New Zealand Science Idol 2012 is upon us. It’s a chance for any student, teacher, or science lover above the age of eight to share their passion for a scientific topic via music or spoken word.
Allow me to introduce it:
Entries are due by 17 June 2012, so get started now!
I’ll be going on a tour of schools across New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin) over the next two weeks to perform new songs, promote school science, and get some buzz going for the competition.
The competition is part of the 2012 New Zealand International Science Festival. There are tons of details about the competition on the festival website here.
Even though I’m only hitting the huge urban centers in New Zealand, I’m hoping that people across NZ will get involved. In order to facilitate that, I have a series of video tutorials to walk you through the entire process from writing lyrics to performing your song.
I’d like to give a special thanks to KlabLab for allowing use of their audio templates and for sponsoring prizes for the category winners. I’d also like to thank the U.S. embassy for sponsoring the tour. And the Centre for Science Communication at the University of Otago for allowing me to do all of this as part of my Masters thesis.
I just came across a great paper on learning through educational songs. Can watching Schoolhouse Rock help people memorize the Preamble to the Constitution of the United States?
Researchers found it did. The video is above, and the paper is here.
The most interesting nuance I found in the paper was the role of repetition. It’s not necessarily that music is stored and recalled in a privileged way (though that is not ruled out). But it is certainly true that the more times you go over something, the more likely you are to remember it. So if songs (via catchiness and getting stuck in your head) cause you to repeat something over and over, they may improve recall more effectively than a single reading of a textbook whose words aren’t so “sticky”.
The other nuance, which wasn’t discussed much, is that these authors were only testing verbatim recall: how perfectly people could remember every word of the Preamble. They were not testing anything deeper, such as the meaning or principles that those words represent. Just raw memorization. Thats an area I hope to expand on in my work.
But their combination of long-term follow-up and randomized control trials is very similar to the methodology I’ve got cookin’ over here in New Zealand. More Schoolhouse Rock videos can be found here.
The “Science is Rock and Roll” thing has been around for a while, but I figured it deserved a shoutout here.
That video sums up the basics of the program. Will.i.am. brought a ton of starpower (Obama, Bieber, etc.) to a robotic competition that was trying to gain some more publicity. Seems like it worked.
Know anybody who was involved in this event? Was it as awesome as it looks?
Have you ever noticed the number of references that OutKast makes to bread making? Dough. Bread. Cheese. Money – how it’s made and how it’s spent.
The wordplay makes you chuckle, and sometimes gives you that “I love hip hop feeling”. But Andre 3000 and Big Boi don’t just drop a clever pun every now and then. They weave metaphors into poetic storytelling over evocative production.
So let’s use their breadaphors to explore why OutKast is the greatest duo in hip hop history.
Example #1: “Stickin’ together like flour and water to make that slow dough”
- Big Boi, “Return of the G”, Aquemeni (1998).
After a jaw-dropping verse by Andre (“Let’s talk about time travelin’, rhyme javelin.” Full lyrics here), Big Boi continues the retort against the group’s post-ATLiens (1996) haters. He uses our first bread-making analogy to explain the stylistic mixture that is OutKast (2:07).
“Stickin’ together like flour and water to make that slow dough.
We worked for everything we have
And gon’ stick up for each other like
We brothers from another mother.
Kinda like Mel Gibson and Danny Glover.”
Flour. Water. Just compare the typical garb of Big Boi and Dre.
Flour and water. OutKast performing in 2001. Credit: Joe Goldberg.
Put them together. Give them some time. And let the dough roll in. The dough-making ability of OutKast is remarkable actually. I can’t think of any other hip hop group who’ve attained such astronomical commercial success (remember “Hey Ya”?) via albums so creative, honest, soulful, and experimental.
If only there was a song in which they explored this meteoric rise.
Example #2: “Yeast was the street.”
– Andre 3000, “A Day in the Life of Andre Benjamin (Incomplete)”, The Love Below (2003)
Speakerboxxx & The Love Below were technically released together, though they are distinct projects. Big Boi sticks to his traditional southern hip hop bangers. Dre takes a rap hiatus to explore soul, pop, funk, and jazz.
But on the last song on the album, Three Stacks reminds us of his godly lyrical talent. “A Day in the Life…” gives an autobiographical account of Andre’s music career (full lyrics here). I am still appreciating new layers to this song after a bakers dozen worth of listens.
The bread theme comes in when Andre tells of his decision to give up alcohol and weed, and switch up his musical style. (3:00)
I hadn’t smoked or took a shot of drink
Cause I’d start the second album off on another note.
Now that note threw some n****s in the hood off.
But see I balled out – and ‘for I’d fall out
I’d slow my (Caddi)lac down to a nice speed.
The brain was that fried egg I might need
New direction was apparent (a parent)
I was a child looking at the floor staring.
So changing my style was like relief for the primitive beast. Yes I was on the rise, yeast was the street. To make bread – never primary concern. Just to hop on these beats and wait my turn.
I’d meet Muslims, gangstas, bitches, rastas
And macaroni n**** – im-pastas (imposters).
Yeast producing CO2 bubbles. Flickr photo by treehouse1977, creative commons
[*Science break: Enzymes in baker’s yeast break starch down into glucose, a simple sugar. Other enzymes turn sugar into ATP (energy!), with alcohol & CO2 gas as a byproduct. The alcohol evaporates in the oven, and the CO2 gas bubbles leave air pockets in the leavened bread. Ah, if only there was a rap music video on glycolysis.]
So as Andre switched up his style to something more unique, he rose to new creative heights. And what was the key ingredient in that rise? Yeast was “the street”, the inspiration for the gritty storytelling that made ATLiens and Aquemeni so powerful.
And even though “making bread” wasn’t the primary concern, both those albums went double platinum. Mainstream rap doesn’t always concern itself with such thematic and stylistic depth. Are you starting to gather what I’m getting at?
Example #3: “Street scholars majoring in culinary arts. You know – how to work bread, cheese, & dough.”
-Andre 3ooo,“Aquemeni”, Aquemeni (1998)
Andre’s verse on “Aquemeni” (1:50) is a perfect example of what The Source called the album’s “superb use of the urban narrative” – the yeast that raises Andre’s skill up to hip hop Mt. Olympus. Full lyrics here.
Twice upon a time, there was a boy who died.
And lived happily ever after but that’s another chapter.
Live from – home of the brave, with dirty dollars,
And beauty parlors, and baby ballas, and bowling ball impalas. And street scholars majoring in culinary arts. You know, how to work bread, cheese, and dough From scratch. But see the catch is you can get caught.
Know what ya sellin’ what you bought. So cut that big talk.
Let’s walk to the bridge. Meet me halfway.
Now you may see some children dead off in the pathway.
It’s them poor babies walkin’ slowly to the candy lady.
It’s lookin’ bad, need some hope
Like the words maybe, if, or probably. More than a hobby,
When my turntables get wobbly they don’t fall.
I’m sorry y’all I often drift. I’m talking’ gift.
So when it comes you never look the horse inside its grill.
Of course you know I feel like the bearer of bad news.
Don’t want to be it, but it’s needed, so what have you.
Now question: is every n**** with dreads for the cause?
Is every n**** with golds for the fall?
Naw, so don’t get caught up in appearance.
It’s OutKast, Aquemeni. Another black experience.
Here the culinary arts refer to the drug game. Its a seductive option, offered to youth by the metaphorical candy lady. It dangles the promise of bread, cheese, and dough – from scratch. But there are risks. You can get caught. Or you can be found dead off in the pathway.
A baby baller, working dough. Credit: Creative commons (Moonsun1981)
This verse (though I could’ve picked a dozen others) sums up Andre’s talent and OutKast’s genius. Beautiful language and imagery. Clever wordplay. A non-judgmental yet heavy-hearted urban narrative. Gripping stories. And thought-provoking questions.
The cautionary tales continued from Aquemeni into Stankonia (1999). And although that album took them to even more commercial success (“Ms. Jackson” & “B.O.B.”), they continued to spit wisdom and bakery symbolism.
Example #4: “I’ma bake my cheese and let my mic flow.”
– Big Boi, “Red Velvet”, Stankonia(1999).
On “Red Velvet”, baked goods are the driving metaphor of the entire song, exemplified by the chorus (1:01). Full lyrics here.
“Cause they know where you live
and they’ve seen what ya drive
And they say they gonna put one in your helmet.
Cause you brag ‘bout that watch,
and all them things that you got. Them dirty boys will
turn your pound cake to red velvet.”
Red Velvet. Photo courtesy of creative commons copywrite via russiansilver flickstream at flickr.com
If you flaunt your wealth, you’re inviting people to rob you violently.
In Big Boi’s first verse, he compares this to his own financial philosophy (0:38):
“For what though?
Some diamonds and a Bentley what you dyin’ for?
Aight ho, I’ma bake my cheese
And let my mic flow. Priorities to live through.
Tell these other n****s
How you bought yo’ kid some tennis shoes.
Let these brothers know
That your momma she got her house too.
Let these n****s know that your sister wouldn’t have
Finished college without you.”
His message: rather than bragging about flashy status symbols, brag about investing in family. Instead of letting cheese (money) flow, let your mic flow. And bake that cheese in the oven so it gets bigger and bigger. Mmmmm… baked cheese.
Just like in “Return of the G”, OutKast redefines what it means to be gangster – and what it means to be a responsible breadwinner.
***
So if you like hip hop at its finest, dip into OutKast’s back catalogue and give these albums a listen. Carefully and repeatedly. And however you make your bread, spend it wisely.
I’ve been getting my academia on lately. If I don’t test the efficacy of science rap music videos in schools – who will? So in an attempt to catapult my research to the highest levels of social science rigor, I’ve been talking to anybody at the University of Otago with an expertise vaguely (and it’s bound to be only vaguely) related to science rap video education.
My latest trip has taken me to the shadowy forests of SkepticLand – a place I find both entertaining and invigorating. I’m feeling particularly motivated by a 1994 article by Richard E. Clark, an Educational Psychology professor at USC. I’ve borrowed the article’s title for this blog post.
Here is a highlight:
We begin with an enthusiasm for some medium… and search for a sufficient and visible context in which to establish evidence for our solution. Negative evidence is suspect and we are predisposed to believe that it is flawed… Positive evidence is accepted easily because it confirms our expectations and helps to attract research support… If we begin by implicitly and explicitly attempting to validate a belief about the solutions to largely unexamined problems, we are less open to evidence that our intuitions might be very far off the mark.
Such problems (which should be the starting point for research) include the need to “increase achievement, or access to instruction, or to address the labor intensiveness of instruction”.
The more I see myself in Clark’s straw man researcher seeking to validate the legitimacy of his own favored solution (science rap), the more fired up I get about doing things right. Simply formulating the problem I’m aiming to solve as “too many students aren’t engaged in the science classroom,” isn’t going to cut it.
One goal is to better formulate the “problem” I’m addressing by talking to more middle school science teachers on the front lines. Know any 7th or 8th grade California science teachers who would be happy to chat with me? Hit me up!
Another goal is to become familiar enough with the literature and the shortcomings of my methods to be able to sit comfortably in SkepticLand myself.
And if I put in enough work… “Point the biggest skeptic out, I’ll make ‘em a believer.” Tell ‘em Drake (at 1:33).
I’ve been getting a lot of requests for the lyrics to this jam.
Thanks to a NYT blog post and a Robert Krulwich shoutout, this is by far the most popular video to date, coming in at 400,000 hits and growing. It seems to be used by high school and college teachers all over the country. So to make all of their lives easier…
If you are a student or teacher using the song feel free to post how you use it in the comments section. I hope having access to these lyrics doesn’t screw up your activities
As required by our friendly neighborhood federal government: This is not an official website. The views and information presented here are my own, and do not represent the Fulbright Program or the U.S. Department of State.
