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Chaucer Gets Thugged-Out, No Longer Criminally Boring

12/19/06, 1:10 pm EST

The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer, Bab BrinkmanA white dude from Canada, Baba Brinkman, is silencing Middle English haters by comparing rap battles to the pilgrims’ storytelling competitions in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales. It’s kind of like 8 Mile, but with raping and pillaging. In an effort to save high schoolers the time of reading the CliffsNotes, Baba has created “lit-hop.” His MySpace page shows the m.o.: Chaucer’s vice-filled lyrics, Baba’s pentameter cadence and a chilly backbeat courtesy of the Cure. It’s not Illmatic, but it beats reading.

All this makes us wonder: How would Balzac rock it if he were alive today? Would a Shakespeare/Francis Bacon beef bring the blood like Tupac and Biggie? Could the epic poetry of Dante Alighieri match game with Eminem in a rap battle? Tell us what you think.


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Comments

Chris | 12/19/2006, 2:04 pm EST

Dude, Chaucer was never “criminally boring.”

baba o riley | 12/19/2006, 2:30 pm EST

“Dude, Chaucer was never “criminally boring.””

Sorry dweeb, was and is.

R. Pennypacker | 12/19/2006, 2:53 pm EST

…who still says “dweeb”?

Dan | 12/19/2006, 3:09 pm EST

Hey,

don’t get me wrong, I love these epics; but, where is Beowulf? Seriously, I can’t a good beat going without Grendel…

SATAN | 12/19/2006, 3:17 pm EST

IN THE IMMORTAL WORDS OF JOHN BENDER, BREAKFAST CLUB ALUMNUS, HE IS A “NEO-MAXIE ZOOM DWEEBIE”

Gofrito | 12/19/2006, 5:01 pm EST

Shakespeare, or Willy Shakes to his crew, would totally rip anyone in a battle. Except perhaps K-Mart, aka Kit Marlowe.

LobaGrrl | 12/19/2006, 5:03 pm EST

Balzac would probably sound a lot like vintage Meat Loaf.

Brad | 12/19/2006, 5:18 pm EST

I saw this guy live and he was really good btw. Oh, and if you think Chaucer is criminally boring, you just might be retarded. seriously.

Brad | 12/19/2006, 5:20 pm EST

And if the idiot author of this piece had ever read Dante, he would have realized that his rap battle joke doesn’t even make sense. Baba’s point was that the genre of the canterbury tales was specifically like a rap battle.

charliemapleton | 12/19/2006, 6:29 pm EST

The only thing fun about the book’s concept is that it’s an off the wall joke.But then again,I woldn’t mind seeing Peter Pan and Robin Hood beef(laughs).

eddie murphy | 12/20/2006, 8:18 am EST

since Iraqies and african americans are the only races to commit violent crimes on each other for no reason I think this question is irrelovent. Shakespeare and Francis would have talked about there issues and handled it like adults, not savages with guns and a big mouth.

SATAN | 12/20/2006, 8:41 am EST

Well said

Steven Tyler | 12/20/2006, 9:40 am EST

To bad rap has become so violent,repetitive,uncreative, tired and boring, I think that I am The father of rap, listen to my hit song walk this way with Run DMC, I wrote everyline of that song and even recorded the raps, I just needed some you peoples to lip sync for the video.

Steven Tyler | 12/20/2006, 9:44 am EST

To bad rap has become so boring,violent,repetitive,uncr eative,tired,crunk,overdone and dramatic.Rap is a genre of music that destroys any kind of credabilty towards the intelligence of the human race, it is mindless and all the same. I think that I am The father of real rap though, listen to my hit song walk this way with Run DMC, I wrote everyline of that song and even recorded the raps, I just needed some you peoples to lip sync for the video.

cheesecrop | 12/20/2006, 9:37 pm EST

On November 2, 1992 I called out sick from high school. The English class I was in was discussing literature from the medieval period at the time. I now regret that I told a fib and stayed home that day because clearly I missed something that day.

Diva | 12/21/2006, 12:16 am EST

I always knew there was a reason why the Wife of Bath was a ho.

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