Baba Brinkman performs at The Rap Canterbury Tales in LaSells Stewart Center Monday evening.

Baba Brinkman brings 14th century prose to hip-hop

Brinkman performed rap version of Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' at LaSells Stewart Center yesterday

By: Elizabeth Dietz

Posted: 12/2/08

Hip-hop artist and Master's Degree holder Baba Brinkman performed Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" yesterday at the LaSells Stewart Center. The event was free and had a full crowd of Corvallis residents, OSU instructors and students of various majors.

Brinkman performed his award-winning show that tied in "The Canterbury Tales" with hip-hop.

Each of his hip-hop rhymes was simply revised from medieval language and put into context for a modern day understanding of each of the stories.

"I thought it was great," Assistant Professor of English Peter Betjemann said. "The 600-year-old language is different, so it's hardest to access. Baba makes it accessible and exciting for audiences. It was the exact translation of Chaucer."

His performances have taken root from his University of Victoria Master's thesis that helped him modify the Middle English language into something that people find easy to understand. With that, it has hip-hop connections for today that reach out to all ages.

Assistant Professor of English Tara Williams originally saw him rap at an academic conference.

"I wanted OSU students to be able to see him in person. The English department and the Center for the Humanities agreed to sponsor the event," Williams said.

The performance has earned rave reviews and has won awards around the world.

"It originally started as an assignment, and I decided to translate it into rap. I then performed it at a talent show and got great feedback," said Brinkman, whose real name is Dirk but who goes by the stage name "Baba."

"At first, it gets skepticism, but then the audience is surprised by it," he said.

Brinkman ties in nature, philosophy, modern romantic relationships, British culture, politics and modern literature to awe the audience.

On stage, he discussed his observations of the parallels between Chaucer and live Master of Ceremony (MC) events. In addition, he compared the elements of discussion in the stories with modern-day rappers such as Ludacris, NWA and Ol' Dirty Bastard.

"I invite us to think about hip-hop as a continuum," Brinkman said.

"There's certainly nothing else that has made such a splash both in the academic community and the general public," Williams said. "The genius of Baba's performance is that it has something for both of those audiences."

Most students don't regularly hear "typical" poetry spoken aloud, but hip-hop changes this.

Kerry Ahearn, associate professor of English and chair of the English Department, said rap is "great contemporary poetry. For hip-hop, you have to learn to hear it."

"Most people think rap is misogynistic and some have prejudgments about it," Brinkman said.

Elizabeth Dietz, staff writer

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