This will probably never be viewed by anyone that isn't already familiar with science, so it's not like it's really a framing issue. It's more like an inside joke.
Nothing will ever be as bad as Christian rock. Nothing can top a Stryper wanna-be banging on a guitar and yelling about how "cool" he is because he's saving himself for marriage. Especially when he's 35.

#14

Posted by: The Chemist | April 14, 2009 7:33 PM

Sorry, what? Cold fusion? I thought this was about science.

#15

Posted by: Larry | April 14, 2009 7:37 PM

>#6 "I liked the science shout-outs, but the rap completely sucks."

I agree. They covered a lot of science.

#16

Posted by: Hypocee | April 14, 2009 8:21 PM

I felt the opposite - the science shoutouts felt awkward but the jargon rap was good fun. Rhyming "mitosis" and "meiosis" is pathetic cheating, but "yo we're the dopest/stand by us get dope through osmosis!" actually made me smile.

http://www.mchawking.com/mp3s/

#17

Posted by: Big City | April 14, 2009 8:54 PM

These "white nerd" "raps" stopped being funny after, like, the second one. Pair that with the horrifying technique of Google-image-search montage, and you've got a truly mediocre project on your hands.

#18

Posted by: genesgalore | April 14, 2009 9:05 PM

i've lost mt event horizon and don't know where to find it.

#19

Posted by: NewEnglandBob | April 14, 2009 9:17 PM

Impressive collection of pictures. I also don't care for rap.

#20

Posted by: NewEnglandBob | April 14, 2009 9:19 PM

Oh yeah, Lana @9, there is an ointment for that jiggy.

#21

Posted by: Ranson | April 14, 2009 10:14 PM

Meh. He's no MC Frontalot.

#22

Posted by: Jeremy S | April 14, 2009 11:09 PM

I kind of liked it, moreso than other songs/videos of this type, and it kind of reminded me of "Here and Now" by The Ernies, but nerdier:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6BJn5BNlMQ&feature=related

#23

Posted by: Mary | April 14, 2009 11:55 PM

Seriously people, lighten up!

This is obviously a bit of (amusing) satire by a bunch of science geeks (college freshman?) - it's not an attempt to be hip in the way that christian rockers try to make God "cool". It's a little vehicle that allows the "uber nerd community" to have a laugh at themselves.

Sheesh, you sound like the people who complain that "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" is a biased news outlet!

My favourite line from the rap "...Marie Curie's ass is fine..."

Bwahahaha!

#24

Posted by: Autumn | April 15, 2009 12:39 AM

I think that the cadence of this is actually about a decade ahead of most "novelty" raps. The structure is late nineties instead of late eighties. It lacks the complexities of the best examples of rap from the turn of the century, but is much better than the LHC rap.
That said, if one doesn't like the genre, then one is not likely to appreciate potential reasons why this is better, in my opinion, than all the other science raps I've seen.
Think of it this way: if someone tells you that they don't really listen to rock and roll, but they like the Beach Boys, giving them a Rage Against the Machine album is unlikely to make them like rock and roll (did I really just say "album?"), even though there is a progression of Southern Californian rock directly connecting the two bands.

#25

Posted by: LRA | April 15, 2009 12:42 AM

That was straight dope mo fo's!!!! Kick yo' ass with science!

(please note that I am a silly Texan girl who actually hates rap most of the time, but loves it when it all comes together!!!)

#26

Posted by: Azkyroth | April 15, 2009 1:00 AM

Nothing can top a Stryper wanna-be banging on a guitar and yelling about how "cool" he is because he's saving himself for marriage.

...except maybe Ted Haggard. ;)

#27

Posted by: Aquaria | April 15, 2009 1:11 AM

Nothing can top a Stryper wanna-be banging on a guitar and yelling about how "cool" he is because he's saving himself for marriage.

I dunno. The Kurt Cobain wannabes were really awful.

But wannabe emo is absolutely the worst.

If hell exists, those goofballs zip right past Dante's 9 circles and straight to that spot by Satan's left nut. Satan would save that just for them.

#28

Posted by: IBYea | April 15, 2009 2:31 AM

As much as I think the music sucks, I admit, there is a certain charm to it. ^_^ Also, kicking ass with science is an advice everyone should take. :)

#29

Posted by: rodiel | April 15, 2009 3:03 AM

I like it. Well, not Greydon Square, but I can geek out to it *pops head like that doggie novelty item* and the content is nice.

But then again, I'm a collector of science songs...

#30

Posted by: Leigh Williams | April 15, 2009 3:40 AM

I think it's Far Out, especially the space pictures. And I have a 15-year-old geeky white kid spawn who's going to think this is the cat's pj's.

But seriously, people, it's Nerd Rap, a subgenre of music that simultaneously pokes self-referential fun at us geeks and exalts science. It may also be caricaturing bad rap, but I'm no expert on that art form. Autumn can probably tell us.

It can hardly be compared to Christian rock; its level of self-awareness guarantees that it rises above.

In any case, the genius of the whole nerd subculture is our adamant assurance that smart stuff is way cooler than dumb stuff, and that a nerd is therefore the Coolest of the Cool. QED.

#31

Posted by: Cosmic Teapot | April 15, 2009 4:49 AM

Cool, daddy-o

#32

Posted by: Strangest brew | April 15, 2009 6:42 AM

If one sentence or even one word makes someone ask themselves...'what is that?'...or ....'what does that mean? ...I will have to find out!'

Then it is a hit...

Not saying it will...but it is more then possible when these oddities are publicly available... then if they are not.

It is not a serious attempt at the charts...nor at being particularly politically topical...it is a bunch of guys that love science enough to write a rap about it...that alone is reason not to slag it...it was fun...simple like so!

#33

Posted by: Ranson | April 15, 2009 7:19 AM

This song, ultimately, would fall under the banner of Nerdcore hip hop.

Like all music, some is good, some really stinks, and some folks are just figuring it out. I'm not sure where I put this song on that range.

#34

Posted by: daveau | April 15, 2009 10:33 AM

Now you're cookin' with gas!

#35

Posted by: Ryan van Eerdewijk | April 15, 2009 10:34 AM

I knew that beat sounded familiar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBCq-Z08OEs

#36

Posted by: Dahan | April 15, 2009 11:31 AM