Sicker than your ; picture
Are picturesque women/men always giving you glances?
Any artistic practice, with musicians or actors
Or ; just pick an example
And imagine the competitive advantages
That would come with if you have the gift
Now picture the artist with , and with
Picturesque women always givin’ him glances
Or, if you’re picturing a woman, then picture the advances
Of the whose attention she catches
Now, picture them livin’ happily ever after
And havin’ kids faster than Angie and Brad Pitt
All because they have this gift with craftsmanship
Now take it from the master of the adjectives
I think it’s ; it has to be
In synch with the rhythm, just listen and sink
Deep into the of the obnoxious
, I’m just tickin’ the boxes
Can words hypnotize? How important do you think language is relative to physical looks in securing mates?
And then mission accomplished
Baba, Baba, Baba, can’t you see
Sometimes your words just hypnotize me
And I just love your turns of phrase
So even though you’re still broke I love you anyway
Yeah, I could fill you with real
Lyrics, but I confess that my mind is twisted
‘Cause I’ve been listenin’ to
While reading on the opposite page
So now this whole rap thing seems awfully strange
Talkin’ ‘bout, “He got game, and he’s not real
And he’s got chains” but wait, that’s a !
‘Cause you never hear them say they got it
Which means that bling is meant to represent
How much they really spent, and at the end of the day
Male bower bird (right) blinging up his nest to attract the female (left). ©KrysiaB
That’s the definition of a “”
Like a , which takes hours of work
And makes the females catch a powerful urge
Just like a style of verse or an amazing flow
But it takes dedication and it takes a toll
‘Cause the best displays are
Baba, Baba, Baba, can’t you see
Sometimes your words just hypnotize me
And I just love your turns of phrase
So even though you’re still broke, I love you anyway
Natural selection is often calculated in terms of “average fitness” or the ability of a gene or organism to succeed, on average, in competition with other genes or organisms in the population. A gene that is spread by sexual selection is “sicker than your average” (“sick” in hip-hop slang means “highly skilled”) – in so far as it is good at getting itself replicated by attracting high-quality members of the opposite sex.
Music, visual arts, poetry, storytelling, acting (mimicry) and many other human talents generally considered “sexy” are all hypothesized to be the products of sexual selection.
In primates, social status is often measured in terms of “recognition,” where high-status individuals eat first, mate first, and receive more attention than low-status individuals
In humans, money has become a secondary form of social status, although it is still widely recognized as a lower-quality marker of genetic quality than the ability to directly win contests (of wits, brawn, style, strategy, persuasion, etc).
The male reward is plural and the female reward singular because, on average, males benefit more genetically from multiple partners, although individual men and women may still have atypical preferences. What partners you choose, is otherwise known as
mate choice. To
find out more about what governs our choice of mate, read this by GrrrlScientist in
The Guardian.
Biologists refer to certain behaviors and structures as “adaptive” if they are believed to be the product of natural or sexual selection, contributing to the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce. Human craftsmanship and artistic ability certainly seem to fit.
A behaviour which is made up of a stereotyped pattern and is typically not changed by experience. The distinction between ‘instinct’ and ‘learnt behaviour’ has been blurred by research which shows that even learnt behaviour has some heritable component.
The desire to make art and music is often felt as a pure impulse, completely separate from the reception of the work. Even if the artist’s personal motive isn’t consciously directed towards attracting mates, evolution could still be at work if the consequences were consistently good for reproduction.
The hip-hop expression “I’m feelin’ it” refers to a person’s positive emotional response to music, art, or performance. This is evolution in action.
The word ‘science’ comes from the Latin scientia, meaning ‘knowledge’
The peacock’s tail is the classic example of an “adaptive” structure that was shaped by sexual selection. The females prefer large tails with more spots, driving each generation of males to have bigger and showier tails, and each generation of females to like them even more.
If bling were not intended as a symbol of financial status, you would hear rappers bragging about how little it costs instead of how much.
A “fitness display” is a symbolic representation of an organism’s genetic quality (usually the male), it can be a physical symbol like the peacock’s tail, or a performance such as a bird song or mating dance.
Bowerbird males build large, intricate sculptures and decorate them with colorful flowers and ornaments. These structures are “fitness displays” that are inspected by the females, who then choose to mate with the best artist.
For the message in a fitness display to be trusted as a true marker of genetic quality, the symbol must be costly and difficult to fake. Rap skills in particular are very difficult to fake, and if you disagree, try making a platinum record.
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