‘Ottawa’ The ‘Peer-Reviewed’ Rapper: Baba Brinkman Brings Scientific Hip Hop to Ottawa
Baba Brinkman calls himself the “peer-reviewed” rapper.
The New York City-based hip-hop artist tends to delve into subject matter you won’t find on the latest Drake album, rhyming about topics like evolution, genetics, medieval literature and urban sprawl.
On Monday night, Brinkman — who grew up planting trees for his family’s business in remote British Columbia — brought his literate, scientifically-accurate rap to Library and Archives Canada.
Before the show, however, he stopped by the CBC All In A Day studios to talk about a few tracks from The Rap Guide to The Wilderness — including one song, “Seed Pod,” inspired in part by the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the far northern reaches of Norway.
“Biodivesity, loss and extinction is a real threat that the world is facing. But there’s something that tickles the imagination about the idea that we can actually save seeds and, once the conditions are right, bring species back,” Brinkman told All In A Day host Alan Neal.
“It’s trying to, like, walk that line between hope and despair. Because if you look at how many species are going extinct on an annual basis — you kind of naturally get depressed.”