Great breakdown on this, and funny that your mixed reaction on Frederick is how some of the fans see him because they either love him for the energy and performance or they think he was overhyped given that his lines don't feel like a battle rap East vs West Philosophers is also put on a similar pedestal to this battle if you want a recommendation for one that plays with the battle structure
11:29 What’s hilarious is that Pompey was given equal treatment to those who went before him. He was beheaded during his first speech as a leader, so his verse perfectly matched his reign, just as the others’ did, right down to the detail of how he died being included.
Ivan's raspy voice, accompanied by the monotonous beat, and added with the time-lapsing dusky sky background in the Red Square, is probably one of the hardest ERB openings of all time. I like how Peter played him, and this is definitely one of his greatest performances along with Austin Powers and Oppenheimer. The battle is entertaining, as is how it's been formatted like a play, and has many historical references. This is my favorite ERB of all time. I suggest Eastern Philosophers vs. Western Philosophers next!
9:36 Important things about Fredrick the Great for the purposes of this rap: 1. He was very likely gay. He only very reluctantly married and had a life long male companion. 2. He was a master general and military leader. 3. He was also quite fond of the arts and played the flute. 4. He died sitting in his favorite chair. For more info, the UA-cam channel Extra History has a series about him.
its such a shame that Frederick was mischaracterised as a symbol of the Prussian military, when he hated war and his domestic reforms in Prussia were really the gamechanger.
@@joeturton6627 He was sogood at war because his father was the one whomade the Prussian military the first ptofessional soldiers in Europe. But he did master the art of war, in order to pursue the arts of peace.
@@theinsurance2450 you know, if you compare things that he did and things that some european leaders of medieval Europe has done - you wouldn't call him "terrible"
@@So_Viet8032 What kind of defense is that. People were worst so therefore he not so bad. "Well I know this drunk driver k*ll 3 people but there been drunk drivers that k*lled 5 people. So he not so bad."
@@So_Viet8032 I feel like its a lost-in-time language difference, "terrible" in modern English doesn't mean the same as back then. There's two meanings in modern English; terrible as in poor performance, like he was a bad leader, and terrible as in he did terrible things, but neither of those are the original meaning. The original meaning (when applied as a title to a leader/monarch) meant he inspired fear and loyalty - which was seen as positive thing for monarchs. So yes you guys calling him "the fearsome" makes total sense as that's a synonym for the original meaning!
@@stumilesyt Yep. It's linguistic drift in English. In the 1400s, English got a fancy new adjective, "terrible", meaning "inspiring terror". Ivan the Terrible is using terrible in that sense. Then 500 years of linguistic change occurred, and "terrible" as an adjective meaning "inspiring terror" was buried underneath "terrible" as an adjective meaning "of poor quality" in the early 1900s. Ivan the Terrifying would be the closest you could get if insisting on using terror as a root.
Meghan Tonjes, is the singer portraying Catherine the Great. She is an indie singer/songwriter. Very talented but her music style is very different than what is shown here.
This is my most favorite ERB, the performances are great especially with Peter’s portrayal of Ivan giving him that villainous vibe which I like so much and the other rappers were just as great while having their funny moments I recommend reacting to Jeff Bezos vs Mansa Musa for another hilarious and great battle
When Fredrick said "attacks tactics aren't exactly straight" it's about his type of method that helped prussia beat back much stronger enemies and also the fact that Fredrick was gay
This suggestion goes as far back as YEARS ago, so them doing a full on gauntlet was completely unexpected Peter exerts the best of simple villainous schemes whilst not taking it TOO seriously, making the performance itself a lot more enjoyable Definitely one of their greatest without a doubt Hope to see George Carlin vs Richard Pryor, super fun reaction as always! :)
Heads up then for the couple and any other's that weren't aware or get the implication: The way all characters in the Rap die here is accurate to how they died in real life.....except Pompey haha
One thing about this rap battle is that it has attention to detail that isn’t in the rap itself. And it comes down to the characters’ deaths. Alexander was rumored to have died from a poison drink. Frederick died while sleeping in a chair. And Pompey was said to have been killed before a great speech he was to give so that is why he didn’t even get rap. Even the ending line when Cathrine knocked over the chess piece, as said before Ivan died in the middle of a chess match so in a way she killed him here.
Yes this is in my top 5 ERB I think Alexander took his flow and disses were the strongest while Fredrick had a great entrance & Catherine the great went hard too
The, after watching this again, Alexander's part wasn't as good as I remembered it. The vodka bar was His only good one, plus him rapping faster didn't make it any better
A cool thing about this one is that each died in their proper way. Alexander was poisoned, Frederick died of natural causes (at an impressive age of 74 might I add), Pompey ruled for a short time before being beheaded, and Ivan, as stated by Alexander, died in the middle of a game of chess.
Fredrick said: "I'd pay a guy to tear out my eyes" because Ivan got the first Faberge Egg and had the creator blinded so that he could never make one for anybody else.
- Prussia was (if I recall correctly) northeast of Germany along the Baltic coast, and was a major part of the German Empire up to the end of WWI (The Red Baron was Prussian as well) And yes he died after falling asleep in a chair at the age of 74 (the last 40-some years of his life being King of Prussia.) - Apparently the thing Pompey the Great is most remembered for is being decapitated just before he was supposed to give a speech. I'm unsure if _why_ he was know as 'The Great' is even remembered.
As I understand it, Pompey was one of the "Triumvirate" along with Julius Ceasar and Marc Anthony who jointly ruled the Roman Empire for awhile. Anthony did a rebellion and was removed, leaving Ceasar and Pompey. Then Pompey was removed leaving just Ceasar.
@@edwardblair4096 It was Marcus Lucinius Crassus, not Marc Antony, and he died when a junior officer disrupted a parley after Crassus' army was defeated.
@Definitely Not Definitive All the characters died exactly like they did in the ancient times: Alexander from poising, Fredrick from strangled or choked out, Pompey from a cut by sword to the head and Ivan the Terrible from a game of chess.
1: Alexander the Great actually asked for the drink that would kill him, in the rap and probably in real life. 2: "It takes a Russian to take down a Russian" Ironically Catherine the Great was born in Prussia.
Frederick is welcomed with chants "old Fritz". It`s his nickname in history and, you know, "not exactly straight" is reminiscent of his presumable homosexuality
it is said frederick the great died on his chair from something i dont know what it was EDIT: and nobody saw that the garrot wire cathrine the great used looked like male genitales xD
My take on the order: Alexander the Great Catherine the Great (very very very close 2nd but the internal rhyming is just so nuts on Alexander) Ivan the Terrible (Even if only counting the first verse and not the transitional verses) Fredrick the Great
I say Ivan the Terrible. He was riding the beat on his part. It was a little unfair that Alexander had the longest part in the battle. And yes, everyone had one round
Great breakdown on this, and funny that your mixed reaction on Frederick is how some of the fans see him because they either love him for the energy and performance or they think he was overhyped given that his lines don't feel like a battle rap
East vs West Philosophers is also put on a similar pedestal to this battle if you want a recommendation for one that plays with the battle structure
😎👍🙂 that’s one we for sure plan on checking out
11:29 What’s hilarious is that Pompey was given equal treatment to those who went before him. He was beheaded during his first speech as a leader, so his verse perfectly matched his reign, just as the others’ did, right down to the detail of how he died being included.
First speech? Wasn't he beheaded after he was captured by the egyptians during the civil war?
Of all the ERBs this one I think is consistently in people's Top 10. Its THAT good!
its my favourite, made me learn who Frederick and Catherine were.
Ivan's raspy voice, accompanied by the monotonous beat, and added with the time-lapsing dusky sky background in the Red Square, is probably one of the hardest ERB openings of all time. I like how Peter played him, and this is definitely one of his greatest performances along with Austin Powers and Oppenheimer. The battle is entertaining, as is how it's been formatted like a play, and has many historical references. This is my favorite ERB of all time.
I suggest Eastern Philosophers vs. Western Philosophers next!
9:36 Important things about Fredrick the Great for the purposes of this rap:
1. He was very likely gay. He only very reluctantly married and had a life long male companion.
2. He was a master general and military leader.
3. He was also quite fond of the arts and played the flute.
4. He died sitting in his favorite chair.
For more info, the UA-cam channel Extra History has a series about him.
Fredrick the great unfortunately gets a bad reputation because a certain funny mustached failed painter admired him
its such a shame that Frederick was mischaracterised as a symbol of the Prussian military, when he hated war and his domestic reforms in Prussia were really the gamechanger.
@@joeturton6627 He was sogood at war because his father was the one whomade the Prussian military the first ptofessional soldiers in Europe. But he did master the art of war, in order to pursue the arts of peace.
Pretty ironic too given Fredrick was more than likely gay and that’s something the nazi’s didn’t like
Funny how said moustache man loved Frederick, who was both (almost certainly) gay AND a Freemason, two groups persecuted by him.
The man still had great attached to his name, it's already makes him better then billions 😬
ERB Eastern Philosophers vs. Western Philosophers is one that blow y'all out the water.
Stan Lee vs Jim Henson is a real all-timer
: )
Yes pls! 🙏
Fun fact: in Russia, we don't call Ivan the Terrible as Terrible. We call him something like Ivan the Fearsome
Of course comrade you would do that
@@theinsurance2450 you know, if you compare things that he did and things that some european leaders of medieval Europe has done - you wouldn't call him "terrible"
@@So_Viet8032 What kind of defense is that. People were worst so therefore he not so bad. "Well I know this drunk driver k*ll 3 people but there been drunk drivers that k*lled 5 people. So he not so bad."
@@So_Viet8032 I feel like its a lost-in-time language difference, "terrible" in modern English doesn't mean the same as back then. There's two meanings in modern English; terrible as in poor performance, like he was a bad leader, and terrible as in he did terrible things, but neither of those are the original meaning. The original meaning (when applied as a title to a leader/monarch) meant he inspired fear and loyalty - which was seen as positive thing for monarchs. So yes you guys calling him "the fearsome" makes total sense as that's a synonym for the original meaning!
@@stumilesyt Yep. It's linguistic drift in English. In the 1400s, English got a fancy new adjective, "terrible", meaning "inspiring terror". Ivan the Terrible is using terrible in that sense. Then 500 years of linguistic change occurred, and "terrible" as an adjective meaning "inspiring terror" was buried underneath "terrible" as an adjective meaning "of poor quality" in the early 1900s.
Ivan the Terrifying would be the closest you could get if insisting on using terror as a root.
Y'all got an underrated ERB right here. 💯
You guys are such a joy to watch
Meghan Tonjes, is the singer portraying Catherine the Great. She is an indie singer/songwriter. Very talented but her music style is very different than what is shown here.
This is my most favorite ERB, the performances are great especially with Peter’s portrayal of Ivan giving him that villainous vibe which I like so much and the other rappers were just as great while having their funny moments
I recommend reacting to Jeff Bezos vs Mansa Musa for another hilarious and great battle
When Fredrick said "attacks tactics aren't exactly straight" it's about his type of method that helped prussia beat back much stronger enemies and also the fact that Fredrick was gay
This suggestion goes as far back as YEARS ago, so them doing a full on gauntlet was completely unexpected
Peter exerts the best of simple villainous schemes whilst not taking it TOO seriously, making the performance itself a lot more enjoyable
Definitely one of their greatest without a doubt
Hope to see George Carlin vs Richard Pryor, super fun reaction as always! :)
Love both those comics so that will be a fun one to check out 🙂
Heads up then for the couple and any other's that weren't aware or get the implication:
The way all characters in the Rap die here is accurate to how they died in real life.....except Pompey haha
Actually Pompey did get beheaded, his dome was famously sent to Caesar after he was killed (which Shaka Zulu referenced in their ERB)
Pompey was actually beheaded
Pompey is actually extremely accurate. He was beheaded and was attack mid-speech... thus why he gets only an introduction and no lines
Wdym he was def rapping against Ivan The Terrible when he got killed
One thing about this rap battle is that it has attention to detail that isn’t in the rap itself. And it comes down to the characters’ deaths. Alexander was rumored to have died from a poison drink. Frederick died while sleeping in a chair. And Pompey was said to have been killed before a great speech he was to give so that is why he didn’t even get rap. Even the ending line when Cathrine knocked over the chess piece, as said before Ivan died in the middle of a chess match so in a way she killed him here.
Another ERB with surprise guests- George Carlin vs Richard Pryor
"Man, I wish I could die in a rap battle." - Alexander the Great, Frederick the Great's final words, possibly.
Pope’s Last Words…on the same Day 😂😂😂
Yes this is in my top 5 ERB I think Alexander took his flow and disses were the strongest while Fredrick had a great entrance & Catherine the great went hard too
The, after watching this again, Alexander's part wasn't as good as I remembered it. The vodka bar was His only good one, plus him rapping faster didn't make it any better
@@jontaehall2740 I think he had a good balance of great flow & pretty good disses especially compared to Ivan
@@jontaehall2740I like King Alexander The Great of Macedon's fast rapping. 😊
Yess! I love this one! ^^
😎🤘🥳
A cool thing about this one is that each died in their proper way. Alexander was poisoned, Frederick died of natural causes (at an impressive age of 74 might I add), Pompey ruled for a short time before being beheaded, and Ivan, as stated by Alexander, died in the middle of a game of chess.
10:18 Ngl this makes me wanna recommend Extra History to you guys. They did an episode on Frederick the Great a while back.
I want to watch a movie on King Frederick The Great of Prussia.
Tbh I like this one.
Do Hitler vs vader!! i beg u its my absolute favourite!!
I think for history nerds, this was the greatest out of all the ERB's
History lovers adore this one!
Im surprised you guys dont check ot the behind the scenes
The Seven Year's War. A big, giant, significant war that absolutely no one seems knows about. It's weird how much it gets skipped in history.
I've seen "Alexander" a biopic on King Alexander The Great of Macedon that released in 2004 starring Colin Farell.
Love that film
The fact that the only thing Ivan could do was attempt to kill his opponent in every round, should tell you who won each.
Fredrick said: "I'd pay a guy to tear out my eyes" because Ivan got the first Faberge Egg and had the creator blinded so that he could never make one for anybody else.
Fun Fact: At one point, Frederick the Great encountered Catherine the Great and was assessing her a suitor to the heir of the Imperial Russian throne.
- Prussia was (if I recall correctly) northeast of Germany along the Baltic coast, and was a major part of the German Empire up to the end of WWI (The Red Baron was Prussian as well) And yes he died after falling asleep in a chair at the age of 74 (the last 40-some years of his life being King of Prussia.)
- Apparently the thing Pompey the Great is most remembered for is being decapitated just before he was supposed to give a speech. I'm unsure if _why_ he was know as 'The Great' is even remembered.
As I understand it, Pompey was one of the "Triumvirate" along with Julius Ceasar and Marc Anthony who jointly ruled the Roman Empire for awhile. Anthony did a rebellion and was removed, leaving Ceasar and Pompey. Then Pompey was removed leaving just Ceasar.
@@edwardblair4096 It was Marcus Lucinius Crassus, not Marc Antony, and he died when a junior officer disrupted a parley after Crassus' army was defeated.
@Definitely Not Definitive All the characters died exactly like they did in the ancient times:
Alexander from poising, Fredrick from strangled or choked out, Pompey from a cut by sword to the head and Ivan the Terrible from a game of chess.
And Catherine NOT while having relations with a horse.
1: Alexander the Great actually asked for the drink that would kill him, in the rap and probably in real life.
2: "It takes a Russian to take down a Russian" Ironically Catherine the Great was born in Prussia.
The cute dog stole the video
Frederick is welcomed with chants "old Fritz". It`s his nickname in history
and, you know, "not exactly straight" is reminiscent of his presumable homosexuality
Khan left the chat 😂🤣
it is said frederick the great died on his chair from something i dont know what it was
EDIT: and nobody saw that the garrot wire cathrine the great used looked like male genitales xD
😯 completely missed that 😆
My take on the order:
Alexander the Great
Catherine the Great (very very very close 2nd but the internal rhyming is just so nuts on Alexander)
Ivan the Terrible (Even if only counting the first verse and not the transitional verses)
Fredrick the Great
I completely disagree with your list. Pompey deserves the #1 spot.
@@Drelago I mean I thought that was a given. I didn't even mention him cuz it goes without saying he was the literary god of this rap battle
Finallly
Empress Catherine The Great of Russia is the only Eastern European ruler you know, Bethany?
Catherine lost with her own line bc she wasnt Russian
ЛОЛ, я наверное единственный тут русский
I say Ivan the Terrible. He was riding the beat on his part. It was a little unfair that Alexander had the longest part in the battle.
And yes, everyone had one round
I'm so good at history that it took me 8 minutes to remember Ivan the Terrible is not Rasputin
😂
Pls react to the sonic 3 movie trailer
obviously Pompey won this one
Are you guys JOKING?! POMPEY THE GREAT won heads down... I mean hands down! Did you hear the way he said, "Yeah!" lyrical genius.
It would be cool if you guys reacted to Hamilton vs. Satoshi. Even though it is not from the ERB channel, it features EpicLloyd.