Baba Brinkman - Artificial Selection lyrics

Artificial selection, it starts with a question How did people ever get cows, chickens and pigs And other animals and plants to act so domestic? We took them from the wild and we bred them, brethren Welcome to the Charles Darwin Bicentennial So, why does everybody think this guy is so special? Maybe because a man was born two centuries ago Who, as far as anyone knows, was the first To recognize the underlying pattern behind the pageant Affectionately known as "life on this planet" He was the first to understand it The first to translate his amazement At the wonder of life, into a way to explain it So this is a celebration of Darwin's greatness In the form of a rap – some would say "a debasement" I would say "be patient", just think of this as A manifestation of the evolutionary equation A recapitulation of life, a re-enactment So, how do you go from amoebas to rappers? You open The Origin of Species, and you read its chapters The first chapter is about the impact of people's actions On farm animals, pets, and domestic crops Where did they come from? From original stocks Of wild animals and plants, which were selected and crossed For the best properties, and thus became the effect of their cause But of course, not every selection was conscious Still, even if breeders in ancient Egypt couldn't see this And had no idea how to rework the features Of a species of sheep or increase the sweetness Of their peaches every season, when they chose to seed it Or to feed it or to breed it or to weed it out and delete it 'Cause they didn't see it as needed, whether the preferences in question Were for bigger chicken breasts or whippets with a thinner mid-section Or if it was just an inner predilection to pick the best in Any mixed collection, that's artificial selection Artificial selection, it starts with a question How did people ever get cows, chickens and pigs And other animals and plants to act so domestic? We took them from the wild and we bred them, brethren But there's nothing artificial about domestication Ant colonies keep domestic aphids It's just an arrangement where one hand washes the other We protect the cow, and the cow offers the udder And even if there's never a conscious discussion If our little selections and little preferences Can change and enhance the critical differences Between wild and domestic breeds over the centuries Then maybe that can explain… everything In nature it isn't us that makes the selections It's just survival and reproduction in the midst of competition Where slight differences that arise randomly Get selected by the pressures applied environmentally And eventually species divide like a family tree Into everything alive, from a fly to a manatee So how does this apply to the craft of the MC? Well, variation can be found in the styles on display Rappers all have different techniques when they're on stage And the results can be seen in the audience's face Like, for instance, at this moment, you all look amazed Like guppies removed abruptly from their aquatic space Your minds are probably racing over questions of style and race And genre and time and place, and some of your eyes are glazed Like "For God's sake, how long will this take?!?" But if you all feel that way, then soon I'll be replaced By someone more entertaining, like maybe Lil Wayne This is the rap version of the doctrine of Malthus It's the proportion of hungry mouths To food resources in the form of captive audiences Where crowds of two or more will always Be at least half as common as performers Can you see the mathematical problem? But survival on stage is a non-random process 'Cause those who get ma**ive responses tend to influence Those who aspire to get ma**ive responses So if you say I sound like, for instance, Eminem, then I'll say "That's preposterous!" But if you catch me grabbing my crotch And acting obnoxious, then I might have to acknowledge That this is a form of imitation modified by experience Which is similar to the genetic basis of inheritance Except it's part Darwinism and part Lamarkism With genes and culture co-evolving as we rock to the rhythm But whether you think cultures really evolve Or if it's just a silly metaphor that's pretty but false Or whether you've never even thought about that I still think Darwin can teach us a lot about rap And vice verse; 'cause it's all about that Competition for status with intricate language Delivered in battles, and it's all about getting that Fitness advantage and the different adaptive behaviour patterns That have us acting crazier than capercaillie mating dances But hey, that's natural selection; so just sit back and listen And witness the evolution of the rap profession Artificial selection, it starts with a question How did people ever get cows, chickens and pigs And other animals and plants to act so domestic? We took them from the wild and we bred them, brethren