Rapper finds inspiration in Chaucer

There are remarkable parallels between “The Canterbury Tales” and modern rap, Brinkman said at Wellesley College during a recent stop on his tour of high schools and colleges across the eastern United States and Puerto Rico.

“Chaucer and rap are both performance-based and they’re both battles of words where your proficiency gets you by,” said Brinkman, whose master’s thesis compared the two.

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Brinkman performs the “Pardoner’s Tale,” the “Miller’s Tale” and the “Wife of Bath’s Tale.” His one-man show, with recorded music and a few props that include a couple of chairs, a bottle of water and a bandanna, is constructed much like the pilgrims’ journey in “The Canterbury Tales.” He acts as the narrator — a stowaway fan on a tour bus — and plays the part of three rappers on the bus engaged in a rap battle. —Mark Pratt —Rapper finds inspiration in Chaucer (Yahoo! News (will expire))

New to me: the lit-hop genre.