| Epic Rap Battles of History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Genre | |
| Created by | |
| Directed by |
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| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 7 |
| No. of episodes | 90(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | |
| Running time | 1–5 minutes |
| Production companies | Maker Studios (1–5) Independent (6–pres.) |
| Original release | |
| Network | YouTube |
| Release | September 26, 2010 (2010-09-26) – present |
Epic Rap Battles of History (ERB) is aYouTubeweb series and music project created byPeter "Nice Peter" Shukoff andLloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The series pitshistorical andpop culture figures against one another in arap battle format. The characters portrayed are often determined by suggestions from viewers in the comments sections of the channel's videos. Shukoff and Ahlquist write each song themselves, researching the subject in order to find obscure details to use as references in the lyrics, although guest stars featured in the battles as well as certainPatreon subscribers have also contributed to the writing process.[1][2] Following an extended hiatus, the channel returned with a bonus battle in December 2018, and the sixth season debuted on April 20, 2019.[3] As of February 23, 2023, the channel has 14.9 million subscribers and approximately 4 billion total video views.[4]
The popularity of the music videos has led to mainstream partnerships, such as withUbisoft, using the "Blackbeard vs. Al Capone" episode to promoteAssassin's Creed IV: Black Flag.[5] Additionally, "Terminator vs. Robocop" in the fourth season was used to promote the upcoming release of the filmTerminator Genisys and featured an appearance byArnold Schwarzenegger. ERB's popularity has also led to collaboration with mainstream artists.[6][7][8] Shukoff and Ahlquist also created a two-minute rap battle scene used inThe SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water.[9]
Although early episodes of the series featured only Shukoff and Ahlquist, later episodes have regularly featured guest appearances from internet celebrities includingDan Bull,Lisa Donovan,Timothy DeLaGhetto,George Watsky,DeStorm Power,Jesse Wellens,PewDiePie,Jenna Marbles,Lilly Singh,Ray William Johnson,Rhett & Link, andSmosh. Media celebrities like musiciansSnoop Dogg,Chali 2na,T-Pain,Jackie Tohn and"Weird Al" Yankovic, actorsJ. B. Smoove andGary Anthony Williams, and the comedy duoKeegan-Michael Key andJordan Peele have also appeared in the series.[citation needed]
On July 3, 2013, "Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney" became the first of its singles to becertified Gold by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in the United States. 10 other singles, "Adolf Hitler vs. Darth Vader", "Albert Einstein vs. Stephen Hawking", "Dr. Seuss vs. William Shakespeare", "Master Chief vs. Leonidas", "Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates", "Justin Bieber vs. Ludwig van Beethoven", "Mario Brothers vs. Wright Brothers", "Mr. T vs. Mr. Rogers", "Abe Lincoln vs. Chuck Norris", and "Adolf Hitler vs. Darth Vader 2", were subsequently certified Gold as well.[10]
The idea for historical figures rapping against each other was conceived by Ahlquist, who pitched the idea to Shukoff as animprovised show titled "Check OneTwo"; both were working in improv at the time along withZach Sherwin, who would later become a regular guest on the series.[1] They were met with high levels of difficulty at first and decided that the concept would fare much better as a YouTube series than an improv show.[2] The first three rap battles were each shot on a $50 budget.[11]
Before the web series existed on YouTube, Shukoff and Ahlquist recorded their first song, which was a battle betweenChild's Play antagonistChucky and actorMichael J. Fox.[12] The song was freestyle and poorly made; as a result, it was not released to the public.
On September 26, 2010, the first rap battle was uploaded to YouTube, featuring Shukoff asJohn Lennon and Ahlquist asBill O'Reilly.[2][13] The 15th episode, "Nice Peter vs.EpicLLOYD", marked the end of the first season. This battle pitted Ahlquist and Shukoff against each other with cameos from all of the characters they had played over the 14 prior episodes. At the end of the battle,KassemG arrives and convinces Peter and Lloyd to continue the battles on their own channel.Epic Rap Battles of History later returned on December 8, 2011, hosted on their new channel (moving from Shukoff's personal channel),ERB, with behind-the-scenes videos on their second channel,ERB2.[14] Both channels were created in 2006, however it's unknown what they were used for until 2011, as the oldest video onERB is from 2011, and theWayback Machine's earliest record of theERB andERB2 channels is from November 2011, when they were calledERB's Channel andERB2's Channel, respectively. Shukoff and Maker Studios also created the official website for the series,[15] where fans could vote on winners for each video, and read short comical autobiographies by each character.
On September 27, 2012, following a four-month pause after the "Steve Jobs vs.Bill Gates" episode, a video was released on the series' YouTube channel where Ahlquist (voicing to an animation ofTheodore Roosevelt) announced that new episodes would be released every two weeks until the Christmas holidays,[16] starting with the 22nd episode "Frank Sinatra vs.Freddie Mercury" (aired on October 1, 2012).[17] Two weeks later, the first election rap battle,Barack Obama vs.Mitt Romney, aired based off the2012 United States Presidential Election.[18] One of the famous parts of this battle is Obama's line "Republicans, need a puppet and you fit; got their hands so far up yourrear, call you Mitt!"[citation needed] It is also the most viewed rap battle as of May 2025 with over 163 million views. The video "Moses vs.Santa Claus", aired on December 10, 2012, which was the last battle before taking a break for the holidays.[19]
On February 17, 2013,Epic Rap Battles of History was nominated for fiveStreamy Awards,winning four of them.[20] Shukoff and Ahlquist also performed part of the "Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates" battle live.
On September 9, 2013,ERB uploaded a trailer video on their channel announcing thatEpic Rap Battles of History would return on October 7, 2013 for a third season.[21][22] On October 14,ERB released a second video with Ahlquist voicing Theodore Roosevelt, who announced the upcoming season's schedule.[23] The third season went on hiatus after the release of "Donald Trump vs.Ebenezer Scrooge" on December 19, 2013. In March 2014, an episode of Shukoff's weekly showThe Monday Show, published on March 11, and a third announcement video ofEpic Rap Battles of History News, published on March 18, confirmed that Season 3 would continue on May 5."Weird" Al Yankovic,Smosh, andRhett and Link were also confirmed as guest appearances.[24] The third season concluded on July 14 with the release of "Artists vs. TMNT", depicting theTeenage Mutant Ninja TurtlesLeonardo,Donatello,Raphael, andMichelangelo in a battle againstLeonardo,Donatello,Raphael, andMichelangelo.
On September 30, 2014, a teaser video for the fourth season ofEpic Rap Battles of History, featuring theGhostbusters andMythBusters, was released; the series returned on November 10, 2014 with its 46th episode, "Ghostbusters vs. Mythbusters".[25] This season also marked the first animated battle: "Zeus vs.Thor", which was animated entirely withLego bricks and minifigures;Forrest Whaley served as animation director. On December 15, 2014, when "Steven Spielberg vs.Alfred Hitchcock" was released, the fourth season went on hiatus. The season continued on May 25, 2015 and concluded with the release of the season finale, "Jim Henson vs.Stan Lee", on August 3, 2015.
It was confirmed in a podcast by Shukoff that there would be a fifth season, with pre-production starting in November 2015 once they came back from the world tour.
On December 16, the first off-season battle was released, entitled, "Deadpool vs.Boba Fett."
On February 26, 2016, it was announced that Season 5 would begin on May 2, 2016,[26] and on March 22 it was announced that production had begun.[27]
Season 5 officially began on May 2, 2016, with the release of the first battle of the season, "George R. R. Martin vs.J. R. R. Tolkien".ERB released battles every other Monday as of the first half of Season 5.[28] On July 12, 2016, "Alexander the Great vs.Ivan the Terrible" was released. This marked the midseason break.[29] Ahlquist later confirmed they were planning to return mid to late October. Filming began for the second half of Season 5 on September 23. On October 26, Season 5 resumed with "Donald Trump vs.Hillary Clinton". The final episode of Season 5, "Nice Peter vs. EpicLLOYD 2" was released on January 9, 2017, where Ahlquist and Shukoff battle against each other once again, as it is a sequel to the Season 1 finale. Following the fifth season,ERB went on an extended hiatus.[2]
In 2016,Epic Rap Battles of History was nominated for anEmmy Award in the newly initiated categoryPrimetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Short Form Variety Series at the68th Primetime Emmy Awards.
In 2018, Shukoff announced there would be a sixth season during a performance atAnime Midwest.[30] On November 30, 2018, a video was posted on the official ERB YouTube channel, confirming that Season 6 would premiere in 2019. A "bonus battle" betweenElon Musk andMark Zuckerberg was released on December 7, 2018.[31] In December 2018, Ahlquist said that they had gone "fully independent" of their production company.[32]
On April 20, 2019, the Season 6 premiere ("Freddy Krueger vs.Wolverine") was released. ERB once again went on hiatus in December, after "Thanos vs.J. Robert Oppenheimer".After a 10 month hiatus, ERB returned, with their third election rap battle, "Donald Trump vs.Joe Biden".[33] On December 5, 2020, Ahlquist stated in a Behind The Scenes video for their next battle, "Harry Potter vs.Luke Skywalker" (their secondLego-animated collaboration with Forrest Whaley), that as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic, ERB would be transitioning from Season 6 to Season 7 earlier than expected, rather than further postpone Season 6. Several planned battles and concepts would be holdovers from Season 6.[34]
On May 28, 2021, the ERB Twitter account announced a new episode to be released on June 14, featuring EpicLLOYD as legendary Viking heroRagnar Lodbrok and Nice Peter as English KingRichard the Lionheart. The episode was sponsored by the video gameRise of Kingdoms.[35]On November 27, 2021, ERB released a new rap battle episode, titledJeff Bezos vs.Mansa Musa on theirYouTube channel.[36] This was followed by the first "three-way" battle in the show’s history ("John Wick vs.John Rambo vs.John McClane") on December 18, 2021.[37] The next episode, "Lara Croft vs.Indiana Jones", released on October 26, 2022,[38] followed by "Henry Ford vs.Karl Marx" on December 1, 2023.[39] The next episode, "Godzilla vs.King Kong", was released on February 23, 2024 being the first battle to usemotion capture.[40] The next episode, "Donald Trump vs.Kamala Harris", their fourth election rap battle, was released on October 26, 2024.[41] The next episode, "Napoleon vsCharlemagne" was released on February 12, 2025.[42]
Battles begin with a narrator speaking in a deep and somewhat unclear voice, first saying ‘Epic Rap Battles of History’ (in a mostly monotonous way; sometimes the "e" of "Epic" is longer in upwards glissandoing and this leads up into the rest being said as usual) while the logo appears on screen. The names of the contestants are then announced ('[CONTESTANT 1] vs. [CONTESTANT 2]') (the part announcing the name of the second contestant is in the same monotonous way), while the contestants and their names appear on screen. One contestant will rap against the other first, followed by the other, and so on. It is very common for many different ‘clones’ of the same contestant to appear while they are rapping. Different rap battles go on for different lengths of time, and some battles may only have two verses per contestant, especially earlier ones. The first 14 battles, except the 5th and 10th, only have 2 verses per contestant, while the 5th and 10th battles to be made (Hulk Hogan andMacho Man vs.Kim Jong Il andBilly Mays vs.Ben Franklin) have third party rappers entering after some time, but still have a total of 4 verses only. Many rap battles feature a third party rapper entering the battle after some time, and as many as ten rappers have entered a battle (in "Ghostbusters vs. Mythbusters"). When the battle concludes, the narrator asks the viewer who they think won and who should appear next, followed by the credits.
The two creators of the series (EpicLLOYD andNice Peter) portray the majority of the fictional and historical characters featured.Zach Sherwin is the most common guest-rapper, having portrayed eleven characters across six of the seven seasons of the series.George Watsky portrayed one character in each of the first three seasons, namelyWilliam Shakespeare, theFourth Doctor, andEdgar Allan Poe.DeStorm Power has also portrayed three characters, beingMr. T,Kanye West, andShaka Zulu.
The online creator duoRhett & Link have portrayed three characters each, including theWright brothers,Meriwether Lewis andWilliam Clark, andDonatello andLeonardo da Vinci.
The comedy duoKey &Peele have portrayed opposing figures in "Gandhi vs.Martin Luther King Jr." and "Michael Jordan vs.Muhammad Ali".
Other people with two appearances throughout the series includeKimmy Gatewood,Timothy DeLaGhetto,Ray William Johnson,Dan Bull,KRNFX, andWax.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 15 | September 26, 2010 (2010-09-26) | November 16, 2011 (2011-11-16) | |
| 2 | 18 | December 8, 2011 (2011-12-08) | April 22, 2013 (2013-04-22) | |
| 3 | 12 | October 7, 2013 (2013-10-07) | July 14, 2014 (2014-07-14) | |
| 4 | 12 | November 10, 2014 (2014-11-10) | August 3, 2015 (2015-08-03) | |
| Bonus | December 16, 2015 (2015-12-16) | |||
| 5 | 12 | May 2, 2016 (2016-05-02) | January 9, 2017 (2017-01-09) | |
| Bonus | December 7, 2018 (2018-12-07) | |||
| Flash | 3 | December 16, 2018 (2018-12-16) | January 26, 2019 (2019-01-26) | |
| 6 | 11 | April 20, 2019 (2019-04-20) | December 5, 2020 (2020-12-05) | |
| Cancelled | February 15, 2020 (2020-02-15) | |||
| 7 | TBA | June 14, 2021 (2021-06-14) | TBA | |
| Year | Award | Category | Result | Recipient(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | 3rd Streamy Awards | Best Writing: Comedy | Nominated | Peter Shukoff,EpicLLOYD |
| Best Online Musician | Won | Peter Shukoff | ||
| Best Original Song | Won | Peter Shukoff, Lloyd Ahlquist ("Steve Jobs vs. Bill Gates") | ||
| Best Music Series | Won | Epic Rap Battles of History | ||
| Best Use of Fashion & Design | Won | Mary Gutfleisch | ||
| 1st YouTube Music Awards | Video of the Year[43] | Nominated | "Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney" | |
| Artist of the Year[43] | Nominated | Peter Shukoff, Lloyd Ahlquist | ||
| 2014 | 4th Streamy Awards | Best Writing | Won | Peter Shukoff, Lloyd Ahlquist, Zach Sherwin, Dante Cimadamore, Mike Betette |
| Music Video | Won | "Goku vs. Superman" | ||
| Costume Design | Won | Sulai Lopez | ||
| Editing | Nominated | Andrew Sherman, Ryan Moulton, Daniel Turcan, Peter Shukoff | ||
| Collaboration | Nominated | Peter Shukoff, Lloyd Ahlquist,Snoop Dogg ("Moses vs. Santa Claus") | ||
| 2015 | 5th Streamy Awards | Writing | Won | Peter Shukoff, Lloyd Ahlquist, Zach Sherwin, Dante Cimadamore and Mike Betette |
| Costume Design | Won | Sulai Lopez | ||
| Editing | Won | Andrew Sherman, Ryan Moulton, Daniel Turcan and Peter Shukoff | ||
| Collaboration | Won | Peter Shukoff, Lloyd Ahlquist, Grace Helbig, and Hannah Hart | ||
| 26th Producers Guild of America Awards | Outstanding Digital Series | Nominated | Epic Rap Battles of History | |
| 2016 | 27th Producers Guild of America Awards | Nominated | ||
| 68th Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Short Form Variety Series | Nominated | ||
| 6th Streamy Awards | Collaboration | Nominated | Peter Shukoff, Lloyd Ahlquist, Meghan Tonjes, Mike Betette and Zach Sherwin | |
| 2017 | 69th Primetime Emmy Awards | Outstanding Short Form Variety Series | Nominated | Epic Rap Battles of History |
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