And once I saw those connections, I would bring them into my physics class, explore them with the young people, and that's where the pedagogical practice began.įLATOW: I'm interested in learning: What connections did you see between science and hip-hop?ĮMDIN: Dude, the connections are endless, right? So, you know, first thing is the iconic role that science has played in society, and it's almost analogous to the role that hip-hop artists play within the hip-hop community. It was in the way they dressed and the way they spoke and the way they interacted with each other.Īnd so I started studying hip-hop more closely, and then I started seeing the connections between science and hip-hop. And then I was excited about it, and got to classrooms, and kids would snore, just not be interested.Īnd then I just started studying, you know, what do I need to know to get them to be engaged in science? What do I need to sort of study to get them to understand science? And it was hip-hop. I'm a science geek, conducted research for years on etiology of schizophrenia and, you know, extracellular matrix molecules. How did you come up with the idea to do this, Christopher?ĮMDIN: You know, Science Genius started about a decade ago, when I was a teacher in New York City public schools trying to find a way to get young people to be excited about science.
She' probably stuck in traffic, like everybody else here in New York. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.įLATOW: And we're expecting Alicia Duncan, who was a finalist in the competition. You're in Harlem, right here in New York. Welcome to SCIENCE FRIDAY.įLATOW: And Jalib Johnson is the winner of the Science Genius battles, and he's a senior at Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts.įLATOW: Wow, we just missed it. Let me introduce them.Ĭhristopher Emdin is the author of "Urban Science Education for the Hip-Hop Generation." He's also associate professor of science education at Teachers College at Columbia University, here in New York. A couple of those musicians are here to perform their compositions, along with a Columbia professor who is the hip-hop star, GZA - who, with the hip-hop star GZA, found a science rap competition here in New York. You know, talking about physics, biology, geology, you name it, and they're turning it into rhyme. That, of course - that's a student here in New York, Jahleel Cephus, and he says that learning rap is much better way to learn than talking about science. If we're talking rocks, then let's talk organic, sandstone, coal and that inorganic.įLATOW: Yeah, I'd like to go the second way. JAHLEEL CEPHUS: (Rapping) If we're talking rocks, let's talk metallic, metamorphic, cementation and compaction. UNIDENTIFIED MAN: First of all, the substance of moraines are merely the rocks that have been chipped off from the sides of the containing rock mountains, let's say.įLATOW: (Snoring) Oh, excuse me. Would you rather learn geology from this guy? Someone who has sold ideals and thus also puts his creativity at risk, the influences that have brought him here.This is SCIENCE FRIDAY. Someone who "acts like", but isn't whatever. No boy from the hood anymore, but a boy for the media. Someone with a God-complex (every day a n.). An Asshole who don't care for the fealings of other People (Well, i love my baby = very sarcastic/cynical). Like a former badboy rapper, who now can not do without his daily afternoon tea anymore. Starboy has the meaning of a womanizer, but you could interpret it differently. Maybe it's just the anger on himself who broke the promise. But the reproach (look what you've done) seems to mean more that he will not get rid of the ghosts he called. More important is that he has recognized it. With the sign of morality (The Cross, In Pink, which makes it a bit untrustworthy), he rampse through the luxury apartment to symbolically distance himself from meaningless trash, kitsch and the sign of inner loneliness It is the attempt of a new beginning. He accuses him: "Look what you have done (I am a motherfucking Starboy)", and he accepts in a very split manner the responsibility for the heightened ego that he has acquired. The Wknd kills his old ego, which requires a great hatred. General CommentThe song is interspersed with sarcasm. We don't pray for love, we just pray for cars Now she hit the grocery shop looking lavishĪ hundred on the dash get me close to God Legend of the fall took the year like a bandit I'm in the blue Mulsanne bumping New Edition
You talkin' 'bout me, I don't see the shadeĬoming for the king, that's a far cry, ah Then she clean it with her face, man, I love my baby, ah