Darwin, the Hipster
Charles Darwin, 1879 (credit: UK National Archives)
It's unlikely you ever considered the 19th Century naturalist, Charles Darwin, would become a rage on performance stages now.
One of the latest incarnations of Darwinian thought is expressed by the Canadian performance artist Baba Brinkman in a stage show, The Rap Guide to Evolution/Revisited. Brinkman admonishes us by saying: "don't sleep with mean people because mean people hold the gene pool for ransom", and this set to hip-hop beats and rap rhymes.
The Rap Guide to Evolution/Revisited (credit: New York Times)
The biologist and author, Olivia Judson, called Brinkman's show on Darwin "one of the most astonishing, and brilliant, lectures on evolution I've ever seen" in comments to the New York Times. Another recognition bestowed on the great naturalist, the Darwin Awards that brings recognition to those who have "eliminated themselves from the gene pool, improving our species' chances of survival", has been immortalized in a song. Daniel Boling, a singer/songwriter, has written, Darwin's Pride & Joy, to commemorate the irreverent awards. The hilarious song is seen in a performance video:
Who knew Darwin would become such a hipster?
WHB