Evolutionary Rap: Performance, Feedback, Revision - A Creative Journey (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: So, when I first started writing evolutionary rap songs, a couple of years ago, early drafts of my lyrics were not so complex. Some of my early drafts went like this, yo, yo, the origin of species, ain't no feces, dog believe me, what? And that was all I could think of, so then I was like, oh man, these lyrics really need to be rewritten, and sometimes people ask me, well, how does your show get written? Like this, performance, feedback, revision, and how do I generally develop my lyricism? Like this, performance, feedback, revision, and how do human beings ever learn to do anything? Like this, performance, feedback, revision, and evolution is really just kind of an algorithm that goes like this, performance, feedback, revision, so the genetic code of every living creature was also written like this, performance, feedback, revision. See the genes are like a text with a hundred thousand pages, and the revisions occur in the little random changes that come from mutations, and then when they see the light, well, that's the performance, that's the phenotype, and then natural selection, well, that's the feedback side, that's about who survives and whose genes catch rides in the next generation. Yes, what I'm saying is that a rap performance like this is the best illustration for the way that Darwin's descent with modification works, because the performance is necessary to change the words, to decide which have an impact, and which to send back to the drawing board. In fact, I just did that when you guys failed to react, because any line can change, and the mutations occur when I improvise on stage, because up until this moment, everything I said was off the page, but now I'm going to have to switch it up. I'll do a freestyle section. I'll keep it really specific to beat your cheater detection. Yeah, this is a rap, a freestyle, or maybe I'll just shout to everybody who left before I started this, you guys just missed out, and I know this crowd right now is knowing that's the truth. This is the way that I rap, freestyle, yes, it's improvisation with attitude. Check it out. Man, see the way that I've got the interpreter trying to keep up with everything I'm saying. All night long, I've been working her, like going about 20 times faster than her hands can, but maybe she can catch up to me. She's like, damn, man, slow down, but that's all right, though, because I got the sound. It's kind of like nitro. This is me improvising kind of quick. It's like a hype flow. It's how I improvise over the rhythm as my DJ, Mr. Simmons, just manipulates the records. We go back and forth. He never lacks the force. This is how we interact. I rap. He's got the scritchy scratch, sexual selection. It makes all the women want to have his kids, perhaps, yeah. This is the way that I go, freestyle and no page. I've never done a rap show with Stephen Hawking watching from the side of the stage. Man, that guy is inspiring. I didn't even know what I was going to say while I was freestyling. It was like I was getting a credit check because I own like three of his books, but I haven't bloody read it yet, but that's okay, though. I got inspiration from this stage show. I'm insane in the membrane. He's insane in the entire cosmology's brain, multiples of them. See what I'm saying? I'm freestyling. I'm like on the level with all these people, and those ones are above them, reaching off into the universe, beautiful universe, maybe multiple versions of it. This is just like a freestyle tune, a verse that I'm flipping and spitting and have no plan for it. That's all right, though. In a second, I'm going to have to come back to the damn chorus, and even if I make a little mistake over the rhythm, it's okay. That's how I introduce randomness into the system, all right? See how that's how it works. You got to get mutations with this, kind of like the whole night, full of technical glitches. See, it's my concept. It's my system. It goes like this, performance, feedback, revision, and anybody here can use this concept to learn how to do anything. Real simple. It goes performance, feedback, revision. Remember, you get the feedback, and then you make the decision. It goes like this, performance, feedback, revision. You want to know about evolution? This here is the definition, so say it with me. Performance, feedback, revision. Say it one more time. Performance, feedback, revision. You got it. Have a great night, everybody. I'll see you next time. Bye. Thank you so much.