“Dr Seuss VS Shakespeare. Epic Rap Battles of History #12”
slug→ A round bullet larger than buckshot. (AHD)
hath→ “i hath been …”. Broken english as joke, with a Shakespearean touch of the “th” postfix.
It became popular on the internet around ≈2007, usually involving incorrect grammatical {aspect, tense}, mimicking bad english from Asians (aka Engrish).
It is particularly popular on 4chan. Such joke may have started with
all your base are belong to us (≈2000).
iambic→ a particular (unscientific) unit of rhythmic structure in poetry. Iamb (foot)
Come bite my thumb!
I hope you know the stakes
I'll put a slug between your shoulder blades
then ask what light through yonder poser breaks?
I hath been iambic on that ass, ye bastard
my rhymes are classic
your crap is drafted by a kindergartener high on acid
hoebag→ “hoe” is slang for “whore”, from black rapper community. Black Vernacular English do no pronounce the “r”, and rapper lyrics change the spelling too. ⁖ “doing” ⇒ “doin”. For many examples, see: Hip-Hop Rap and the Quagmire of (American) Blacks.
Here, “hoe” or “hoebag” might also alludes to something in Shakespeare's plays.
Soulja Boy→ Soulja Boy (b1990) is a American black rapper, criticized for his shallow raps.
doctor→ Dr. Seuss is the pen-name for Theodor Seuss Geisel (1904 〜 1991), most famous for writing children's books.
The Twilight books→
Twilight (novel), is a vampire-romance novel, made popular by the film
Twilight (2008 film), widely subjected to silly ridicule. (the inane ridicules the inane)
It portrays vampires as emo (⁖ emotional, introverted, introspective, repressed, suicidal, kinda personality and subculture, popular among the young in 21st century US America, induced by American bleadingheart movements. (See also: a Exhibition of Political Correctness and Feminism Prowess.)).
ye hoebag
you're an old white Soulja Boy who has no swag and no gonadsegads it's so sad
and to top it off
you're not a doctor
I've never seen a softer author
you crook, you
I bet you wrote The Twilight books too
on a boat→ seems to be a reference from the book Green Eggs and Ham is a book by Dr Seuss. I thought it refers to a extremely popular but silly rap song that parody rap clichés. See: I Am On a Boat (2009).
Horton→ Horton is Horton the Elephant, a character from one of Dr Seuss's book Horton Hears a Who!. Horton is a kind, sweet-natured elephant who cares about other animals or people. In each of Horton's book appearances he endures a good amount of ridicule, for believing in something that no one else does.
Source seuss.wikia.com
ruffled→ The folded decorative collar clothing on the neck. Ruffle
I would not could not on a boat
read any of the boring ass plays you wrote
even Horton doesn't want to hear you
and Cindy Lou Who is afraid to go near you
you bore people to death
you leave a classroom
looking like the end of MacBeth
I entertain a child of any age
you gotta translate what you said on the opposite page
how you gonna battle with The Cat in The Hat?
little kids get scared when I step on the mat
you think your ruffled neck ass gonna rap to that?
I got a best selling book about me coming back
trisyllabic meter→ Dr Seuss frequently uses trisyllabic meter in his books.
baller→ slang: a good ball player; a star. Probably from star basketball players, most of which are black.
bleachers→ as a audience.
I'm switching up my style like the Beatles with my pieces,
each is such a wonder with a plethora of features
you're pathetically predictable,
you think your new book might include a trisyllabic meter and
some ghetto Muppet creatures
the Bard is in the building, it's a castle,
I'm a boss.
I bet I'm Parliament.
I'm positive, I'm killing it,
I'm iller than the plague,
I never caught or cholera
a baller baller
on some cricket bowler business
while you're sitting in the bleachers.
Things 1 and 2→ A twin mischief-makers. They came out of a box of The Cat in The Hat.
You rap fast you do
yes you rap fast it's true
now let's see how you rap versus Things 1 and 2
upstaged→ Upstage is rear part of a stage.
Moving to upstage is to force out of the spotlight.
Thus, as verb, to treat haughtily, snobbishly.
played→ pun. His play is being played; he got played on, setup, made fun of.
Oh, No
We'll smash your globe
yo, you may have wrote the script but now we running the show
you can take your fancy words and send'em back home to your mama
break our foot off in your ass with our feetie pajamas
man we'll cook you up and eat you with some ham and green eggs
we'll break offa your legs
make no mistake
we in a rage
all does not end well when we bust out our cage
you gettin' upstaged Bill
you, you just got played!
The rappers, video director, lyricists, are:
William Shakespeare rapped by George Watsky, a poetic rapper.