Baba Brinkman - The Rap Guide To Evolution (Video Première) at the Prince Charles Cinema

Baba Brinkman - The Rap Guide To Evolution (Video Première) at the Prince Charles Cinema

26 May, 2011
by: Rupertspoonfed

Fun times at this video premiere, despite one audience member making a monkey out of herself.

I’ve never been to the premiere of an educational campaign before, so I can’t claim to be entirely sure how they’re meant to go down. However, I’m fairly certain that the incredibly antagonised response we witness from one audience member during the Q and A section at Baba Brinkman’s Rap Guide to Evolution, comes as something of a surprise to everybody.

Then again, this educational campaign does involve the use of hip-hop, a deliberately provocative move designed to grab the attention of kids and get them interested in Darwin’s theories. The whole project has been put together by Baba Brinkman from his hit show of the same name, and this premiere sees the unveiling of a series of videos to accompany his songs. We are also introduced to the new website he has set up to be used by teachers, featuring the videos and further learning resources.

The first thing to say is that the songs are brilliant. I can see why Brinkman got a string of glowing reviews and prestigious awards for his original show. The lyrics are intelligent, funny, and incredibly linguistically inventive, not to mention how Brinkman also manages to incorporate the science in as entertaining a fashion as possible. Rather than just showing us the videos, he does the odd rap for us live and proves to be a superb performer, running off these very complicated lyrics at breakneck speed whilst still delivering them with great expression, humour and timing.

As for the videos, I was genuinely surprised by how polished they look. Considering that ultimately they’re teaching resources for schools, a huge amount of effort has clearly gone into them, and the end results look great, are very well-directed and prove highly entertaining. Best of the bunch is an urban set video based around gangs and street violence, where two of the extras were apparently so convincing that they were stopped and detained by the police, delaying the shoot for two hours.

Having reached the last of the videos, a Q and A is announced for the end of the show. Having very much enjoyed the music, the videos and Brinkman’s live performances, I expect the rest of the crowd to be similarly impressed. And then it all kicks off!

The mic is handed to a lady who appears to have attended the show purely with the intention of berating Brinkman over his use of the phrase “scheming sluts” in one of his songs. It’s the old story of taking a quotation out of context and appropriating it at face value, in order to justify an affectation of extraordinary self-righteousness. In credit to Brinkman, he does attempt to answer the question, but the aforementioned lady is clearly more interested in the sound of her own voice than any response to her enquiry, and continues to rant and rave about using such misogynistic language in front of children. Had she done the most basic of research, she would have realised that this line is from another of Brinkman’s shows, and will not be featured in the educational campaign.

Pleasingly, Brinkman seems unaffected by the aggression, merely responding “I’m glad to see that even people who don’t like me are buying tickets to my shows.” Not that he needs this anyway, as anyone with sense can see the great talent and wit he has to offer, and I look forward to catching more of his work in the future.

Check out Baba's new website at www.rapguidetoevolution.co.uk
Read Spoonfed's interview with Baba Brinkman here

See more London stand-up 
Return to London comedy homepage 

Rupertspoonfed