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NASA Produces Rap Video On Astrobiology 113

Posted by samzenpus from the nerds-do-the-darndest-things dept.
An anonymous reader writes "You've seen the Large Hadron Rap by Kate 'Alpinekat' McAlpine. Now a NASA magazine has commissioned an astrobiology rap. Jonathan Chase, aka 'Oort Kuiper', produced a six-minute YouTube rap video on astrobiology, the scientific search for extraterrestrial life. The lyrics include: 'We've been on Earth for many years and we are still producing answers; as time passes, collective knowledge advances.' This epic rap battle sees Alpinekat/CERN on top with over three million views on YouTube compared with about ten thousand for Oort Kuiper/NASA."
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NASA Produces Rap Video On Astrobiology More

NASA Produces Rap Video On Astrobiology

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  • i just want to know where the gold's at.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZfyrIPw3wY [youtube.com]

  • See kidz, i said the astrobiology was kool..

  • I like the black helicopters at the end :-]

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by morgan_greywolf ( 835522 )

      There were no black helicopters.

      Thanks,
      unnamed government agency who is not the NSA, DIA, DSA, CIA or FBI

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by dintech ( 998802 )
        Ah-ha! That answers it. I always suspected the FDA... :)

      • There were no black helicopters.

        Thanks,
        unnamed government agency who is not the NSA, DIA, DSA, CIA or FBI

        REMAIN CALM

        Of course there were black helicopters. They were flying cloaked, and so were invisible. Invisibly black cloaked stealth silent helicopters, yeah. They absolutely must exist, as they make it totally unnecessary to have such expensive and non-existent technology as orbital mind control lasers, which do not exist. Believe this message, not the quoted message. If you feel any confusion or discomfort, please email us at targeting@omcl.mil and provide your precise spatial coordinates, then stand clear

  • Phobos Deimos would be a better rap name

  • It's a (w)rap! (Score:3, Funny)

    by Smivs ( 1197859 ) <smivs@smivsonline.co.uk> on Wednesday September 24, 2008 @08:11AM (#25134621) Homepage Journal

    Please, no more science raps. The LHC by Alpinekat is pretty unbeatable anyway. What next, a programming language? I can't wait for the C-rap!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ozamosi ( 615254 )

      The QBasic Nerd [youtube.com] guy tells you to get of his lawn. And learn to sing.

    • "Please, no more science raps. The LHC by Alpinekat is pretty unbeatable anyway. What next, a programming language? I can't wait for the C-rap!"

      Dude, it's all C-RAP!

      and alpinekat's work would have been much better if they had written the music instead of sampled and overplayed an already overplayed 90s song.

    • Re:It's a (w)rap! (Score:5, Funny)

      by paniq ( 833972 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2008 @08:40AM (#25134997) Homepage

      well, check out this appendage:
      don't be so object oriented.
      The C programming language
      doesn't need to be defended!

      you believe in classes
      but C is for the masses!

      i f*ck you with my struct
      on this 24th september
      like it private and protected?
      better stroke my public member!

      now kneel down and dereference my pointer.

      • Point my object to a working self containing member Make a working interface 'won't break before December Wanna make a big array and fill it with the key delay and send a message with delay to my appointed ender From the A to the P to the I to the user Classes workin, no relay, recurve when I choose her Got a bigger memory size then any other chooser c plus plus is where its at and paniq is a luser!
    • MC Plus+, Monzy and programming nerdcore rappers precede science rappers, and do arguably better a job of being entertaining rather than educational.
  • lol @ "studying peas"
    This is definitely a better rap than the CERN one. Buddy knows how to flow, and manages to actually discuss the subject without falling into cutesy rhyming.
    Q: Does this qualify as nerdcore?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Otter ( 3800 )

      This guy is a rapper, not a scientist, and the whole project is professionally done, not a bunch of researchers goofing around. By that standard, it's pretty poor. And the LHC video is much more scientifically informative than the NASA one, although that's probably due at least in part to the much greater scientific soundness of the LHC in general, compared to exobiology.

      If I had to choose where to work based on the two videos, no question I'd go for the people at CERN who obviously love their work and want

      • Not a scientist? From TFA:

        "Mr Chase, who holds two undergraduate degrees in aerospace engineering and science and science fiction, is now visiting schools in south Wales to engage pupils in rap and science."

        I think if you have a degree in Aerospace Engineering, you probably get to call yourself a scientist. Even if you follow that up with something as sensical as a degree in Science and Science Fiction (wtf? anything where L Ron Hubbard could be a professor is suspect). Still, I think saying the guy i

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Otter ( 3800 )

          I think if you have a degree in Aerospace Engineering, you probably get to call yourself a scientist.

          I'd dispute that, but my snobbery aside ... he's training for a communications job, he has no connection (AFAICT) to NASA and he was brought into this project purely as a rapper/publicist.

          Actually, where I was mistaken was in thinking that Kate McAlpine was a researcher. In fact, she's also a publicist with an undergrad degree. But she does work for CERN, the people in the video are researchers, it was film

  • He raps with a British accent - therefore he must be smart.

  • mc hawking still the best (Score:5, Interesting)

    by jollyreaper ( 513215 ) on Wednesday September 24, 2008 @08:13AM (#25134657)

    to the tune of OPP

    Trash Talk
    Harm me with harmony.
    Doomsday, drop a load on 'em.

    Verse 1
    Entropy, how can I explain it? I'll take it frame by frame it,
    to have you all jumping, shouting saying it.
    Let's just say that it's a measure of disorder,
    in a system that is closed, like with a border.
    It's sorta, like a, well a measurement of randomness,
    proposed in 1850 by a German, but wait I digress.
    "What the fuck is entropy?", I here the people still exclaiming,
    it seems I gotta start the explaining.

    You ever drop an egg and on the floor you see it break?
    You go and get a mop so you can clean up your mistake.
    But did you ever stop to ponder why we know it's true,
    if you drop a broken egg you will not get an egg that's new.

    That's entropy or E-N-T-R-O to the P to the Y,
    the reason why the sun will one day all burn out and die.
    Order from disorder is a scientific rarity,
    allow me to explain it with a little bit more clarity.
    Did I say rarity? I meant impossibility,
    at least in a closed system there will always be more entropy.
    That's entropy and I hope that you're all down with it,
    if you are here's your membership.

    Chorus
    You down with entropy?
    Yeah, you know me! (x3)
    Who's down with entropy?
    Every last homey!

    Verse 2
    Defining entropy as disorder's not complete,
    'cause disorder as a definition doesn't cover heat.
    So my first definition I would now like to withdraw,
    and offer one that fits thermodynamics second law.
    First we need to understand that entropy is energy,
    energy that can't be used to state it more specifically.
    In a closed system entropy always goes up,
    that's the second law, now you know what's up.

    You can't win, you can't break even, you can't leave the game,
    'cause entropy will take it all 'though it seems a shame.
    The second law, as we now know, is quite clear to state,
    that entropy must increase and not dissipate.

    Creationists always try to use the second law,
    to disprove evolution, but their theory has a flaw.
    The second law is quite precise about where it applies,
    only in a closed system must the entropy count rise.
    The earth's not a closed system' it's powered by the sun,
    so fuck the damn creationists, Doomsday get my gun!
    That, in a nutshell, is what entropy's about,
    you're now down with a discount.

    Chorus

    Trash Talk
    Hit it!
    Doomsday, kick it in!

    • It really reminds me of a rap I wrote back in college, to the tune of "Baby got back."

      I like SMART GIRLS and I can not lie...
      You other nerds can't deny,
      when a girl walks in with a Ph.D.
      or some other advanced degree,

      you get SPRUNG. Wanna pull out math problems
      'cause you notice her brain was awesome

      Even the books she's carrying...
      I'm hooked and I can't stop staring.

      Quantum Physics!...

      It goes on and on. The 36-24-36 part is changed to 15-13-15, referencing her MCAT scores.

      I don't know whether to be proud o

      • That should get you at least 50%.

      • There used to be a web site where you could post ideas/lyrics for parodies and sometimes they were actually produced.
        BTW: Were talking about 10y ago.

        Too bad this one didn't get "produced" on Youtube

      • Heh, I like. I also redid a pop song praising smarts.

        I know you woulda voted for me (I know you woulda voted for me)
        And maybe you did (and maybe you did)
        I know I look damn good compared to Bush 43
        You want a president not an embarrassment (president not embarrassment)
        It's easy to see (it's easy to see)
        And in the back of your mind
        I know you shoulda voted for me

        [Chorus]
        Dont cha wish your president was smart like me
        Dont cha wish your president could talk like me
        Dont cha, dont cha
        Dont cha wish your president had

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by db32 ( 862117 )
      Seriously...special place in hell...
    • The last verse reminds me of Greydon Square, who does Rational Rap. With heavy atheist and rational roots, the music is good and the lyrics rock. The double entaundre of using the "Compton effect" as an album title for a particle physics student from Compton is clever. Not to mention being able to get Punctuated Equilibria into a song is very cool. Not a paid endorsement just a fan.
    • bump cause MC hawking is teh dope killah

  • Entropy....how can I explain it? (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward

    MC Hawking [youtube.com]

  • I would expect (Score:2, Funny)

    by Chrisq ( 894406 )
    That it is "Rap" with a silent "C".

  • I hope this got paid for out of the education/marketing-to-future-astronauts budget not the entertainment budget.

  • A song about astrophysics?

    It's been done before [youtube.com]



    JJ
  • Don't they realize they're risking the start of an intergalactic rap war? Do we want to see Neil Tyson end up like Tupac?
  • Dan le Sac vs Scroobius Pip have an exellent track about the periodic table. Live video on youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52BkzUg310k [youtube.com]
  • I am actually a hip hop fan and it really bothers me when they create these raps to more or less try to "dumb it down" or to make it more appealing to the masses. I really have no desire to listen to a rap about life in space unless its a psychedelically induced vision. This all just reminds me of middle school and the DARE raps about anti drug. They were lame then I still think they are lame.
  • I thought we were 10 years past the point where clueless people said, "We need to reach a wider audience. Quick, make a rap song!" First the LHC and now this.
  • ...they bring back Vanilla Ice to make a "Ted Williams" rap?
  • From what I can tell, the actual rap was done for the Astrobiology Magazine European Edition (AMEE) [astrobio.net]. The AMEE credits the European Space Agency (ESA), the European Astrobiology Network Association (EANA) and the Astrobiology Magazine on its front cover. NASA only contributes funding to the Astrobiology Magazine as far as I can tell.

    So claiming this rap was commissioned by NASA is slightly misleading in my opinion.
  • Oh God...please...no...please! NASA, please keep "hip hop" or any other "let's appeal to the kids today" gimmicks out of science. I love Duran Duran but that doesn't mean I want them to sing about math.

  • Check out the Search Engine Rap Battle [youtube.com]. It's hilarious!

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