Baba has performed at in-person and virtual events produced by Google, IBM, TEDx, Accenture, Alteryx, Tricentis, DLD, BSR, AGU, and The World Parks Congress. His sets combine science-themed rap songs with improvised freestyles incorporating word suggestions from the crowd, as well as custom-written “Rap Up” summaries that provide an uplifting conclusion to any event. See below for the full set of custom-content offerings available.
Bookings
Events
Rap Up
A “Rap Up” is a custom-written song that summarizes an event, composed during the proceedings and performed as the grande finale, an exercise in rapid-fire creativity and a unique comedy experience.
A cross between a lyrical sketch artist and a stand-up comic, Baba celebrates and satirizes in his signature tongue-in-cheek punchline style, name-checking each of the speakers and weaving the event’s central messages into an original rap anthem, tailored and performed exclusively for your attendees.
More Rap Up Videos
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TEP Rap Up - The Compass
This rap by Baba Brinkman summarizes the ideas from The Entrepreneur's Playbook / Entrepreneurial Strategy class -- https://www.ent-strategy.org/
Learn more about Baba Brinkman and Rap Up sets at https://www.eventrap.com/ -
Contentment Foundation – Baba Brinkman Rap Up
Baba Brinkman attends the 2022 "State of the Union" meeting for the Contentment Foundation and creates an on-site rap summary of their mission and new initiatives.
Learn more about the Contentment Foundation:
https://www.contentment.org/
Learn more about rap ups and book yours:
https://www.eventrap.com/ -
AirMiners Conference Rap Up - Baba Brinkman (May 13th, 2020)
May 13th, 2020
Rap Up performed LIVE by the incredible Baba Brinkman: https://bababrinkman.com/
At the AirMiners Conference: Foundations for a Carbon Negative Future http://airminers.org/
Our Zoom audience of 300+ attendees LOVED it
"Baba is a master"
"that rhyme with carbonic anhydrase is a mic drop"
"Baba! Blow my mind! Genius!"
"Baba killing it!"
"Baba soaked up knowledge like a sponge, how does he do it?"
"Skillz on the mic, yo!"
Featuring inspiration from:
Kim Stanley Robinson : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Stanley_Robinson
Dr. Klaus Lackner : https://www.linkedin.com/in/klaus-lackner/
Dr. Lisa Dyson : https://www.linkedin.com/in/dysonlisa/
The Seastars : http://theseastars.com/
Alexsandra Guerrera : https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexsandraguerra/
Eri Gentry : https://www.linkedin.com/in/erigentry/
Nicholas Eisenberger : https://www.linkedin.com/in/neisenberger/
Diego Saez-Gil (Pachama): https://www.linkedin.com/in/dsaezgil/
Heidi Lim (Opus 12): https://www.linkedin.com/in/heidiheidilim/
Dr. Peter Eisenberger (Global Thermostat): https://www.linkedin.com/in/peter-eisenberger-17322766/
Christian Shearer (Regen Networks): https://www.linkedin.com/in/christian-shearer-b8877312/
Daniel Egger (Climeworks): https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-egger-b16ba5174/
Jason Grillo : https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasongrillo/
Tito Jankowski : https://www.linkedin.com/in/titojankowski/
Beat by Mr. Simmonds http://mrsimmonds.com/ -
Meteorite: Clara Maurel's PhD Defense – Baba Brinkman Rap Up
Baba Brinkman performs a rap up summary of Dr. Clara Maurel's PhD thesis defense presentation, earning her doctorate at MIT, June 11 2021. Rap your PhD!
Learn more about rap ups:
https://www.eventrap.com/
Learn more about Dr. Maurel's research:
https://news.mit.edu/2020/origin-rare-meteorites-0724
https://als.lbl.gov/meteorites-reveal-magnetic-record-of-protoplanet-churn/ -
CIFAR Flow Rap Up 4
Baba Brinkman performs a Rap Up at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research "Neuroscience of Flow" virtual meeting, December 4, 2020.
Learn more:
https://www.eventrap.com/ -
IRG100 Awards 2021 – Baba Brinkman Rap Up
Baba Brinkman performs a rap summary of the Institute for Real Growth year-end awards ceremony, celebrating winner Andisa Tsubane for his "Vaccinate Africa" campaign, as well as the four shortlisted nominees.
Learn more about rap ups:
https://www.eventrap.com/
Learn more about Baba Brinkman:
https://www.eventrap.com/artist/baba-brinkman/
Learn more about IRG:
https://instituteforrealgrowth.com/
Custom Rap
Baba frequently produces commissioned rap songs and music videos that synthesize complex ideas into a fun and accessible format tailor-made for social media. Baba’s informative rap videos are also popular with teachers as a classroom engagement-tool (see RapGuide.com).
Commissioned Music Videos
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Social Contagion – Baba Brinkman Music Video
The study of network effects and social dynamics and the impact of 'viral' information on individual and group behavior is a new scientific field that cuts across marketing, journalism, the arts, digital media, and technology.
Made with support from Northwestern University and inspired by the Networks and Social Dynamics class taught by Prof Dashun Wang at the Northwestern University Kellogg School of Management.
Learn more about Professor Wang's research:
https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/faculty/directory/wang_dashun.aspx
Learn more about custom raps and book yours:
https://www.eventrap.com/ -
Insulate It – Baba Brinkman Music Video
Buildings are 40% of emissions and 90% of the ones that we live in today are gonna be with us after 2050, so get them insulated!
Baba Brinkman breaks down the science and the rationally-compelling but unsexy appeal of retrofit insulation as a key factor in emission reductions to combat climate change.
Made with support from University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder County, and the City of Boulder.
Learn more about the topic:
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-20/climate-change-insulation-hvac-are-construction-solutions-to-emissions
Learn more about sustainability initiatives in Boulder City and County:
https://bouldercounty.gov/environment/sustainability/
https://bouldercolorado.gov/future-climate-action
Learn more about CU Boulder "Inside the Greenhouse"
https://insidethegreenhouse.org/
Learn more about custom rap videos and book yours:
https://www.eventrap.com/
From the album "Rapsode" available now:
https://music.bababrinkman.com/album/rapsode -
I'm Human – Baba Brinkman Music Video
What's a human? Just an altered ape with a few novel traits and solutions.
Baba Brinkman unpacks some of the findings and also some of the unanswered questions in the field of "Anthropogeny" aka the Study of Human Origins.
Filmed on location in the Rising Star caves, Cradle of Humankind, South Africa, with cinematography by Lee Berger, John Hawkes, and Patrick Randolph-Quinney.
Made with support from CARTA:
https://carta.anthropogeny.org/
Learn more about custom rap videos and book yours:
https://www.eventrap.com/
From the album "Rapsode" available on all digital stores May 17 2023:
https://bababrinkman.bandcamp.com/album/rapsode -
Climate Hero – Baba Brinkman Music Video
The health co-benefits of reduced greenhouse gas pollution are win-win for individual and societal health, especially through the reduction of chronic diseases. Once you factor in these co-benefits, tackling climate change literally pays for itself.
This is great for humans and great for the planet, but not great for the "sacrifice and pain" climate hero complex. Think about it: if your actions benefit you as much or more than they benefit others, are you REALLY a hero?
Made with support from UW CHanGE:
http://globalchange.uw.edu/
Learn more about custom raps and book yours:
https://www.eventrap.com/
From the album "Rapsode" available on all digital stores May 17 2023:
https://bababrinkman.bandcamp.com/album/rapsode
Further reading:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7654632/ -
Targeted Pressure – Baba Brinkman Music Video
The nascent CDR (carbon dioxide removal) industry is innovating dozens of creative ways to capture carbon, some using biology and botany and ecology, some oceanology, some chemistry and physics and engineering and computer science.
It's an exciting race to the top with the ultimate target of scaling up until carbon removal is so cheap and plentiful that it can lower the parts per million of carbon in the earth's atmosphere and reverse global warming.
Let's put them all up on the same stage, Lollapalooza!
Made with support from Nori:
https://nori.com/
Learn more about custom raps and book yours:
https://www.eventrap.com
From the album "Rapsode" available on all digital stores May 17 2023:
https://bababrinkman.bandcamp.com/album/rapsode
Learn more about carbon removal:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon_dioxide_removal -
Fish Free Feed – Baba Brinkman Music Video
Let a fish thrive without any fish in its diet, take innovation and scale it.
The movement to transform aquaculture from a primarily fishmeal-fed industry to one that is supported sustainably by nutritious fish-free feed is gaining momentum. Supported by a major cash award called the F3 Challenge, using fish free feed is cheaper, produces better outcomes in yield, and leaves billions of forage fish in the ocean to feed the ecosystem, including our essential wild fish catch. What's not to love?
Made with support from the F3 Challenge:
https://f3challenge.org/
Further Reading:
https://globalreportingprogram.org/fishmeal/
Learn more about custom rap videos and book yours:
https://www.eventrap.com/
Custom Rap Live
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Baba Brinkman's Skeptic Rap (world premiere)
Sumptuous brain food.
Rap with an intellectual bent.
Baba Brinkman is a Canadian rap artist based in New York. He is best known for his "Rap Guide" series of science-based hip-hop albums and theatre shows, including Rap Guides to Evolution, Climate Change, and Religion. Check him out at:
http://bababrinkman.com
http://music.bababrinkman.com
https://twitter.com/bababrinkman
https://www.facebook.com/bababrinkman
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The world premiere of this rap was performed at a live variety science show hosted by Dr. Michael Shermer, in partnership with YouTube Space NY in late September 2017, celebrating 25 years of Skeptic magazine and the Skeptics Society combating ‘fake news.’ The event explored the question: ‘How Can We Know What’s True?’.
The Skeptics Society is one of America’s leading non-profit science education organizations. For the past quarter century, our mission has been to ensure that the information surrounding the world’s biggest controversies is properly communicated. For so many issues: from evolution and the Holocaust, to climate and vaccinations, to alternative medicine and alternative archaeology, to religion and politics, to policy-making and economics, the ultimate question is: is it really true?
Check us out at:
https://www.skeptic.com
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You play a vital part in our commitment to promote science and reason. Your ongoing patronage will help ensure that sound scientific viewpoints are heard around the world.
Become a Patron: https://www.patreon.com/skeptic -
Baba Brinkman: 'Fahrenheit 45' World Premiere
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Intelligence Squared U.S. 100th Debate Rap
Baba Brinkman performs at the 100th Intelligence Squared U.S. Debate. -
Leonard Schein Birthday Retirement Party Rap
Vancouver entrepreneur, philanthropist and film festival founder Leonard Schein turns 65 and retires as president of Festival Cinemas. Baba Brinkman researches his life story and asks his friends about his character, and performs a rap tribute/roast at the gala celebration in his honour. -
Brisbane Writer's Festival: Baba Brinkman Thanking Sponsors
The Brisbane Writer's Festival organized a special speech to thank the sponsors who funded the festival. They compiled a list of all 80 contributors and commissioned Vancouver rap artist Baba Brinkman to write them all into a rap poem.
Book Tunes
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Revenge of the Somatic – Baba Brinkman Music Video
A cancer cell rebels against the tyranny of the body, revealing the hidden evolutionary logic behind carcinogenesis.
Download and Stream:
https://music.bababrinkman.com/track/revenge-of-the-somatic-2
https://music.apple.com/us/album/revenge-of-the-somatic/979284324?i=979284825
https://open.spotify.com/track/7yIptNDl9az4joEsfP6zNi?si=B27hVlrKRrmM0dDpuBLmgA
https://www.amazon.com/Revenge-of-the-Somatic/dp/B00V3YA41W
Further reading:
https://slate.com/technology/2017/04/cancer-has-been-with-us-since-the-origins-of-multicellularity.html
https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691163840/the-cheating-cell
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/28/science/cellular-cheaters-give-rise-to-cancer.html
Lyrics by Baba Brinkman
Music by Mr. Simmonds
Animation by Dave Anderson
Scientific Consultation by Athena Aktipis
Made with support from the Arizona Cancer Evolution Center
https://cancer-insights.asu.edu/ -
Wizard of Odds – Baba Brinkman Lyric Video
The science of "predictive processing" reveals how our brains engaged in a constant cycle of prediction and error-correction, comparing the "expectations" generated by internal top-down mental models with the streams of bottom-up raw data coming in from the senses, the body, and surrounding environment.
In other words, perception is a form of controlled hallucination, and hallucination is a form of uncontrolled (or less-controlled) perception.
How else could a blind lump of meat in a silent boney cage make sense of the world?
Scientific consultation by Anil Seth:
https://www.anilseth.com/
Learn more about book summary raps made on commission and book yours:
https://www.eventrap.com/book-summary/
Lyrics by Baba Brinkman
Music by Tom Caruana
Chorus Vocals by Aaron Ross
Keys by Simon Kendall
From the album "The Rap Guide to Consciousness":
https://music.bababrinkman.com/album/the-rap-guide-to-consciousness -
Science of Science – Baba Brinkman Music Video
The science of science, aka SciSci, is the study of statistical trends in scientific publication, citation, innovation, and productivity, measuring the impact of individual papers, researchers, and teams working in collaboration from partners to co-authorship in the hundreds.
Made with support from the Center for Science of Science and Innovation at Northwestern University:
https://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/research/science-of-science.aspx
Learn more about Book Summary raps and book yours:
https://www.eventrap.com/book-summary
From the album "Rapsode" available on all digital stores May 17 2023:
https://bababrinkman.bandcamp.com/album/rapsode
Further reading:
https://www.dashunwang.com/book/the-science-of-science -
Bright Future – Baba Brinkman Music Video
From the album "Bright Future", out now:
https://music.bababrinkman.com/album/bright-future
https://linktr.ee/bababrinkman
Nuclear power is an essential resource in combatting climate change. Where does your electricity come from? Clean energy means everything.
Further reading:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/06/opinion/sunday/climate-change-nuclear-power.html
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamesconca/2019/11/25/nuclear-power-does-slow-climate-change/#65e315d47202
Lyrics by Baba Brinkman
Music by Mr. Simmonds
Chorus Vocals by Eric Meyer
Video Edited by Buck Bowen
Made with support from Generation Atomic
https://www.generationatomic.org/why-nuclear -
Feelings for Reasons – Baba Brinkman Music Video
The evolutionary origins of emotions and mental illness, contemplated in a time of grief and depression.
Inspired by the book "Good Reasons for Bad Feelings" by Randy Nesse. http://goodreasons.info'
Album "See From Space" available now:
Bandcamp: https://music.bababrinkman.com/album/see-from-space
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/see-from-space/1472326163
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/See-Space-Baba-Brinkman/dp/B07V3DF34W -
Fahrenheit 45 – Baba Brinkman Music Video
From the album "See From Space", download here:
https://music.bababrinkman.com/album/see-from-space
Inspired by Ray Bradbury's classic dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451. Book-burning, social media, censorship, technology, propaganda & citizenship in the era of the 45th President.
Original song "Fahrenheit 45" commissioned by Future of Storytelling www.fost.org -
See From Space – Baba Brinkman Music Video
An alien rap song inspired by the book "The Ape that Understood the Universe" by Steve Stewart-Williams, now available from Cambridge University Press.
Learn more:
https://www.cambridge.org/apethatunderstood
New album "See From Space" available now:
Bandcamp: https://music.bababrinkman.com/album/see-from-space
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/album/see-from-space/1472326163
Support my videos on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/bababrinkman
Lyrics by Baba Brinkman
Music by Tom Caruana
Chorus Vocals by Aaron Nazrul
Piano, Synth, and Additional Vocals by Simon Kendall
Video Directed by Baba Brinkman
Video Edited by Buck Bowen -
T.V.O.L. (This View of Life) – Baba Brinkman Music Video
An anthem for the evolutionary view of life, which sees Darwinian processes working at multiple levels from genes to individuals to cultural artifacts and symbols, producing the amazing variety of complex behaviors and structures on display in the human and natural world, with no recourse to the supernatural at any level.
From the album "See From Space", available now:
https://music.bababrinkman.com/album/see-from-space
Support my videos on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/bababrinkman
Commissioned by TVOL Magazine
http://thisviewoflife.com
Lyrics by Baba Brinkman
Music Produced, Mixed and Mastered by Mr. Simmonds
Chorus Vocals by Aaron Nazrul
Additional Piano and Hammond Organ by Simon Kendall
Bass by Owen Strain
"Tree of Life" art by Evolution Posters
http://evolutionposters.com -
IPCC – Baba Brinkman Music Video
The scientific findings of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change summarized in rap form.
Learn more about the IPCC reports:
https://www.ipcc.ch/
Support my videos:
https://www.patreon.com/bababrinkman
From the album "The Rap Guide to Climate Chaos":
https://bababrinkman.com/music#climate-chaos -
Survival of the Fittest - Baba Brinkman - Rap Guide to Evolution Music Videos
Winner-take-all environments evoke fiercer competition, and life history theory predicts different reproductive strategies will be pursued at different times and in response to different environmental cues, including cues associated with life expectancy and resource inequality, all of which helps to make sense of gangster rap.
The Rap Guide to Evolution Music Videos, sponsored by the Wellcome Trust.
Buy the album: http://music.bababrinkman.com/album/the-rap-guide-to-evolution
Lyrics and Performance by Baba Brinkman
Music by Soulful Spider
Directed by Felix Harrison
Animation by Tommy Nagle
Supported by The Wellcome Trust
Inspired by the Mobb Deep song "Survival of the Fittest"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxDdN-puo3g
Watch Baba's TEDx Talk discussing the theory:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DB_kVIoovJI
The data behind this video are drawn from the book "Homicide" by Daly and Wilson:
https://www.amazon.com/Homicide-Foundations-Behavior-Martin-Daly/dp/020201178X
Further reading can be found online at the following links.
Darwinism and the Origins of Machismo:
http://rapguidetoevolution.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/machismo.pdf
Risk taking, Competition and Homicide:
http://rapguidetoevolution.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/Risk-taking.pdf
Income inequality and social ills:
http://www.equalitytrust.org.uk/why/evidence -
Group Selection – Baba Brinkman Music Video
There's a lot more to evolution than cut-throat competition and survival, including cooperation, altruism, and hyper-sociality, so... can't we all just get along?!
Download or Stream the Track
Bandcamp: https://music.bababrinkman.com/track/group-selection-20
Apple: https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-rap-guide-to-evolution-revised/451234747
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/5iCztxH67qnCLKlzUTmIyY
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Group-Selection-2-0/dp/B005A524SG
Further Reading:
https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdf/10.1086/522809
Amoeba footage by Robert Insall
https://twitter.com/robinsall
Lyrics by Baba Brinkman
Music by Mr. Simmonds
Additional Vocals by Aaron Ross, Sean Ross, Smoky Tiger, Erik Brinkman, and Dizraeli.
Piano by Simon Kendall
Scientific Consultation by David Sloan Wilson
Inspired by DSW's book "Evolution for Everyone"
https://www.amazon.com/Evolution-Everyone-Darwins-Theory-Change/dp/0385340923
Original Backing Video by Wendall K. Harrington
Edited by Buck Bowen -
The Pardoner's Tale (Animated)
The Pardoner's Tale from "The Rap Canterbury Tales" by Baba Brinkman, with illustrations by Erik Brinkman. http://www.bababrinkman.com
Freestyle Set
Baba Brinkman’s interactive virtual “Freestyle Set” gives your audience a live dialogue with an improvising artist in real time, and a chance to witness one of the most entertaining and demanding tasks performed by the human brain. Rapid-fire rhymes respond in seconds to suggestions posted in a comment thread or chat stream – the more scientifically complex, the more entertaining the challenge!
Live at the Google Quantum Symposium, July 2020
Freestyle Track
Partially written and partially improvised, Baba’s signature “Freestyle Tracks” elevate improvisation by putting it into a new and thought-provoking frame, connecting spontaneous creativity with themes from business, science, and technology.
An avid freestyler since 2002, Baba Brinkman has won multiple battles and performed improv rap on stage in front of thousands of people alongside Steven Hawking and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
“Good Bayesian” at the Stanford BrainMind Summit
More Freestyle Tracks
“Can’t Stop” (Neuroscience and Free Will)
“Performance, Feedback, Revision” (Evolution and Design)
“Freedom Ain’t Free” (Climate Change and Regulation)
Catalogue Set
Customized performance of previously-released song(s) that fit the theme of your event, designed in consultation with you.
Event Emcee
Your event, hosted by a charismatic rapper, including introductions, interviews, and performances.