Big Ole Geeks, a hip-hop science single from Raven Baxter, remixes Megan Thee Stallion with molecular biology

Raven Baxter released "Big Ole Geeks," a hip-hop science single and music video, in July 2019. She posted the video to Facebook on July 17 as Raven the Science Maven, with the single on streaming platforms.

The track remixes Megan Thee Stallion's "Big Ole Freak" with lyrics on molecular biology and chemistry. In the video, women scientists in lab coats run experiments, then appear in club scenes and beside luxury cars. "Here's a little something so that you can shake something while you're running gels!" Baxter wrote with the video.

She framed the song as an answer to who stays in science. "Did you know that Black and Latinx students leave STEM majors at far higher rates than their white peers?" she wrote. That March, an Educational Researcher study reported by Higher Ed Today found that 34 percent of Black students who started as STEM majors went on to earn a STEM degree, against 58 percent of white students.

"Big Ole Geeks is meant to be an educational, lighthearted, and uplifting anthem for Black women in STEM," Baxter wrote. "Representation matters," her post declared.

The song also served as teaching material. "Adult students in college and beyond are welcome to unpack the lyrics and explore some topics in molecular biology!" she wrote. She invited scientists to film themselves dancing to it in their labs under the #bigolegeeks hashtag.

The video was part of her doctoral research in science education at the University at Buffalo. She later described that study at SciComm 2020. She surveyed and interviewed 50 Black women about the video, half of them with STEM careers.

Its source track, "Big Ole Freak," was Megan Thee Stallion's breakout single. She performed it at the MTV Video Music Awards pre-show that August, The Fader reported.

The video stayed with Baxter through later honors and talks. In 2020, Fortune named her to its 40 Under 40 and said she made the video "to challenge the notion of who could wear a lab coat." She discussed it in her TEDxGreatMills talk, her VOICES 2021 keynote and her 2022 National Science Teachers Association keynote. There she called it "unapologetically Black" and "unapologetically nerdy." She cited it again in her 2026 Comment in Nature Microbiology.

Baxter was then a full-time college biology instructor and a doctoral student at the University at Buffalo. She had worked as a cancer research and drug discovery scientist in industry.

The song later appeared on her first EP, The Protocol, released May 30, 2020. The EP also includes "A.T.C.G.," "Computer Love," "100 Digits of Pi" and "Poll Dancer."

Watch the music video on Facebook, stream the single on Spotify or hear The Protocol on Apple Music.