I want to tell you the story of humor as a weapon of self-improvement.
Its the story of centurian polar-opposites learning balance, of self-reflection and projection, of dejection and reelection, of mass deception and genius conception. And, thankfully, the amazing guys of ERB have provided the visuals. In fact, aside from a little commentary here, each video tells a greater story than I could. Listen to them carefully, these are the voices of Epic Rap Battles of History, and whilst they may come off peculiar to the non-rap inclined, these guys take the time to research their insults, jabs, and 1-2 punches. It may be imaginary, but it doesn't have to be unreal.
On a dark and stormy night, oh hell, I don't know if it was stormy. I'm sure a historical climatologist could tell you. Regardless, it was night, and Lincoln was dead. Shot in the head while at Ford's Theatre. The gunman, John Wilkes Booth, ended President Lincoln's life, consequently he lost his own. This is the story every American child is taught in social studies. Myth building is grand and our imaginations have never been better. With a little historical reinventing, ERB gives you:
As you can see, its awesome and strangely informative, like the original "Got Milk?" commericial* which inadvertently taught an entire generation of Americans that Aaron Burr shot Alexander Hamilton "in that famous duel." If it had only taught them who Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr actually were, perhaps what it was that they were fighting over, and why exactly we stopped having duels in congress, then we would have gotten some where. It does seem to have a civil air of finality to it: dueling. (*See below).
That is of course what rap battles are, verbal duels:
Isn't amazing, this ability to time travel yet go nowhere?
There's so much to be said for each dueller, for the lines, the actors, the back grounds, the forethought that went into each piece. But, perhaps most importantly, there's truths found in each rhyme, hard truths about society, where we're from, and where we're headed:
We're stratified into various categories by languages, cultures, and histories passed down to us from people who were categorized by their own times. Isn't it inspiring to see language, culture, and history shaken up?
It is the fans who leave pairings they'd love to see in comment sections that combine with the visions, talents, and efforts of the ERB crew to bring us verbal sparring betwixt characters be them imaginary, real, or both. It is the quarks of humor, the jabs of truth, the very essence of how best to deal with adversity.
Laugh the bastards off.
EAGLE!!!
(*Original "Got Milk?" Commercial)
Now, EAGLE!
Damn it.
