Fridays@3: Baba Brinkman

Event Date: 3/26/2021 3:00:00 PM Baba Brinkman is a rap artist, science communicator, and award-winning playwright based in New York, NY. Best known for his “Rap Guide” series of science-themed plays and albums, he has toured the world and enjoyed successful runs at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and off-Broadway. The series so far includes Rap Guides to Evolution, Human Nature, Religion, Climate Change, Consciousness, and the brand-new Rap Guide to Culture. Called “Astonishing and brilliant” by the New York Times, Brinkman is a Scotsman Fringe First Award winner for Exceptional New Writing, and a two-time Drama Desk Award Nominee, for “Outstanding Solo Performance” and “Unique Theatrical Experience”. He has performed live on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” and shared stages with science luminaries including Stephen Hawking and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Brinkman is also a winner of the National Center for Science Education’s “Friend of Darwin Award” for his efforts to popularize evolutionary biology. In addition to his science rap, Brinkman is a pioneer in the genre of “lit-hop” or literary hip-hop, with rap adaptations of Beowulf, Gilgamesh, and Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. Brinkman’s tours and performs regularly and has spoken at several TEDx conferences and performed at the World Science Festival. His latest science/rap/comedy show, about the neuroscience of consciousness, recently concluded an eight-month run off-Broadway at the Soho Playhouse.
Brinkman’s rap on climate chaos breaks down the politics, economics, and physical science of global warming, following its surprising twists from the carbon cycle to the energy economy, in a pull-no-punches hip-hop manifesto that confronts both the scale of the challenge and also the failings of human psychology that make it such an easy problem to ignore.
After the rap session, Brinkman will perform an improvisation based on audience input. Be prepared to submit your ideas through the Q+A.