Shaka Zulu vs Julius Caesar/Rap Meanings

Shaka Zulu
Iwisa, meet Caesar; he's a commander

(A knobkierrie, also known as an iwisa, is a wooden club used as throwing spears. Shaka Zulu is introducing the iwisa to Caesar, also meaning he will physically attack Caesar with the iwisa.)

Who thinks he can dance with Conan of the Savannah!

(Shaka Zulu is calling Caesar inferior to him by comparing himself to Conan the Barbarian, a fictional character similar to Shaka. However, Shaka lived in areas like savannahs, while Conan lived in a location similar to Caesar's own home, Rome, during the fictional Hyborian Age. Therefore, Shaka is comparing himself to Conan by calling himself the "Conan of the Savannah".)

When I go hand to hand with you, I go hammer!

Knock over stone, wrap it up in its own banner!

Send it back to Rome with a message from the Zulu:

(After defeating Caesar, the Zulus will continue to send him back from where he came with a message. It's also a reference to the senates led by Pompey's message to order Caesar to go back to Rome in 49 BC during the triumvirate, which later led to Caesar's Civil War.)

"If you battle Shaka, this will happen to you!

(This is the message the Zulus will send back to Rome, to show that Shaka Zulu is a very powerful man who shouldn't be messed with and can beat their great leader.)

If you cross that Equator, you'll head straight into a massacre,

(Whilst the Roman Empire was known for controlling a large proportion of the world, they never expanded south of the Equator, the area where the Zulus lived. Shaka says that if Caesar leads his men to Zulu territory then they will all get killed in battle.)

Getting fucked by more than just Cleopatra in Africa!"

(Cleopatra was Pharaoh of Egypt at the time Caesar was in power. During his conquests in Northern Africa he had a prolonged relationship with her that lead to the birth of their son, Caesarion. Zulu is saying he will fuck Caesar in a different way to the relationship Caesar and Cleopatra had, since both Cleopatra and Zulu are African.)

Julius Caesar:
You talk a lot of shit for a man wearing a diaper.

(The Zulu's wear g-strings, which Caesar compares to diapers. A diaper is something babies usually wear, and is used to hold feces or urine. He is amazed that the said "diaper" isn't holding all the shit Shaka is saying.)

'''I heard you had poison spit. Where was it in this cypher?'''

(Shaka Zulu was known to mix poisonous herbs with saliva and spit it out to blind his opponents. Caesar also makes a reference to the Caesar cipher, which is a cipher used and presumably invented by Julius Caesar to protect messages of military significance. This is a play on words, as a cypher is a term in rap culture where several rappers contribute a single verse. Caesar is saying that Zulu can't spit, or rap, very well in this battle.)

'Cause all I hear is threats from a brute with no discipline.

(Caesar isn't intimidated because he claims that Shaka is only giving empty threats. He also calls him a brute, meaning Shaka depends on sheer strength while Caesar is more strategic in comparison. This is also a play of words, since Brutus', one of the assassins responsible for Caesar's death, name is written as "Brute" in Latin.)

And I'm ruling over you like a bootful of my citizens!

(Caesar, the dictator of the Roman Empire is saying that he can rule or dominate over Shaka like as if he is one of the citizens in Italy, a country famous for being shaped like a boot.)

And you should take your cow skin shield and hide under it!

(The Zulu's are known for their unique cowhide shields, which Caesar pokes fun of and creates a pun by telling them to hide behind their shields.)

You're fucking with the most triumphant third of the triumvirate!

(The Triumvirate was a political agreement between Caesar, Marcus Licinius Crassus and Pompey the Great that established them as the leading political force in Rome. Crassus died in the battle with the Parthians and Pompey was murdered, so Caesar claims he is the most successful of the trio.)

I'm first of the empire and the last of the Republicans,

(Caesar marked a new chapter in Roman history by ending the Roman Republic in 27 BC and establishing the Roman Empire.)

And hunting you, accompanied by legions of my countrymen!

(Caesar is referring to the Roman Legion and the saying, "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears", threatening to hunt Zulu like an animal with the many men he commands.)

(Ooh!) Ask my kidnappers if I'm just a shit talker.

(Caesar was once kidnapped by pirates and put up for ransom. During this kidnapping, he told them all that he would return after he was released and crucify them, a promise he did go on to fulfill. He did however have them killed kindly before being put on the cross as a symbol of how well they treated him.)

Doc J-Dunk on you like boom shaka laka!

(Julius Erving, sometimes known by the nickname "Dr. J", was a professional basketball player and known to be one of the greatest dunkers in basketball history. Caesar, sharing his first name, compares himself to him by saying that he will dunk like "Boom shaka laka", a line of celebration after a player dunks a basketball with a similar word to Zulu's name, and win the rap battle.)

So don't go rattling your sticks at me!

(Caesar is telling Zulu not to rattle, or make menacing gestures with, his spears, mere sticks in comparison to the blades of the Roman Legions, at Caesar, or he will fight back.)

If I wanted to Shake Speares, I'd waggle my biography!

(William Shakespeare famously wrote the play Julius Caesar, a biography of Caesar's last days. Caesar makes a pun out of Shakespeare's surname, in doing so also referencing the previously suggested action of Zulu shaking spears. Caesar also claims that he is more famous, as he has a world-renowned play based on himself, whereas Zulu does not.)

Shaka Zulu:
'''I've heard of your play. Tell me: how does it end?'''

(Zulu is saying he's heard of the aforementioned play Julius Caesar, and mockingly asks Caesar to tell him how it concluded, as a build-up to the next line.)

'''Oh yes! You get stabbed many times by your friends!'''

(Following on from the last line, Zulu is stating how the play ended with Caesar being assassinated by Brutus and others of the Roman Senate, being stabbed in the back 23 times.)

So whatcha gonna do with your Roman swords?

(Zulu then asks Caesar what he's going to do with the swords he brags of, retorting to Caesar's previous comparison of Zulu's spears to sticks and building up to the next line.)

When the lines of your legions get gored by the horns

(Zulu was famous for utilizing the "bull horn" formation in battle, and when a person is killed by a bull's horns they are gored, thus Zulu is saying he and his army will kill Caesar's legions, whilst mocking his plain army formation.)

'''Of the (Zulu!) warriors! Straight on thorns'''

(Continuing on from the last line, Zulu is saying that the Zulu warriors will kill the legions, putting them straight on thorns. A crown of thorns was used as a form of punishment by Roman soldiers.)

To dismember any emperor's pasty white hordes!

(Zulu is saying that his warriors will cut to pieces, or dismember, the legions, or hordes, of Caesar, the emperor, and calls his army pasty white, suggesting that they don't get much sunlight to tan, thus don't get much action or practice and are inexperienced in battle. It is also stereotypical for a darker colored person such as Shaka to mock a Caucasian like Caesar and his fellow Romans for being "white" by calling them pasty or other similar words.)

I got the strength of a lion and the speed of a cheetah,

(Zulu is implying that he has the strength of a lion and the speed of a cheetah, both animals native to Zulu's homeland, and Caesar is weaker in comparison.)

And everyone knows you're just a chicken, Caesar!

(He finishes his verse by calling Caesar a chicken, meaning he is easily scared, weak, and a prey to stronger animals like lions and cheetahs. This is also a play on words of chicken caesar salad.)

Julius Caesar:
'''Can I be a hyena? 'Cause I'm going to laugh.'''

(Caesar also compares himself to an animal, in this case: the hyena. In this line he call's Shaka's raps laughable.)

I pave roads with the bones of your goat-herding ass!

First, my front lines will drop back and spank you in the chest,

Then I'll decimate your horn; you can't outfight the best!

(Julius claims that Shaka's bull horn formation will be inferior to his military prowess, as he is the greatest at it.)

'''Let your reserves come at me. My ballista's cocked and (Ready!)'''

(Zulu had reserve men outside his ordinary bull horn formation, and Caesar is saying now that he has decimated the bull horn, he will use another piece of his superior military technology, a ballista, to shoot at the reserves, and that the ballista is ready and waiting.)

When I take (Aim!), I always keep my whole crew (Steady!)

'Cause there's no use in murdering you and your heathen.

You can grow my wheat for me, after you're beaten.

''(Many African tribes were captured by white settlers in the 17th and 18th century and were forced to do labor. Instead of Caesar killing all of Zulu and his men, he is going to enslave them. Slaves were commonly beaten by their masters, so Caesar is saying Zulu is his slave and is going to both beat him in battle, and beat him for disobeying his commands."