September 26, 2010: "Epic Rap Battles of History" Premieres

EpicLLOYD (left) and Nice Peter

September 26, 2010: Epic Rap Battles of History premieres on YouTube. Like Billy Joel's song "We Didn't Start the Fire," it has inspired millions to look up its historical references. Unlike that song, it is frequently, and intentionally, really, really funny.

It's the product of the demented minds of Peter Shukoff and Lloyd Ahlquist, a.k.a. Nice Peter and EpicLLOYD, respectively. Figures from history, both real and fictional, have a rap battle against each other, defying the laws of space and time so that, not only can people who are dead appear to be alive and rap against those who are still alive, but the dead ones know everything about their opponents, and life on Earth in general since their own deaths, coming up with some zingers that are, well, epic.

Peter told the story of how the concept began. Both he and Lloyd were already "YouTube celebrities." They got invited to a party in Los Angeles -- Peter is from Rochester, New York, and Lloyd is from Staten Island -- where they roleplayed while rapping. Lloyd was asked to play Justin Bieber. But this was early in Bieber's career, and Lloyd didn't know who he was. He thought it was "Justin Beaver." (Actually, the German word for "beaver" is "biber.") So he dropped a lot of jokes about buck teeth and chewing wood, and while he was used to getting laughs, he couldn't understand why they were coming when they did.

So Peter suggested they should have an "epic rap battle." Who should it be? Somebody suggested John Lennon, despite his already being dead for almost 30 years, against right-wing Fox News host Bill O'Reilly. The 1st episode was Peter, wearing a copy of Lennon's uniform from The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, complete with round sunglasses; against Lloyd as O'Reilly. I'll be charitable, and say that they got better.

In the 2nd episode, they got a lot better. Peter played Darth Vader from Star Wars, and Lloyd played Adolf Hitler. This time, and every time since, the lyrics were put on the screen, in case the listener got confused as to a reference: They could then look it up. Vader's 1st line may still be the best zinger in the series' history: "You can't rhyme with the Dark Side of the Force. Why even bother? So many dudes been with your mom, who even knows if I'm your father?"

Cringey jokes about the Holocaust, and Vader's blatant cheating, aside, the battle caught fire on the Internet, and has since had over 100 million views. It inspired 2 sequels, each of which also had jokes that skirted the line of good taste, and Vader cheating to win. I mean, rooting for Hitler is wrong, but someone as powerful as Darth Vader shouldn't need to cheat in order to win.

The show took off from there, and is still running. Usually, the opponents will have something in common, although that won't always be obvious. Maybe it's a job: They had artists Pablo Picasso and Bob Ross face each other, and magicians Harry Houdini and David Copperfield. Maybe, it's just a name: Napoleon Bonaparte vs. the fictional Napoleon Dynamite.

Sometimes, they go for apparent polar opposites: Mr. T vs. Mr. Rogers. Peter really wanted to have Miley Cyrus for a battle after her teddy-bear performance at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, and tried for days to think of an appropriate opponent, a polar opposite. Finally, someone suggested Joan of Arc.

Which led to an irony: Joan was played by Jessi Smiles, then considered the queen of the app Vine, enabling 7-second videos. (Miley was played by Michelle Glavan.) Joan famously died a virgin, while Jessi became the 2nd ERB'er to have a baby after appearing.

The 1st was even more ironic: Angela Trimbur played Cleopatra against Kimmy Gatewood's Marilyn Monroe. Kimmy was not only the 1st ERB'er to have a baby after appearing, she also became the 1st one to appear after having one, when she later played Hillary Clinton against Lloyd's Donald Trump. The irony here is that Cleopatra hit Marilyn with a line that was, literally, hitting below the belt, and probably shouldn't have been used: "You still got no kids after your third marriage. You've lost so many babies, we should call you Miss Carriage!" (The real Marilyn had at least 2 miscarriages. The real Cleopatra had 2 children, but neither long outlived her.)

They've had various "Internet celebrities," male and female, as guest stars, and even some real celebrities: In their 1st Christmas episode, Peter played Santa Claus, and no less a rapper than Snoop Dogg played Moses. A foul-mouthed black Moses. (Yes, these videos usually have profanity, sex jokes, and references to the characters' perceived dick size.) Weird Al Yankovic played Isaac Newton, rapping against Peter as Bill Nye The Science Guy. Rapper T-Pain played Stevie Wonder, against Wonder Woman, played by Lilly Singh, who was then an Internet celebrity but has since gotten a bit more famous.

The comedy team of Key & Peele have been on twice: Keegan-Michael Key played Mohandas Gandhi against Jordan Peele's Martin Luther King, and Key played Michael Jordan against Peele's Muhammad Ali.

Once year, on the average, they'll have a battle royale, with 5 different characters, although that usually means each character only gets one round, and nobody gets a chance to respond.

In 2012, 2016 and 2020, they had Presidential election battles. Iman Crosson played Barack Obama, and Lloyd played Mitt Romney. That battle remains their most-watched, over 151 million views, 1 of 7 they've had to top 100 million. (As of September 26, 2022, 3 others have at least 95 million.)

A few characters have appeared twice, but Trump is the only one to be played by 2 different people. Peter played Trump in a 2013 Christmas piece, which featured frequent guest Zach Sherwin as Ebenezer Scrooge. Peter played Trump through his personality on The Apprentice, with no idea that Trump would ever carry through on his occasional threat to run for President.

But in 2016, Lloyd played Trump, with not just the exaggerated hair that Peter had, but with the orange tan and the padded gut, while the aforementioned Kimmy Gatewood played Hillary. In 2020, Lloyd played Trump again, while Peter played Joe Biden.

All 4 Presidents on Mount Rushmore have been portrayed. In the 3rd battle, Peter played Abe Lincoln against Lloyd's Chuck Norris. Peter played George Washington against Lloyd's William "Braveheart" Wallace. Peter played Thomas Jefferson against Frederick Douglass, played by guest celebrity J.B. Smoove (these days, best known for playing Caesar in the ads of Caesars online gambling). And Lloyd played Theodore Roosevelt against Winston Churchill, played by British Internet celebrity Dan Bull, who had previously played Jack the Ripper against Peter's Hannibal Lecter. Peter also played John F. Kennedy is a one-second cameo in Cleopatra vs. Marilyn.

Peter as Lincoln stepped into the Obama-Romney and Trump-Hillary battles. In the former, he was unhappy with both of them. In the latter, he told Hillary to "beat this dummy!" She did -- in the popular vote, anyway. In 2020, Biden didn't need Lincoln to beat Trump -- in real life, or in the ERB.

They've had superheroes: Superman vs. Goku from Dragon Ball Z, Batman vs. Sherlock Holmes, the aforementioned Wonder Woman vs. Stevie Wonder, Deadpool vs. Boba Fett from Star Wars, and Bruce Banner vs. Bruce Jenner -- with Lloyd's Banner transforming into the Hulk, played by bodybuilder Mike O'Hearn; and Peter's Jenner transforming into Caitlyn Jenner, played by the series' 1st transgender performer, Jolie Drake, who performs under the name No Shame.

Bentley Green played a child Michael Jackson, and Peter put on one of his best performances as the "adult" Jackson, while Lloyd played both the young and thin and the older and fat Elvis Presley.

Thus far, over 12 years, with Season 7 officially underway, there have been 85 battles, with 2 more having been announced, including 1 for October 2022.

UPDATE: That turned out to be Peter as Indiana Jones vs. Croix Provence as Lara Croft of the Tomb Raider franchise. They had an election 2024 battle, with Lloyd playing Trump against Kimberly Michelle Vaughn's Kamala Harris. Napoleon Bonaparte became the 2nd non-sequel returnee, and the 2nd figure to be played by both regulars, as Peter played him against Lloyd's Charlemagne.

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September 26, 2010 was a Sunday. This was also the day that the TV series Downton Abbey premiered. I have a separate entry for that event.

These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees beat the Boston Red Sox, 4-3 at Yankee Stadium. Baseball's greatest rivalry: It's epic, it's had some "rapping," it's been a battle, and there's been plenty of history. This time, Juan Miranda took a bases-loaded walk from Hideki Okajima to win it in the bottom of the 10th inning. This made a winning pitcher out of Boone Logan (to my shock), in relief of Phil Hughes. Alex Rodriguez hit a home run. Derek Jeter went 0-for-4, but did draw a walk.

* The New York Mets beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 7-3 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.

* The Washington Nationals beat the Atlanta Braves, 4-2 at Nationals Park in Washington.

* The Seattle Mariners beat the Tampa Bay Rays, 6-2 at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Baltimore Orioles, 5-2 at the Rogers Centre in Toronto.

* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the Houston Astros, 9-3 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.

* The Cleveland Indians beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-3 at Progressive Field in Cleveland.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Minnesota Twins, 5-1 at Comerica Park in Detroit.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Chicago Cubs, 8-7 at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Florida Marlins, 7-1 at Miller Park (now American Family Field) in Milwaukee.

* The San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 4-2 at Coors Field in Denver.

* The Arizona Diamondbacks beat the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-4 at Chase Field in Phoenix.

* The Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels, 4-3 at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

* The Cincinnati Reds beat the San Diego Padres, 12-2 at Petco Park in San Diego.

* And the Texas Rangers beat the Oakland Athletics, 16-9 at the Oakland Coliseum.

And these games were played in the NFL:

* The New York Giants lost to the Tennessee Titans, 29-10 at the New Meadowlands Stadium (now MetLife Stadium).

* The New York Jets beat the Miami Dolphins, 31-23 at Sun Life Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.

* The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills, 38-30 at Gillette Stadium in the Boston suburb of Foxborough, Massachusetts.

* The Baltimore Ravens beat their replacements in their former hometown, the Cleveland Browns, 24-17 at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.

* The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Carolina Panthers, 20-7 at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte.

* The Philadelphia Eagles beat the Jacksonville Jaguars, 28-3 at EverBank Field (now EverBank Stadium) in Jacksonville, Florida.

* The Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 38-13 at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa.

* The Atlanta Falcons beat their arch-rivals, the New Orleans Saints, 27-24 at the Superdome in New Orleans. It was the only overtime game of the week, and Matt Bryant won it with a 46-yard field goal with 1:55 left.

* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Detroit Lions, 24-10 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.

* The St. Louis Rams beat the Washington Redskins, 30-16 at the Edward Jones Dome (now The Dome at America's Center) in St. Louis.

* The Kansas City Chiefs beat the San Francisco 49ers, 31-10 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.

* The Dallas Cowboys beat the other Texas team, the Houston Texans, 27-13 at Reliant Stadium (now NRG Stadium) in Houston.

* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Denver Broncos, 27-13 at Invesco Field at Mile High (now Empower Field at Mile High) in Denver.

* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Oakland Raiders, 24-23 at University of Phoenix Stadium (now State Farm Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Glendale, Arizona.

* The Seattle Seahawks beat the San Diego Chargers, 27-20 at Qwest Field (now Lumen Field) in Seattle.

* And the next night, on Monday Night Football, the Green Bay Packers beat their arch-rivals, the Chicago Bears, 20-17 at the new Soldier Field in Chicago.