Sir Isaac Newton vs Bill Nye/Rap Meanings

Isaac Newton:
Of all the scientific minds in history,

(Nye and Newton are two of the many scientific minds in history, although Nye is more modern and new compared to Newton, who is hundreds of years old.)

They put Beaker in a bow tie up against me?

(Beaker is a scientist character from the TV series "The Muppet Show". He fails in all of his scientific experiments and has terrible luck. Newton is mocking Nye, calling him a failure in a bow tie.)

I'm a master, I discovered gravity

(Newton is most well known for discovering the laws of gravity. He is saying that he is a scientifical expert for doing so.)

I drop rhymes like they're falling from an apple tree

(Newton is reported to have discovered gravity by watching an apple fall from an apple tree. He is making a metaphor of "dropping rhymes" to the apples dropping, and since an apple tree generally bears a lot of fruit, he says that he drops a lot of rhymes.)

You're no match for me, you got a bachelor degree

(Nye graduated with a Bachelor of Science from Cornell University in 1977. Newton is saying that a bachelor's degree isn't enough to match him.)

I got a unit of force named after me

(A newton is a unit of force. It is named after Newton for his work on classical mechanics.)

'''You wanna battle, guy? That's a crazy notion'''

(Newton finds the thought of Bill Nye wanting to rap battle against him ridiculous.)

When I start flowing, I stay in motion!

(This line references Newton's first law of motion, which states that an object in motion stays in motion and an object at rest stays at rest until acted upon by an outside force. Newton is saying that when he starts rapping against Nye, he can't stop.)

'''First law! Did you catch that? Or did it go too fast through your head?'''

(A reference to the line above, Newton is saying that he spit the reference to his first law of motion out so fast that Nye didn't have time to comprehend it.)

Perhaps it'd be better if I added in a bleep or a bloop or another wacky sound effect

(Wacky sound effects are common in Nye's show "Bill Nye the Science Guy". Newton is saying that the only way for Nye to understand his above reference and his raps in general is to include wacky sound effects in his verse, implying that Nye is mentally impaired.)

I was born on Christmas, I'm God's gift

(Isaac Newton was born on December 25th, which is Christmas Day. It is also speculated, but unconfirmed, to be the birthdate of Jesus Christ, who is known as the son of God among Christians.)

I got lost in the stars that you're dancing with.

(Nye was once on the show Dancing With the Stars, in which Nye suffered an accident and was eliminated in the 2nd week.)

You waste time debatin' creationists

(In February 2014, Bill Nye debated with creationist Ken Ham about the origins of life, which many people believed to be a waste of time, giving credibility to creationist pseudoscience.)

While I create the science you explain to kids!

(Bill Nye used to teach science to children, but Newton is saying that he discovered those very same teachings before Nye.)

Bill Nye:
Yes, it's true, what I used to do is teach kids science on my PBS show

(Nye previously hosted an educational TV show on PBS called Bill Nye the Science Guy, where he taught kids various fields of science.)

But now I do what I gotta do to make sure scientific thought can grow!

(On his show, he taught kids about science, helping their 'scientific thought' grow. He has also been quoted to tell his own peers to stop pushing kids into religions, saying it holds them back from helping science progress.)

And I'm still in my prime, hitting my stride.

(Nye is saying that he is still the genius he was known to be, and hasn't changed.)

Watcha do with the back half of your life?

You freaked out, started counting, going to the bank, and you sure didn't add no wife.

You wrote the book on gravity, but you couldn't attract nobody.

Your work on orbits was exemplary, but your circle of friends was shoddy.

You don't wanna mess with the guy, Bill Nye, why?

(Nye tells Newton that he shouldn't try to battle him. He then rhetorically asks "why?", following up with an answer in the next line.)

I rap sharp like a needle in your eye.

(While studying optics, Newton came to the idea that colour is infused by pressure on the eye. To prove this theory, Newton stuck a thin needle around his eye until he could reach the back of it. He calmy noted that he saw "white, dark and coloured circles" as long as he kept stirring with the needle. Bill Nye says his raps are as sharp as the needle Newton used to conduct this experiment with.)

Stick to drinking that mercury,

(When Newton died, his body was found to contain high levels of mercury, suggesting that mercury poisoning contributed to his later life eccentricity and death.)

Cause I hypothesize that you're about to get beat.

(A Hypothesize is a part of The Scientific Method, It means what you predict for the outcome of a problem, Nye is saying the outcome is this battle is Newton losing to Nye.)

Isaac Newton:
Well, I conclude that your methods are the wackest.

(Newton is stating that he believes the ways Nye explains science is very strange.)

You wouldn't even pass in one of my classes.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction

(This is a reference to Newton's third law of motion, which states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.)

Except for when we both start rapping.

(Continuing from the line above, Newton says that the only time an action does not have an equal and opposite reaction is this rap battle, indicating that Nye's raps are unable to match to Newton's.)'

I accelerated the minds of mankind to a higher plane of understanding.

And I can calculate the weight and the size and the shape of the shadow of the mind you're standing in.

(Despite Bill Nye's popularity and intelligence, Newton says he's still standing in his shadow.)

And I'll leave with a page from a book I wrote at half your age to rebute.

The integral sec y dy from zero to one-sixth of pi is the log to base e of the square root of three times the sixty-fourth power of what?

(

This also comes from a calculus limerick which reads similar to Newton's line

"The integral sec y dy (pronounced "seek y dee y'")

From zero to one-sixth of pi

Is the log to base e

Of the square root of three

To the 64th power of i")

Neil deGrasse Tyson:
Why don't you pick on a brain your own size?

(Neil deGrasse Tyson enters the battle by saying that his brain is just as great as Newton's, and that he should leave Bill Nye alone.)

We got a badass over here, plus I got your back, Nye.

(Tyson is know for a meme where a picture of him is associated with the phrase "Watch out, we got a badass over here" which, ironically, came from a video where he was discussing how Isaac Newton invented calculus before his 26th birthday. In this battle, he is backing Nye by going against Newton.)

Astrophysics black guy, Hayden Planetary fly

(Hayden Planetarium is part of the American Museum of Natural History, and is currently directed by Tyson.)

By the way, the answer to your little calculation is i

(Tyson says that he has the answer to Newton's equation, which he claims is i. i is the symbol for an imaginary number. He is also referring to himself, as explained in the next line.)

As in I put the swag back in science

(Tyson is currently hosting the show Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, which is an update to Carl Sagan's Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The show is very popular; thus, Tyson is putting popular interest back into science.)

While Isaac Newton was lying and sticking daggers in Leibniz

And hiding up inside his attic on some Harry Potter business

The universe is infinite, but this battle is finished.

(Tyson is stating that the very universe that we live in is infinite in size, unlike the battle, which he has just ended.)