Please share your thoughts on Baba Brinkman's presentation here at Cheshire. Was it what you expected after reading his introduction? Do you feel his arguments have academic merit? Does he make Chaucer more accessable to 21st century students? Favorite aspect?? Is this type of activity worth considering for future classes?
Due Monday AM
46 comments:
I thought Brinkman's presentation was great. It was pretty much what I expected (probably because we saw two of his tales in class) but the freestyle was a pleasant surprise. His arguments do have a degree of academic merit. I don't see a strong correlation between modern rap and the work of Chaucer, although Brinkman does point out some legitimate parallels. He is right about the similarities although I'm rather skeptical of how much influence old English literature had on hip-hop. Brinkman obviously makes Chaucer more accessible to 21st century students. Show of hands, how many of us actually liked The Canterbury Tales, and how many liked Brinkman's presentation? This is something definitely worth bringing to CHS again. We were very fortunate to experience Brinkman demonstrate freestyle rapping as well - my favorite aspect - and hopefully other classes will be able to witness the same.
Baba Brinkman's The Rap Canterbury Tales presentation was an exceptionally well organized and entertaining performance. He was right in believing that translating these pieces would bring the tales back to life for people of this generation to understand and enjoy. His introduction was very in-line with the introduction he did during the performance, where he explained to us why he did this. I felt that his arguments did have academic merit. He compares how rap and prose both have that rhythm and rhyme that is appealing to a listener. Brinkman also made a good point when he discussed how the purpose of the Canterbury Tales in the olden days was to be entertained in front of an audience, but today they are considered boring because one must read to entertain themselves with the tales. I know from experience that reading the tales was not as exciting as experiencing them. With this, I suggest that this sort of activity be done again. As an alternative, maybe the students can translate their own tale, time permitting, as a project. I think that this would allow the students not only to better appreciate the tales, but gain a better understanding of them because they have interpreted it for themselves.
I did not attend Baba Brinkman's presentation. However, I heard that it was really interesting and fun to watch. If watching him perform live was anything like seeing him perform on YouTube, I would say that he is a very entertaining rapper. He definitely makes Chaucer more accessible to teenagers and high school students because he's using a dialect that is easier for us to understand. If I had been able to attend the session, I definitely would have considering he makes Old English fun and entertaining to hear about. I think that this type of activity is definitely worth considering for future classes, because it's a fun way to bring things that we have been learning about in the classroom to the stage. Not to mention it's fun, too.
I thought Baba Brinkman’s performance was exceptional. Honestly, at first I was a skeptic of his academic merit when I first heard about him in class. However, listening to him in class and at his live performance I beg to differ. Being a fan of mainstream rap I also thought the Rap Canterbury Tales would not be as pleasing to the ears or even enjoyable but fortunately I was wrong because Brinkman had great lyrics and background music.
I believe Brinkman’s rap to have academic merit. He did a superb job of tailoring the original verses from the Canterbury Tales into modern day rap making it more accessible to teenagers and even adults. Therefore, I thought it was fun and exciting to watch Baba Brinkman perform. His freestyle at the end blew me away. So I hope in the future we will be able to see more of his performances not just the Rap Canterbury Tales, but also his rap on evolution that he briefly mentioned towards the end.
I thought Baba Brinkman’s performance was beneficial to us. I didn’t think that it was going to be as entertaining as it was and even though we saw a video of him before the presentation, I didn’t think he was going to be as laid back as he was. I think his style of presenting his findings made it easier to relate to. For example, during the Wife of Baths Tale, he compared the woman to Missy Eliot. I think that helped me get a better picture of the character and her persona. I don’t know about my classmates, but I think it’s easier to relate to someone or thing that is in your century. He also took Chaucer’s word choice and made it easier to understand which I appreciated. While he changed the wording of Chaucer, I found it fascinating how close he stuck to the actual meaning of the word. I think that now that we’ve seen him, his arguments and points make more sense. I liked how he not only did the raps, but also gave us an explanation of how he came to his conclusions. He made his thought process seem logical. I think he articulated his thoughts better orally than through the words in his paper. I think this might be because when he was writing his paper he had to present his thoughts in a fairly formal fashion which he didn’t have to do when he was explaining it to us.
As for the actual performance, I thought it was really cool how he used iTunes throughout his performance. I thought that the background music and sound effects were really cool and it was amazing to me, that the timing was perfect. I also liked the graphics that were projected behind him. They really helped to tell the story. Overall, I thought his performance looked really professional and well put together. The fact that he free styled after didn’t hurt either. I think it would be beneficial for future classes to see his portrayal of Chaucer’s work because it does clear up the meaning of Chaucer’s work. I think it also shows students that you can look at history in another light. For me, it showed that there are so many ways to analyze history instead of the traditional research paper. I think that’s worth something. I thought Baba Brinkman’s performance was great in so many ways and worth two periods of my time.
I thought Baba Brinkman’s performance was very good. His passion and interest was clearly seen throughout his whole performance which made it more believable and entertaining to watch. In class when we first talked about Baba I was very skeptical about him but surprisingly enough he posed accurate and valid arguments. I defiantly believe that Baba makes Chaucer’s ideas more accessible to twenty first century students. The energy that he brought to the stage along with the great beats and pictures in the background defiantly makes it more interesting for this generation. My favorite part of the presentation was when Baba free styled at the end. When he first said he was going to free style I didn’t think it would be that good but I found out he was very talented which is why I strongly believe that this activity should be continued in the future.
When I first heard of Baba Brinkman’s presentation, I wasn’t sure if it would be able to grasp my attention. Having previously read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, I was disappointed with my lack of interest. Originally, I felt it must have been the story lines which were dull and boring causing me to read solely for school rather than entertainment, however after seeing Baba’s take on these stories my perspective changed significantly. Brinkman’s raps were not exactly what I would have expected them to be. Instead, they were very energetic and fun which allowed him to capture all eyes and ears. The reason I believe I enjoyed his raps so much more than the actual novel is because he used a modern language to convey Chaucer’s themes in a way people today could relate to. By doing so, I soon realized it wasn’t the actual story which previously bored me; it was solely due to the fact that I wasn’t able to completely understand and relate to what Chaucer was trying to say. Despite his significant changes in script, I do not believe Baba changed the overall context of the stories. In addition, the rhymes and rhythms are very similar to what Chaucer used in his poetry. As a result, I do believe Baba’s arguments have academic merit. In the end, I do believe this is an activity future classes would enjoy.
I absolutely loved Baba Brinkman’s presentation. I was skeptical at first, not being a huge rap fan. However, I enjoyed his preface, as is summed up in this passage from my blog response about the preface:
“While his work was certainly unique, I frankly found that it failed to hold my attention. While I believe that putting it in contemporary rhyme scheme certainly made the Canterbury Tales more accessible, I still found that, though unique and an interesting concept, they bored me. I found the Preface much more interesting, as it dealt with subjects I knew little about: the parallels between rap and traditional English poetry, and the development of both as art forms.”
While my interest in the origins of hip-hop and the parallels between English poets and hip-hop are still very interesting to me, his live performance was so different from the works we listened to in class. Obviously, there was little to no lyrical difference, however the energy he brought to his live show was contagious and I found myself enjoying the show much more than what I listened to in class. His freestyle was my favorite part, a pleasant surprise that I happened to get on video and brought the presentation to an enjoyable end. Perhaps my favorite part of the freestyle was his shout-out to Ray Noonan (“that guy in the fourth row wearing the glasses”) though I enjoyed the freestyle as a whole.
While I still see less correlation between Chaucer and hip-hop than Baba would like, I believe that most of his arguments have merit and overall made sense. In regards to bringing him back in the future, I would absolutely recommend it. On a similarly themed side note, I downloaded his Rap Guide to Evolution about an hour ago from his website for free (http://www.babasword.com/index/rgecd.html) and am about halfway through listening to it. I am very much enjoying it and would recommend it to anyone interested, as well as to any teacher potentially interested in bringing him back to do his evolution show. It’s a good preview of his show, and includes four live tracks. I’d like to end with this thought from Baba’s song “Worst Comes to Worst:”
“Worst comes to worst, my people come first
But my tribe lives on every country on earth
I’ll do anything to protect them from hurt
The human race is what I serve”
When I first heard about Baba Brinkman’s performance of rapping the Canterbury Tales, I honestly thought he was insane. Originally, I believed that the two had nothing in common because they came from different origins and teach different values. However, his paper and later his performance changed my position. His broad range of intelligence and research had me convinced that his arguments do in fact have academic merit. He constantly stressed that the style of The Canterbury Tales was very similar to today’s rap culture. For example, both Chaucer’s prose and rap music were/are intended to be performed and recited as forms of entertainment. They are also both performed with rhythm and rhyming lines. Also, in both cases, if the audience did not like the presentation, they would express their thoughts openly by booing the performer “off the stage”. In The Canterbury Tales, this is seen in the Squire’s Tale and the Tale of Sir Thopas.
Baba Brinkman’s performance of rapping the Canterbury Tales was very inspiring. Most people discredit history and often forget about certain literary works due to differences in language. However, what many people don’t realize is that the themes evident in today’s literary works are similar to those centuries before. Baba Brinkman’s performance simplified Chaucer’s story into words more accessible to 21st century audiences. Although the story line and message remains the same, the audience enjoyed the performance better because they could understand it. My favorite part of Baba Brinkman’s performance was his rendition of The Pardoner’s Tale. I believe that Baba Brinkman should definitely be brought back to perform at Cheshire High. His performance not only was a lot of fun, but was also very insightful as well.
I thoroughly enjoyed Baba Brinkman’s presentation. Learning and studying about a theory in the classroom is one thing, but getting to see the theory practiced and acted out is an entirely different experience. Through Brinkman’s explanation, I gained a more in depth realization of his thesis, as well as the intensity of his portrayal of the Rap Canterbury Tales. Before seeing Brinkman in the flesh, it was harder to connect with his actual motives for doing these raps. In his presentation, I came to realize that when rewriting the Canterbury Tales into a more modern rap version, Brinkman began his process more as someone with a love of rap music than as a scholar trying to educate the masses. I thought that this also made his presentation more accessible; particularly because he wove his own personality into his monologue. I also felt that his stage presence and mannerisms contributed to the effectiveness of his presentation; these things that can’t be felt in a classroom setting. Looking around in the audience, I saw almost every set of eyes glued on him, watching in awe. Brinkman’s presentation, while effective and exciting, also made me realize that perhaps students would enjoy the same intensity of learning if schools took similar steps to bring visual learning presentations in other subject areas.
I unfortunately was not able to attend Baba Brinkman’s presentation. Many of my friends and classmates that were able to however, genuinely seemed to enjoy it and found Baba’s performance to be quite interesting. Based on the past performances I have watched and listened to, I would definitely have to agree that Baba Brinkman has successfully made Chaucer more accessible to 21st century students. Not only is he able to connect with students on a personal level by relating Chaucer’s work to current day society through rap/hip hop music, but he has also discovered a way to interest students in the tales, along the individual messages or morals that each one conveys. My favorite aspect of Baba’s performances is that he is able to add a level of fun and excitement that doesn’t necessarily appear in Chaucer’s novel. I have found that while listening to Baba versus reading one of the tales, it is much easier to focus my attention on the story itself.
Although I was given the chance to listen to a one or two of Baba’s interpretations of The Canterbury Tales in class, I am somewhat disappointed that I was not able to experience the presentation live or participate in the workshop, and get the full experience. I think this activity is a great way to involve students who might not be as interested in The Canterbury Tales, and would certainly be worth considering for future classes.
Baba Brinkman’s presentation here at Cheshire was a very enjoyable yet academic way to display Chaucer’s works. Even though I only attended half of the production, I felt it still impacted my views on Chaucer. Reading the actual work in the language that Chaucer wrote in was very straining. Everything I read I had to try to translate it into what it would mean in the modern day. Chaucer’s language and grammar was so different that it sometimes made it hard to understand what was going on in the storyline. This must have made me feel that “The Canterbury Tales” was a boring and unexciting read. However, after Brinkman gave his view on some of the tales, listening to the story no longer felt like work. He made it easy to understand and presented it in a way that both captured and maintained the attention of the audience. Adding to this, Baba Brinkman also went on to explain Chaucer’s works. He explained how he got to where he was and how this was previously just an assignment given by one of his professors. He also told us that his version stuck very closely to the actual book. Nothing was changed except that it was translated into rap and a modern language. Overall his presentation was more than what I expected. Yes, he put an old story into rap, but he also presented it exceptionally well. He put on show that wasn’t at all boring or unenthusiastic. For this topic being so scholarly, he made us forget that it was Chaucer and so it seemed like a story out of a modern day book. My favorite aspect was his background slideshow and voices. Like he said, it must have taken him a long time to get the timing of the tale so perfect and in sync. This added on to the quality of the presentation. It looked like it took a great deal of time to perfect it and in the end it came out nicely. This is definitely a valuable activity for future students to view an old classic in a modern twist.
Having read the Canterbury Tales I figured Baba’s performance would be pointless but he proved me quite wrong. I found the Canterbury Tales to be quite boring and dull causing me to lack interest in them so I figured his presentation would be the same. When Baba began rapping I quickly realized my assumption was extremely wrong. His presentation was upbeat and exciting causing me to pay attention and become interested in the stories. By explaining the tale first and then performing it I was able to understand the stories unlike when I read them. The change to modern language really shed a new light on the Canterbury Tales. This new view of the stories was so much easier to understand and relate to then Chaucer’s version even though they are really the same story. Because Baba kept the same themes and story lines I feel his work has academic merit. Just because it is unique and unlike the work of others doesn’t mean it’s not academic. I feel it really helps students in the modern age connect to literature that otherwise many would over look. Therefore I feel that Baba’s work is a very worthy presentation and should be used in future years.
I wasn't able to attend the CT tales performance but after seeing it in class on youtube I thought it was a good way to get teens excited about the CT. Teens are pretty familiar with rapping because it is so popular these days. The CT can be dry at times, so hearing and seeing them in rap form makes them more excited. I really do think that it makes Chaucer more accessible to 21st century students because of the rap aspect of it. After reading the paper about Brinkman, I was very surprised to see the connection between rapping and the CT. His connections were very legitimate, something I would have never thought about. This is definitely something worth considering for future classes because it is a good way to learn about the tales, and it presents them in a funny and familiar way.
Baba Brinkman’s presentation was pretty much how I expected it after reading his introduction, and especially after we watched some of his videos in class. His arguments, although perhaps unusual, do have at least some degree of academic merit. The most obvious link he points out is that of verbal presentation. He argues that the Canterbury Tales were meant to be performed for crowds of people, much like hip-hop is today. As hard as they may have been to read when they are written, the Canterbury Tales are at least as hard, and perhaps harder to read in the twenty-first century since the English language has undergone so many changes since Chaucer’s time. There is not much point in reading the Canterbury Tales if you do not understand what they mean or if it takes a long time to decipher. If you can get the same meaning out of something much easier to understand, then it is absolutely worth it. Baba Brinkman’s interpretation of the Canterbury Tales make Chaucer more accessible to 21st century students in this way, and this type of activity is worth considering for future classes.
AnnMarie Augusto
Mr. Kirby
AP European History
15 November 2009
During the summer as I read The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, I would have never guessed that someone would make a connection between Chaucer’s dialect and message of the stories to rap music. When I heard about Baba Brinkman’s unique interpretation of the Canterbury Tales, I acquired a better overall understanding of the tales. His performance exceeded my expectations from reading his introduction for class. The format of Brinkman’s performance on November 5 was interesting and held my attention. I liked the way he explained why and how he came up with the idea to rap the Canterbury tales and gave an introduction to what character he was going to portray in the next tale. It must have taken a tremendous amount of time to come up with words that would make sense and stay true to Chaucer’s tales, along with staying on beat with the background music. I enjoyed Brinkman’s performance and thought the information he shared with us was intriguing and somewhat inspirational to pursue what you believe in. I think Cheshire High School should have Baba Brinkman as a guest every year because I think everyone should have the opportunity to experience his rap Canterbury Tales. I also think that the high school should have Brinkman perform his evolution rap performance. I think students who saw his Canterbury Tale performance and others would love to see him perform this. I do believe his arguments have academic merit and he makes Chaucer more accessible to the twenty-first century because he presents the tale in a common medium that our time can comprehend better than Middle English.
I thought that Baba Brinkman’s presentation of the rap Canterbury Tales was very interesting and engaging. After reading his paper I was skeptical about what he actual raps would be. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales don’t seem like the most interesting stories at first as the language makes them difficult to understand. I wasn’t sure about how this would translate into a rap. After listening to one of the raps in class and then hearing them performed live I was much more convinced. His raps versions of Chaucer’s poems are different than mainstream rap. He incorporates voices and a lot of expression of the characters into them as well as the language is still rather sophisticated. Though it is still rap and especially after seeing him perform I was able to see the similarities much more clearly than just reading about them in the paper. It helped that he performed some freestyle as well as one was then able to compare the two and see that they weren’t so different after all.
After seeing Brinkman’s performance I was able to see more how he makes the Canterbury Tales more accessible. While reading the poems I forced myself to read them often not quite grasping what I was actually reading. Brinkman’s raps made them much easier to understand. They were a lot more interesting even though they were the same stories. He is able to show that Chaucer’s work is still applicable today even if it is not in its original form. Not only is he able to modernize the languages, but in doing so he modernizes the stories so they fit in our world today. He shows that the stories aren’t stuffy or boring as one may except from a Middle English poetry book, but they are quite funny as well as thought provoking. This is another area where I was more convinced by his argument. I didn’t think that the actual plots of the Canterbury tales could draw parallels with modern rap, but they can and Brinkman does an excellent job is portraying this.
Lastly, I think that this is experience should be continued for future students. It is a great opportunity to help enforce Brinkman’s message and learn more about the Canterbury tales, but also just increase the appreciation of older literature. He shows that though the language may be irrelevant the stories really amazing as they have stood the test of time and will continue to live on through people like Brinkman. Thus, his argument does have academic merit as it is a great way to learn about Chaucer’s famous Canterbury tales.
As before, I still think Baba Brinkman to be a pretentious waste of time. His Rap Canterbury Tales do nothing to make them any more accessible to my generation, certainly no more than a translated version of the Tales would do. His version of hip hop, being strained through the woodland suburbs of Vancouver, certainly has even less “street” validity than that of Kanye West, all ridiculous personalities and actions included. And speaking from terms of pure realism, his Rap Canterbury Tales will never make the Tales more accessible to any generation; his ostentatiously poor skills as a rap artist will never gain enough followers for it to be taken seriously.
Brinkman’s oral presentation that was not any different from his introduction to the Tales, making arguments that should have been refuted by college professors who were skeptical about reading his thesis. He certainly makes and establishes a point in apparent research, being what a thesis is supposed to be based in and on, but really makes no valid or convincing arguments.
My favorite aspect was the few points when he spoke Middle English. For this project, he really should have rapped in Middle English. This way he really would have been able to have done something other than tweaking a translated version of the Tales, and could have actually done something with merit.
All in all, the PTA has better things to spend money on.
Baba Brinkman’s presentation was exactly what I thought it would be after reading his introduction. He makes the same arguments, which I was skeptical upon reading and didn’t fully believe but once he made his presentation in person for some reason the argument felt a lot more compelling. After listening to him present his views it seemed to have more academic merit because he went though getting his bachelors and masters degree and he not just made the connections but also deeply understands the writings of Chaucer. I feel he makes Chaucer incredibly accessible to students in the 21st century not simply because its in a medium they like but yet because it is easier to comprehend. My favorite aspect of the whole thing is how he made his presentation really high energy so it wasn’t boring, or a drag to sit through. This is an activity defiantly worth allowing future classes to get to experience. It gives a very different view on a historic piece of literature, which I feel is very accessible and overall fun.
i thought that seeing Baba Brinkman's presentation live and having him explain first hand how he came up with the rap canterbury tales was so much more educational than having to read it online. Baba's explanation was so much more comprehendable when he was explaining it to us, i think this is because of all the emotion and connection to our era that made it so interesting. I believe that what he was trying to prove and what he was arguing was successful in reaching the minds of others, especially high school teens who get to witness him perform his raps. i thought it was so interestin when he was teaching us about how the language of each generation changes significantly over time but overall still has the same meaning. his examples were perfect and made sense. Seeing him perform really made baba's word a lot more interesting from when i read it online and significantly a lot more comprehendable because we got to listen to him explain it himself.
Last week, I was fortunate enough to watch Baba Brinkman's fantastic presentation of The Canterbury Tales. My opinions on his approach to Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, have changed dramatically. Also, he deserves more recognition and respect than that I had given him previously. Before, I had only read his graduate thesis. I was shocked by Baba Brinkman's casual take on one of the most prominent piece of literature; I thought by re-writing the Tales in the form of rap songs was a horrific degradation to both Chaucer and the readers. In addition, I was angered by his use of derogatory words. Clearly, I was not a fan of The Rap Canterbury Tales.
When I heard that Baba Brinkman was going to perform at Cheshire, I was not exactly excited. As it turned out, I discovered that my opinions were rather heavily biased andunjustified. Baba Brinkman's performance proved him to be a rather erudite man. He humorously re-told the arguments that he wrote in the thesis paper. It isinexplicable that why after hearing him in person, his unusual arguments sounded more convincing. I feel that his arguments have academic merit; he had made Chaucer's work more accessible to the society since the Rap Canterbury Tales was written in simple and everydaylanguage . Throughout his performance, I have to say that I had no trouble with understanding him at all. Furthermore, he made the tales very humorous since he actually tried to act out the scenes that were depicted in the Tale. In conclusion, I'm very impressed by Baba Brinkman. He is very different form what I had imagined him to be; he's not just another rapper who tries to sale music by using low tactics. I therefore, strongly suggest this activity to future classes.
To tell you the truth, I missed the first session of Baba Brinkman’s presentation. But on the other hand, I thought Baba Brinkman’s presentation here at Cheshire was quite fascinating. From having to read Baba Brinkman’s introduction online to the watching of his live performance here in Cheshire, I felt his presentation was very much educational and even beneficial. His performance had academic merit as well, not because of the rap but since he made it comprehendible for all. Plus, I thought he had just taken Chaucer’s work and turned it into rap but actually, he went to school to achieve his education for all that. At first, I assumed Baba’s presentation would be rather boring. But no, I was proven wrong. Although I missed the first half, when I came in and watched during the second half, I found his performance to be lively and exciting. It was definitely the highlight of my day. I found his performance of Chaucer’s Tales more accessible to the 21st century students through the visuals and body language he brought and expressed. Before he started to rap each tale, he also explained to us about the tales. My favorite aspect would be that, we students didn’t have to just sit there and watch him rap the whole time, as I imagined it to be. Instead, his visuals and explanations, as in pictures and beforehand introductions, helped me understand the story line and explore the insight of the tales.
I thoroughly enjoyed attending Baba Brinkman's rap of the cantebury tales. It was envigorating and though provoking experience. Before Baba had come, I was prententious as to whether his raps truly had substance when dealing with the cantebury tales. However, after the presentation, I realised that his standpoint truly had merit. His comparison of rap and old english poetry seemed a little extreme, but I could understand his point of view.
Being able to experience Brinkman's raps first hand helped me further understand his concepts, moreso than simply listening to his recordings. We were able to engage with him, and ask him questions about himself, his academic background, and his life as a rapper. This "whole package" presentation made me establish new found respect for Baba's work, and furthur helped me comprehend the Cantebury Tales in a modern light.
My favorite part of his presentation, by far, was his free verse. It was incredible to see this "canadian white boy" drop a free verse in front of all the students. It made me realise he was more than just a student who made a rap off of old english. With that said, I look forward to downloading his album (legally, of course).
Salman Rahman
AP European History
Mr. Kirby
Baba Brinkman’s presentation at the Cheshire High School auditorium was absolutely an amazing experience for me. I did not expect such a brilliant performance from him after reading about his work online. The live presentation simply changed my view and opinion about his work. I would certainly give him academic merit for most of the things he said during the performance, and his performance showed how he is well aware of his topic and the time frame. His arguments, however, are at some points hypothetical and optimistic which he also clearly mentioned making his arguments more legit. I believe he does make Chaucer more accessible to all the 21st century students because most students no longer go in depth to understand Chaucer’s work and find it boring simply because of the hard syntax and diction. My most favorite aspect was how he had so much knowledge about the time frame and the topic he was talking about and the time frame. He seems to me more like a brilliant scholar after the performance. His works I believe would also let future students to look at Chaucer’s work from a different perspective and it is certainly something that students should be allowed to watch. It allows students to better understand Chaucer’s work and also shows them how history could be interesting and related to the world today.
I thought that the Baba Brinkman presentation was interesting. I like how he was able to blend his own rap style into the canterbury tales without losing any of the meaning of Chaucer's Canterbury tales. I don't completely agree with him that Chaucer influenced rap indirectly but I do agree that they were similar in their own time. Chaucer was pointing out desparities in society just like some modern day rappers such as NWA who pointed out how bad life in the ghetto is. While Chauncer pointed out how women also enjoyed sex as well as men and that money made people do things they would not normally do otherwise.
I would like to start this post by stating that I have never liked rap and so it is a testament to Baba Brinkman’s skill that I actually enjoyed his presentation. The non-performance sections of his presentation contained similar information to his introduction but were much more interesting and entertaining. This is because the presentation delivered the information in a much more lively and animated way than his dry and dull essay. The presentation provided the expected information in an unexpected way.
I am afraid that Baba Brinkman’s arguments do have academic merit. Though I wish it were otherwise, rap has become as popular in this time period as narrative poetry was in Chaucer’s time. I know little of rap and so this argument might be invalid, but there seemed to be one discrepancy in Baba Brinkman’s arguments. From what I know of rap there seems to be very little narrative to it, while Chaucer’s poetry is entirely narrative. Again, this may be an invalid point, but it does put a hole in Baba Brinkman’s otherwise correct argument.
Baba Brinkman’s work certainly makes Chaucer’s stories more accessible to 21st century students. Even for someone like me who would never listen to anything like this on his own, Baba Brinkman’s version of the Canterbury Tales is much easier to understand than the original. Even in its translated form, the verse of Canterbury Tales is unwieldy and often confusing. Baba Brinkman’s version is designed to entertain and is thus more easily understood. In this way it is far more faithful to Chaucer’s original work than direct translations. This would have to be my favorite aspect of Baba Brinkman’s work. Because this version of the Tales is so accessible, it should certainly be used again in future classes.
Overall, I enjoyed Baba Brinkman's presentation. In person, he presented the connections between Canterbury Tales and rap engagingly.
His arguments did have academic merit, and he presented these with suitable quotations from both sources the way they were meant to be presented - aloud, in a live setting. This was one major benefit of the live performance over simply reading his introduction, as it made his ideas come very much more alive.
He succeeded in making Chaucer more accessible to 21st century students, and I think this activity should continue to be considered for future classes. Favorite aspects of the show included his freestyle rap (composed by request at the question-taking period). Brinkman was easy to identify with (he's very much a member of this current Generation Y), and his presentation was both entertaining and informative.
I thoroughly enjoyed Baba Brinkman's presentation. Based off of our reading of his introduction, I felt that it was everything that I expected.
While at first his ideas do seem a bit far fetched to me, I really cannot argue against them. They make sense and are logical, something that surprised me. I am impressed that he took two subject that are seemingly unrelated and found several correlations between them.
I do feel like Brinkman makes Chaucer more accessible to 21st students. At first Chaucer can seem dry and boring, but he creates it into something exciting and very entertaining, recreating what the original experience of reading The Canterbury Tales must have been like. Therefore, he stirs more of an interest in the younger generation.
I definitely think that his presentation should be considered for future classes. Not only was it interesting, but it helped us look at Chaucer from a different angle that we otherwise would not think of.
When we first read about Baba Brinkman, my impression was "Who does he think he is. What gives him the right to change an historic piece of literature?" And when I went into the presentation that thought was hovering in the back of my mind. But then he started talking to us, and he had this down to earth air about him that had not translated onto paper. It was more like he was talking to us than giving a presentation. I also started to realize that something so old and so famous, but at the same time admittedly bordering on dull, doesn't belong to one person anymore. It really belongs to everyone who takes the time to understand and appreciate that. By seeing him and hearing him in person, I could tell that Brinkman really did appreciate and respect The Canterbury tales, and that what he did, did not detract from the work (which was my earlier impression), but made it more accessible, without losing much of anything. Going into this I did not really have such a good opinion of what Brinkman had created, but this presentation really changed my mind. It showed me how talented he was, and how much respect he had for Chaucer’s work.
I do feel that his arguments had academic merit. Through his explanation, I could tell that Brinkman had put a lot of thought and research into this, and that he really understood what Chaucer was trying to say in the Canterbury tales. He didn’t modernize The Canterbury Tales, just the language and presentation. They are still the same stories with the same historical value; they are just easier to understand. That in itself shows that he has made The Canterbury Tales more accessible to 21st century students. Also, not only are they easier to understand now that students don’t have to struggle with the archaic language, but it’s in a format that grabs students’ attention.
My favorite part was how hard he worked to get the audience involved and made such an effort to help us connect to what was going on. His introductions for each tale were great for setting the scene. I also thought it was good that he found rappers to compare the narrators of the tales to. That was a good way to get people’s attention. He was also good at stopping every so often to encourage questions and opinions. He did a great job with the presentation and I believe it was worthwhile. It is definitely something you should consider for future classes.
Baba Brinkman’s presentation was brilliant. It was much better than expected, and I found it interesting when he mentioned the same things that he talked about in his introduction in his presentation as well. I watched some of his performances on YouTube before seeing him in person and to be honest, they weren’t that good. However, his performance in person was much, much better than any of the others I had seen. I was impressed with his ability to perfectly time his rap with the sound effects in the background, and the freestyle at the end was a nice touch.
To me, his arguments make perfect sense; they absolutely have academic merit. Rap today is just the poetry of yesterday; that is, rap is the modern version of word to a beat. I don’t see why this is so baffling to anyone, to be honest; just like how there are bad, “trashy”, or “unacademic” rappers, I’m sure there were trashy poets. Just because there are “trashy” artists in a medium doesn’t mean that there is nothing worth studying in that medium.
To be honest, although he does make Chaucer more accessible to today’s students, I don’t think it matters. Chaucer’s works were written for a completely different audience, and although it is interesting to study, I can’t see it really having an impact on any of our lives.
The freestyle was definitely the best part. He did seem like a genuinely nice guy who was passionate about what he studied. He did an especially good job with the Pardoner’s Tale, I thought.
I would wholeheartedly recommend him coming back again next year.
I thoroughly enjoyed Baba Brinkman's live presentation. The in-person performance was drastically different than the online introduction and even recordings of his in that there was a sort of tangible excitement and passion behind it. This surprising discrepancy reflects the notion that rap in its truest sense (as well as, it can be assumed, the original Canterbury Tales) is intended for entertainment.
In that sense, at least, Brinkman's arguments certainly have a fair degree of merit; his rapping essentially revitalizes a somewhat outdated text and makes it more accessible to a modern audience. While this approach is not without flaws (a fact which Brinkman himself openly admits) and requires a bit of imagination to pull everything together, there is a respectable degree of logical correlation between the two iterations to call the endeavor meritorious. Namely, the original Canterbury Tales were written in simple, poetic vernacular and were easily understood by the audience; they provided pure entertainment; they served as social commentary; they were competition-driven; and so on. The same holds true for the hip-hop movement today. While the approach may be somewhat unusual, it is certainly not academically baseless. As a result, it becomes a refreshing and intriguing re-visitation of classic English literature.
As a result, I think it is definitely something worth bringing to CHS again in the future. The more a person can relate to the course material, the better he or she will understand it, and the more he or she may even enjoy it.
After discussing and reading Baba Brinkman's thesis, I had doubts as to whether or not it would be successful and really did not know what to expect. However, after being able to view a live performance, I am convinced that he indeed was able to effectively transform the classical Canterbury Tales into a modernized rap music piece. By doing this, he ingeniously restored the somewhat boring and outdated tales into a more entertaining and accessible form of entertainment without losing the true essence of the stories. By being able to accomplish this, he made me enjoy the tales and left me wanting more, something I would have never expected, especially with the Canterbury Tales. Not only was it more entertaining and easy to understand, Brinkman also did an excellent job in explaining how rap really is similar to how the Canterbury Tales used to be presented, just a more modernized form. His explanations and insight to his process in my opinion really validated his thesis, something that I was not so sure of in the first place. After explaining the similarities and advantages of rap regarding the Canterbury Tales, his academic merit was definitely well established. Furthermore, the way he presented his rap was certainly praiseworthy; in addition to his rap, he was very creative and moreover possessed background music along with pictures, which really enhanced his performance.
My favorite characteristic about this whole presentation was that Brinkman was able to apply his passion of rap music to academics, something very creative and unique. It was easy to deduce that this project was something he was very enthusiastic about and fervently believed in. I believe this passion was the key to making his presentation exceptional.
Of course I would recommend that this be shown for future classes, as it really gave me a new perspective of the Canterbury Tales. It is an entertaining and fun educational experience that much can be gained from.
I really enjoyed Baba Brinkman's performance, he made it very entertaining and it helped me understand his thesis better. I felt I really benefited from his presentation and I would recommend having Brinkman perform at Cheshire High School in the future. I thought Brinkman's rap would be boring and him basically just saying words fast. What I found was that Brinkman added visuals, different voices, and background music to make his performance lively, interesting, and very modern.
I saw academic merit within his performance because he really understood the stories and Chaucer's main points. Brinkman was able to make strong parallels with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with modern day rap/rap battles. The connections made were valid and really evaluated Chaucer's writing. Brinkman was also able to explain his work and how he coould compare his rap with Chaucer clearly and logically. After seeing Brinkman's performance my feelings on his thesis strengthened and I still believe his work has academic merit.
I also feel that I understand the Canterbury Tales even better through Brinkman because he made the stories more modern, making it easier to connect. I still received the same tone and meaning as reading Chaucer and I feel this was a great experience. My favorite aspect was Brinkman's ability to change voices while keeping the stories hilarious and entertaining. In addition Brinkman's timing with the music, noises, and pictures was impressive.
In all I really enjoyed Brinkman's performance and I took a lot out of it. I found him entertaining but still academic. I strongly feel that I benefited more from experiencing his work live instead of just reading about it.
I was pleasantly surprised concerning the Baba Brinkman presentation. When I read his thesis I realized that there likely is a connection between old English and modern day rap. However, I was not completely sold on the whole idea. I did believe that there is probably a small connection between the language of Chaucer and hip hop, but I wasn’t convinced that the rap Canterbury Tales was anywhere close to being as scholarly as Chaucer’s version. When I read the Canterbury Tales over the summer I understood most of it but it was difficult due to the language barrier. Upon hearing Baba Brinkman perform his rap version I defiantly understood the story, and it wasn’t mentally taxing at all. I didn’t have to rethink exactly what it was that was being said like in Chaucer’s version. I feel that to get the true effect that Baba Brinkman was looking for it is best to actually have a live performance. Not only is this entertaining, but his arguments have more academic merit in person. Future students would understand Baba’s message more clearly if he paid another visit to CHS, as opposed to just reading about his argument.
I believe that Baba Brinkman's performance and workshop was great. His arguments still were respectable, but seeing him explain them with such fervor made them more compelling. This presentation was exactly what i expected after his introduction (maybe because we listened to some of his translations in class). If nothing else I most point out that his translation does make the Canterbury tales much more interesting and accessible to a 21st century student. My favorite aspect was that he did make a valid connection that many have overlooked or never even began to think of. Also this connection of rap to poetry makes a something that was incomprehensible me understandable. This activity is well worth showing to other students, it certainly helped me.
I think Baba Brinkman's presentation was very informative and entertaining. He was actually more interesting and more entertaining than I expected from reading his introduction. He even referenced that this is how is audience usually responds, that he needs to prove himself each time he goes out and performs. I think his arguments have a definite academic merit, but I also think that you could conceivably link together any literary trend. I like that he treats hip-hop as actual literature, instead of just pop-culture entertainment, and I think this will be the academic trend in the future. Baba definitely makes Chaucer more accessible, as I noticed the fact that Chaucer's stories are a skeleton for so many stories after having heard them told in another form. My favorite aspect was whenever he talked about hip-hop, as I love hip-hop and he talked about it with the knowledge of someone with a graduate degree as well as a love of hip-hop. I definitely think that he should be brought back, as he shows how even archaic text's relate to the everyday lives of students.
I thoroughly enjoyed Baba Brinkman’s presentation at CHS. Listening and learning about his theories and raps in class was very interesting, but did have me sold. I found it quite a stretch to be connecting present day rap to Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales. But, when I saw and heard his performance and stories in person, it was much more convincing. His enthusiasm and energetic attitude kept the audiences attention and made him sound more confident in what he was saying. I do believe that his raps are very similar to Chaucer’s original story, but Brinkman put it into terms that would allow us as students to understand and enjoy much more them we did previously. With this being said, I think that this is something that should be done in the years to follow.
I found Baba Brinkman's presentation to be a fascinating analysis of poetry in culture in both the Renaissance era as well as modern times. While his argument was certainly unorthodox, it was well-supported with his extensive knowledge both of Chaucer and of modern hip hop culture. I definitely believe that Brinkman's analysis deserves to be considered as academically relevant. While hip hop culture is often ostracized in more formal modern cultures, it is a natural extension of poetry for the troubled modern times. Like hip hop culture,the Canterbury Tales were looked down upon as informal dreck in the time they were written. Now, they have now become one of the most commmonly studied text in both history and English. As such, if one approaches Brinkman's thesis with an open mind, they will find a well-supported argument with a great amount of academic merit.
I didn’t aspect Brinkman’s rap to be anything like it was. I thought after reading the introduction that it would be some guy simply reciting the Canterbury Tales to some generic beat he found online. I had no clue how in-depth Brinkman into his performance. His points, in my opinion, hold academic merit, he did a effective job at explaining his points during the performance, for example when he went into talking about how a portion of Chaucer’s work before the Millers Tale could be directly related to the Parental Advisory labels on many of today’s rap and hip hop CDs. In doing this I think Brinkman definitely brings the works of Geoffrey Chaucer to 21st century students. I learned more about the plot and characters of the book watching his presentation then I did sitting there this summer reading the Canterbury Tales. My favorite aspect had to be the Millers Tale, it was my favorite story to read, and his performance of it was pretty funny. This activity is worth watching and needs to be included in future classes.
After viewing Baba Brinkman's presentation my thoughts on his adaption of The Canterbury Tales have changed greatly (in comparison to after reading just his introduction). To the typical, modern day highschool student Chaucer is not all that entertaining nor is his language easily accessed by many. Through Brinkman's rap adaptation of The Canterbury Tales students can understand Chaucer's work on a different, and deeper level. I originally questioned the academic merit of Brinkman's connection of The Canterbury Tales and modern day rap. Being able to see Brinkman's performance made visually obvious this connection that I had previously missed. In conclusion inviting Brinkman to CHS is something I hope the school will choose to continue. Brinkman is one of very few who have excelled at appealing to a mainstream audience while telling a story few would typically enjoy hearing.
I really enjoyed Brinkman’s performance, and I think that it was extremely successful in explaining Chaucer’s tales. I was entertained throughout the entire presentation, and I was learning about Middle English literature, therefore, this is definitely an event that should be a regular occurrence at CHS.
As for his academic merit, I think Baba hit the nail on the head with his correlations between the seemingly vastly different rap and Middle English poetry. He was able to draw ties between multiple aspects of both works, and you could tell that he must have put a lot of work into finding enough specific examples from both to convince his less than thrilled literature professors.
My favorite part of his presentation was definitely when he free-styled for us at the end. It really proved that he didn’t just sit down and rewrite Chaucer, and that he was a legitimate musician who implemented skill and intelligence into his work. Additionally, I really liked how he talked about how when he was in school just ten years ago, no one thought about studying rap and hip-hop. And how now, it has become a part of academia. It really made me think about what topics could be turned into serious focal points of study and not just activities or hobbies.
Baba Brinkman's presentation was a very unique experience indeed. I thought that actually seeing Baba perform in front of us was cool because it helped us depict the stories of the Canterbury Tales as it was made easier for us to understand through his way off teaching also known as "rap". Students I thought got alot more out of him raping because it was easier for us to relate to him because he would compare findings of what Chaucer said to lyrics similar to artists that we are familiar with today. His presentation was not at all what i envisioned when i first read his introduction. I believe that this was a great experience and other classes in the future should really benefit from him as he presents new ideas that actually make sense in today"s reality to CHS. My favorite part was at the end when we put his skills to the test and saw him freestyle for quite some time and was actually good at it.
After viewing Baba Brinkman’s presentation on the Canterbury Tales, my impression on his work has changed drastically. Baba Brinkman has made the Canterbury Tales accessible to a wider audience, by making the language of his work easier and he has also by applying popular cultural techniques to his work. Many people might have thought of the original Canterbury Tales as boring or might have found the language of the book quite hard, but Brinkman is able to solve this issue by making his work easier to read and understand and also he makes the Canterbury tales interesting again. When I first heard about Baba Brinkman’s work, I initially questioned the academic merit of his work and doubted whether he could truly connect rap with Chaucer, but after watching his presentation it was clear to me that the connections were there all along, and that I just wasn’t able to see them initially. I definitely think that the school should continue inviting Mr. Brinkman back to CHS. Inviting his back will increase student’s interest in the Canterbury Tales thus increasing their interest in literature. Baba Brinkman will provide a experience for CHS students, that many will never experience in their lives.
Going to see The Rap Canterbury Tales does not sound like a cool way to spend the day, but it really was. Baba Brinkman’s presentation was funny and informative. It was clear that Mr. Brinkman really enjoyed the Canterbury Tales; his enthusiasm for them and for hip-hop was very clear, and it helped make the presentation more enjoyable and effective. After reading Mr. Brinkman’s introduction, one was left with a sense of skepticism. However, while his ideas come off as rather outlandish on the page, they seem to be very correct in his presentation. While the Tales were pretty much what I was expecting- especially having already watched one online- Mr. Brinkman’s explanations were a very pleasant surprise. He seemed to really care about what he was doing and to really want use to be excited about medieval poetry-, which we definitely were after his presentation. I really enjoyed Mr. Brinkman’s presentation- the visuals were fantastic. Having Mr. Brinkman come to the school was definitely a good idea; he really enhanced one’s knowledge of the Tales and helped to show that to seemingly unconnected things could have a lot of similarities.
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I was sick, so I didn't see him perform
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