WEBVTT

00:00:01.071 --> 00:00:02.221
How y'all doing?

00:00:02.881 --> 00:00:04.111
Good.

00:00:04.135 --> 00:00:06.920
I came here to give you a science lesson

00:00:06.944 --> 00:00:09.006
about animal mating systems

00:00:09.030 --> 00:00:13.614
and why defining monogamy
has been a challenge for scientists.

00:00:13.934 --> 00:00:17.046
But you won't need a textbook
or to download an online lecture.

00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:22.283
All you'll simply need to do
is revisit the song "OPP"

00:00:22.307 --> 00:00:23.712
by Naughty by Nature.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:23.736 --> 00:00:24.926
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:24.950 --> 00:00:27.211
It was released in 1991.

00:00:28.808 --> 00:00:31.493
Now, "OPP" is a call-and-response song.

00:00:31.815 --> 00:00:35.649
So throughout the talk,
I'm going to put lyrics up on the screen,

00:00:35.673 --> 00:00:37.063
and I'm going to recite some

00:00:37.087 --> 00:00:38.450
and I'm going to prompt you

00:00:38.474 --> 00:00:40.644
when it's your turn
to do the response, OK?

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:40.668 --> 00:00:41.921
(Cheers)

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:41.945 --> 00:00:44.580
Now, I know some people
in this audience know this song,

00:00:44.604 --> 00:00:47.429
so I need you to lead the way
with the tempo and the rhythm,

00:00:47.453 --> 00:00:48.857
if that's alright, OK?

00:00:48.881 --> 00:00:50.071
Right, y'all ready?

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:50.974 --> 00:00:52.321
You down with OPP?

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:52.345 --> 00:00:53.712
Audience: Yeah, you know me!

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:53.736 --> 00:00:55.119
DNL: You down with OPP?

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:55.143 --> 00:00:56.498
Audience: Yeah, you know me!

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:56.522 --> 00:00:57.777
DNL: You down with OPP?

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:57.791 --> 00:00:59.133
Audience: Yeah, you know me!

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:59.157 --> 00:01:00.355
DNL: That was perfect.

00:01:00.379 --> 00:01:01.529
Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:02.768 --> 00:01:04.450
"OPP, how can I explain it?

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:04.474 --> 00:01:05.982
I'll take it frame by frame it.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:06.006 --> 00:01:08.045
To have y'all jumping shout and singing it

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:08.069 --> 00:01:10.823
O is for other, P is for people.
scratch your temple.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:10.847 --> 00:01:13.355
The last P, well, that's not that simple."

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:13.379 --> 00:01:17.069
Now, in the song, the MC hints
that it's a five-letter word,

00:01:17.093 --> 00:01:18.704
but to keep it rated PG,

00:01:18.728 --> 00:01:21.553
he simply refers to it as "property."

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:21.983 --> 00:01:23.133
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:23.157 --> 00:01:26.466
The song is about cheating
on your significant other.

00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.633
Now, around the time that this song
was in heavy rotation,

00:01:30.657 --> 00:01:35.974
biologists were in deep discussion
about whether bird species,

00:01:35.998 --> 00:01:41.246
notably songbirds and waterfowl
were actually monogamous or not.

00:01:41.831 --> 00:01:45.117
See, for decades,
generations of science students

00:01:45.141 --> 00:01:49.131
were taught that well over 90 percent
of the bird species were monogamous.

00:01:49.657 --> 00:01:52.723
A male and female
mating faithfully for life.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:53.419 --> 00:01:55.672
That was until the late 1980s,

00:01:55.696 --> 00:01:58.490
when a new laboratory technique
came on the scene,

00:01:58.514 --> 00:02:02.522
which could copy DNA
from a small tissue or fluid sample

00:02:02.546 --> 00:02:04.641
and decode the genetics of individuals.

00:02:05.046 --> 00:02:07.109
Now, before that technique,

00:02:07.133 --> 00:02:09.378
we were never ever certain about,

00:02:09.402 --> 00:02:12.245
100 percent, who the parents
of baby birds were.

00:02:12.744 --> 00:02:14.482
All we had were our field notes.

00:02:14.792 --> 00:02:17.164
And we would know
which adults lived in a nest

00:02:17.188 --> 00:02:19.323
and which ones fed the baby birds.

00:02:20.085 --> 00:02:25.704
Well, come to find out,
study after study kept coming in

00:02:25.728 --> 00:02:29.286
and we found so much
evidence of infidelity --

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:29.310 --> 00:02:30.658
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:30.682 --> 00:02:32.048
among bird species,

00:02:32.072 --> 00:02:33.463
particularly these songbirds

00:02:33.487 --> 00:02:36.075
that we thought
were the pinnacle of monogamy.

00:02:36.445 --> 00:02:39.783
It would have made Maury Povich
jealous for the ratings.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:39.807 --> 00:02:42.180
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:42.538 --> 00:02:45.831
It rocked biology and ornithology so hard,

00:02:45.855 --> 00:02:50.053
we had to modify and expand
the entire definition of monogamy.

00:02:50.974 --> 00:02:54.657
Now, it was so bad
that this was the headline

00:02:54.681 --> 00:02:57.172
of the "New York Times" science section,

00:02:57.196 --> 00:02:58.958
August, 1990.

00:02:59.427 --> 00:03:02.381
"Mating for Life?
It's not for the Birds or the Bees."

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:02.405 --> 00:03:04.237
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:04.261 --> 00:03:07.173
We had to come up with new definitions.

00:03:07.538 --> 00:03:11.204
The situation where an individual
would change partners,

00:03:11.228 --> 00:03:13.057
either between breeding seasons

00:03:13.081 --> 00:03:16.394
or just simply because
they didn't like their partner anymore?

00:03:16.418 --> 00:03:18.618
We now call this "serial monogamy."

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:18.941 --> 00:03:23.791
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:23.815 --> 00:03:25.894
I didn't know it was
going to be this funny.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:25.918 --> 00:03:27.865
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:28.283 --> 00:03:32.783
The situation where we know
the male and female pair together

00:03:32.807 --> 00:03:35.355
and all the babies
belong to both partners?

00:03:35.379 --> 00:03:37.346
We call that "genetic monogamy."

00:03:37.370 --> 00:03:39.815
And we now recognize
that it only holds true

00:03:39.839 --> 00:03:43.966
for about 14 percent
of the songbird species,

00:03:43.990 --> 00:03:47.070
which we were very certain
were truly monogamous.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:47.831 --> 00:03:49.569
And with this reclassification,

00:03:49.593 --> 00:03:52.343
we realized that in a lot
of those field observations

00:03:52.367 --> 00:03:55.481
where we saw a male and female
sharing a nest,

00:03:55.505 --> 00:04:00.021
comaintaining a territory,
even provisioning offspring together,

00:04:00.045 --> 00:04:04.560
often included a few baby birds
that did not belong to the male partner.

00:04:05.925 --> 00:04:08.288
We call this "social monogamy."

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:08.312 --> 00:04:10.732
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:10.756 --> 00:04:13.066
And the mechanism responsible?

00:04:13.090 --> 00:04:15.557
Extra-pair copulation.

00:04:17.660 --> 00:04:20.370
"It's OPP, time for other people's
what you get it

00:04:20.394 --> 00:04:23.206
there's no room for relationship,
there's just room to ..."

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:23.230 --> 00:04:24.381
Audience: "Hit it!"

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:24.405 --> 00:04:27.234
"How many brothers out there
know just what I'm getting at?

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:27.258 --> 00:04:30.404
Who thinks it's wrong because I was
splitting and cohitting that.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:30.754 --> 00:04:33.785
Well if you do, that's OPP"

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:34.238 --> 00:04:35.777
Actually, that's EPC

00:04:36.770 --> 00:04:40.572
Which is the abbreviation
for extra-pair copulation.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:40.596 --> 00:04:42.888
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:42.912 --> 00:04:47.720
Now, we define extra-pair copulation
as the mating outside of a pair bond.

00:04:48.119 --> 00:04:50.434
And just like we were
discovering via science,

00:04:50.458 --> 00:04:54.085
it can lead to babies
that don't belong to the male partner.

00:04:54.109 --> 00:04:55.264
Alright?

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:55.288 --> 00:04:58.942
Now, I first learned
about EPCs years later,

00:04:58.966 --> 00:05:02.029
after all the science news broke
while I was in graduate school.

00:05:02.403 --> 00:05:04.703
And as we were taking a class,

00:05:04.727 --> 00:05:07.601
talking about current discoveries
and mating systems,

00:05:07.625 --> 00:05:09.403
this topic comes up.

00:05:09.855 --> 00:05:12.459
And as my professor's
going through the definition

00:05:12.483 --> 00:05:15.292
and recounting all
the dramatic turns of events

00:05:15.316 --> 00:05:17.482
that lead to these new revelations,

00:05:17.506 --> 00:05:21.109
I'm sitting in class and a familiar song
starts bopping in my head.

00:05:21.133 --> 00:05:22.768
I'm like, "You down with OPP?

00:05:22.792 --> 00:05:24.323
Yeah, you know me!"

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:24.347 --> 00:05:25.966
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:25.990 --> 00:05:29.799
I mean, that's exactly
what that song was about:

00:05:29.823 --> 00:05:30.973
EPCs.

00:05:31.355 --> 00:05:33.182
And what I recognized

00:05:33.206 --> 00:05:36.847
is that this gives us an opportunity
to revisit this song.

00:05:36.871 --> 00:05:38.671
Let's switch the lyrics up.

00:05:39.815 --> 00:05:41.569
So say EPC.

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:41.593 --> 00:05:42.751
Audience: EPC.

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:42.775 --> 00:05:44.289
DNL: Say it, EPC!

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:44.313 --> 00:05:45.464
Audience: EPC!

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:45.488 --> 00:05:46.855
"I like to say it with pride

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:46.879 --> 00:05:49.855
now, when you do it, do it well,
and make sure that it counts.

00:05:49.879 --> 00:05:51.498
You're not down with a discount."

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:51.522 --> 00:05:52.720
You down with EPC?

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:52.744 --> 00:05:56.026
Audience: Yeah, you know me!

NOTE Paragraph

00:05:56.050 --> 00:05:59.534
Now, I had always been
playing songs in my head

00:05:59.558 --> 00:06:01.534
while I was in science class,

00:06:01.558 --> 00:06:05.136
kind of tapping into this index
of pop culture and hip-hop songs.

00:06:05.585 --> 00:06:08.871
But when I would share my analogies
with my science professors,

00:06:08.895 --> 00:06:10.823
all of whom were older white men,

00:06:10.847 --> 00:06:15.585
I often got blank and confused
stares as responses.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:15.609 --> 00:06:17.792
(Laughter)

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:17.816 --> 00:06:21.712
But when I would share this
with people from communities like mine,

00:06:21.736 --> 00:06:24.950
or other colleagues --
so, diverse communities --

00:06:24.974 --> 00:06:27.441
this hip-hop science remix was a hit.

00:06:27.871 --> 00:06:31.537
That's because I was either talking
to people who looked and sounded like me,

00:06:31.561 --> 00:06:34.967
or at the very least, you know,
listened to some of the same songs.

00:06:34.991 --> 00:06:37.791
We were sharing a common cultural lexicon.

00:06:38.346 --> 00:06:42.768
And with that lexicon, I was able
to bring new science terms to them,

00:06:42.792 --> 00:06:48.653
and together, we were sharing a new
comprehension of science for the culture.

NOTE Paragraph

00:06:49.649 --> 00:06:53.745
Now, hip-hop song references

00:06:53.769 --> 00:06:59.880
are a really good tool for teaching
content to students from hip-hop culture

00:06:59.904 --> 00:07:01.333
or urban communities.

00:07:01.357 --> 00:07:04.537
And I use it intentionally
to connect to those students,

00:07:04.561 --> 00:07:07.823
tapping into vocabulary
that they already know

00:07:07.847 --> 00:07:10.580
and systems that they already comprehend.

00:07:11.228 --> 00:07:17.748
And what it does in that process
is it ratifies them, us, our culture

00:07:17.772 --> 00:07:19.557
as knowledge purveyors.

00:07:20.691 --> 00:07:24.077
I use hip-hop to frame
and communicate science

00:07:24.101 --> 00:07:28.601
because I'm intentionally communicating
science to broader audiences

00:07:28.625 --> 00:07:33.315
that public science outreach
has traditionally overlooked.

00:07:34.427 --> 00:07:36.316
And in the process,

00:07:36.340 --> 00:07:39.308
I am affirming the genius

00:07:39.332 --> 00:07:43.347
that thrives in the young minds of people
from every hood everywhere.

00:07:43.879 --> 00:07:45.966
So let me ask you one last time,

00:07:45.990 --> 00:07:47.395
you down with EPC?

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:47.419 --> 00:07:48.776
Audience: Yeah, you know me!

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:50.057
DNL: You down with EPC?

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:50.081 --> 00:07:51.420
Audience: Yeah, you know me!

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:51.444 --> 00:07:52.646
DNL: You down with EPC?

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:52.670 --> 00:07:54.030
Audience: Yeah, you know me!

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:54.054 --> 00:07:55.262
DNL: Who's down with EPC?

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:55.286 --> 00:07:57.362
Audience: All the homies!

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:57.698 --> 00:07:58.864
Thank you.

NOTE Paragraph

00:07:58.888 --> 00:08:03.277
(Applause and cheers)