Wu-Tang and Science Are For The Children

Courtesy of I Love Hip Hop

I love science. I love rap. The Science Genius B.A.T.T.L.E.S. (Bring Attention to Transforming Teaching, Learning and Engagement in Science) competition combines both science and rap gracefully.  Teams write raps about science topics such as DNA structure. Kids learn science within the competitive spirit and creativity of hip hop culture.  

Best of all, the Wu-Tang's GZA is one of the judges. He's been involved with other science initiatives with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, which I blogged about earlier.

Many of songs are are included on RapGenius which you can find here.

NPR's Code Switch blog has a great quote which sums up my feelings about STEM education.

"Not every student is going to be a straight-A student, and go on to college and declare a science major and be the next Einstein," he says. "But through this project we definitely are going to have more scientifically literate young people."

Check out a 7 minute documentary from NPR's Science Desk. 

Neil DeGrasse Tyson & the GZA

I grew up on hip hop and science, so I was thrilled to see The GZA appear on an episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson's Star Talk. It's fun to watch because they are both fans of each other.  The genuine interest and respect for one another's work is incredibly apparent. My favorite part is around 16 minutes, when they talk about how current hip hop isn't "literate" and how many artists nowadays don't have a muse. A little later, during a great conversation about violence in hip hop , Tyson compares the artful use of lyrics to one of the film masters, as "Hitchcock forces you to fill in the blanks". Check it out below! 

If you can't see the video below, click here.