Droppin' Science: The World's Nerdiest Rap Songs

Yo yo, check ya headz an' sharpen ya pencil leadz 'cuz MC _floss is in da blog!

(Ahem.) So what makes a rap song nerdy, other than (as demonstrated above) the nerdiness of the rapper? One thing above all else: subject matter. We're all familiar with the cliched canon of rap song themes (pimpin' ain't e-z; my rapping skillz are superior to yours; I admire the posterior regions of the opposite sex, etc), but it's when rap songs start to stray outside these lines -- way outside -- that the nerd factor increases. And there's no nerdier way to drop science ... than to rap about science. For instance:

Large Hadron Collider Rap

Scientist/nerd rap impresario Alpinekat's latest track is a bona-fide hit on YouTube -- and it explains all you need to know, sort of, about CERN's ambitious new particle collider project.

Physics Guy Rap

"Get your hands in the air, yeah that's the notion / Now come on, let me see some oscillatory motion!" (Somehow I don't think this is the kind of thing Grandmaster Flash and Kurtis Blow had in mind when they were pioneering rap 25 years ago ... but what're you gonna do.) This was written and performed by a physics student whose teacher agreed to drop a low assignment grade if he'd rap for the class. Sounds like a pretty good trade-off to me.

Richard Dawkins Rap

Ah, the old science-vs.-religion debate. It may never be settled, but as long as everyone's arguing, we may as well make a tongue-in-cheek rap about it.

MC Hawking: A Brief History of Rhyme

I couldn't not mention this, since it's brilliant, but VIEWER BEWARE! MC Hawking don't hold back, and he spits a few NSFW rhymes. This is a promo for the MC's greatest hits compilation, and includes snippets of such classic tracks as "The Big Bizang," "The Hawkman Cometh" and "E=MC Hawking." Check it:

N3UROCH!P Rap

Two physicists from Tel Aviv imprinted rudimentary memories onto a network of living neurons. Now that's something worth rapping about.