Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates/Rap Meanings



(As this battle begins, the Announcer gets cut off by...)

Steve Jobs:
Let me just step right in, I got things to invent.

(Jobs is extremely eager to begin the battle, as he has a lot of ideas for new inventions. He even cut off his own introduction to start his verse.)

I'm an innovator, baby, changed the world.

(Many of the products based on Steve Jobs' ideas did indeed change the world.)

Fortune 500 'fore you kissed a girl!

(A few years after its founding, Apple, Inc., then Apple Computer, made the list of Fortune magazine's 500 fastest moving and most valuable companies. Jobs suggests that Bill hadn't even kissed a girl by that time (he would have been 27).)

I'm a pimp, you're a nerd; I'm slick, you're cheesy!

(Jobs had the charisma to be able to sell anything at the drop of a hat. Gates, meanwhile, is just a geek.)

Beating you is Apple II easy!

(Building on the previous verse, Jobs believes that defeating Gates is too much of a cinch, if not as easy as the Apple II series of computers that he helped design with Apple co-founder and partner Steve Wozniak. It could also be a pun on the name "Apple Two", being  "Apple", then "too", forming "apple, too easy")

I make the products that the artist chooses,

(Apple's Macintosh computers and professional software are highly favored in graphic design as well as film.)

And the GUI that Melinda uses.

(The Macintosh graphical user interface (GUI) is so easy-to-use, that Jobs suggests even Melinda Gates, Bill's wife, uses one.)

I need to bring up some basic shit.

(Jobs plays on two IT terms: "to bring up" can mean "to launch (a program)" or "to display a data file"; BASIC was a common programming language used from the 1960's through the early 1990's.)

Why'd you name your company after your dick?

("Microsoft", the company owned by Bill Gates, was named for creating micro(computer) software, but Jobs says the company is really named after Gates' dick—one that is small and fails to get hard.)

Bill Gates:
'''You blow, Jobs! You arrogant prick,'''

(To those who knew him intimately, Steve Jobs may have come across as arrogant and set in his ways, and yet he had his reasons. Saying someone blows means they suck. Gates makes a pun out of "blow" and Steve's last name, thereby making the word "blowjobs", a sexual act.)

With your second-hand jeans and your turtleneck!

(Jobs was known to wear only a simple black turtleneck and jeans to his presentations of Apple products. Gates thinks the outfit looks used, as it might be the kind of thing one finds in a thrift store.)

I'll drill a hole in the middle of your bony head,

(Jobs was almost completely bald by his 40's, and so it was obvious that he had a bony head. Gates will make an opening through Jobs' head...)

With your own little spinning beach ball of death!

(...using the infamous rainbow-colored spinning wait cursor found in OS X, which might look like a buzzsaw. The Spinning Beach Ball of Death is, in principle, like Windows' hourglass or ring cursors when the computer is busy, but the "death" comes in when this cursor sticks around too long and programs freeze. Yet, unlike Windows' Blue Screen of Death, one may be able to force-terminate the processes that led up to the SBBoD.)

Hippie, you got given up at birth!

(Jobs was given up for adoption by his American mother when his Syrian father left. He was subsequently taken in by Paul and Clara Jobs. As he matured, Jobs adopted a holistic lifestyle approach, and it is said that he rarely bathed. Jobs' use of LSD and thick rounded glasses also made him appear to be a hippie.)

I give away your net worth to AIDS research!

(As co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Gates contributes portions of his wealth to causes that move humanity forward, like reducing the incidence of HIV/AIDS in the developing world and finding a cure for it. What he gives away is actually more than what Jobs' net worth had been.)

Combine all your little toys and I still crush that!

(Apple's properties combined would be worth but a fraction of Microsoft's holdings, says Gates. Windows and related Microsoft assets account for close to 90% of the computer market and more than a third of the set-top gaming market. Apple accounts for 10% of the computer market and currently does not have a console).

iPhone, iPad, iPwn, iSmack!

(A jab at Apple's "i"-heavy product naming schema as started by Jobs. "Pwn" and "smack" are colloquial terms for a beatdown, which Gates is in the process of delivering unto his rival.)

Steve Jobs:
A man uses the machines you build to sit down and pay his taxes.

(When both verses are interpreted as one, Jobs is illustrating the fundamental differences between Mac and Windows users; this half-verse implies that stereotypical Windows users seem to do more job-related things like paying taxes.)

A man uses the machines I build to listen to the Beatles while he relaxes.

(Meanwhile, the other half-verse says that the stereotypical Mac user will spend most of his time doing recreational things like listening to his iTunes collection. The Beatles' collection was posted to iTunes in 2010, ending a long dispute with Apple Corps, Ltd. in a multi-million dollar distribution deal—a landmark achievement considering that the two firms had previously agreed to share only the Apple moniker so long as one had nothing to do with the other. "Listen to the Beatles" is a reference to Apple Corps, the record label started by the Beatles in 1968.  Steve Jobs loved to listen to the Beatles as well.)

Bill Gates:
Well Steve, you steal all the credit for work that other people do!

(Jobs' purported arrogance led many to believe that he took the credit for work done by teams under his direction. While this may have been true in Jobs' early career, in later years he frequently invited team members on stage during his keynotes.)

Did your fat beard Wozniak write these raps for you, too?

(Gates is insinuating that Steve Wozniak was asked to write Jobs' raps for him, after which Jobs took all the credit. Wozniak, of course, wrote his own autobiography, iWoz, so this is feasible. Gates is also dissing Woz, who has a beard and is slightly overweight as was seen on "Dancing with the Stars". In business, a "suit" is someone in an upper-level position such as an executive, a salesman, or a PR manager concerned with pushing a product or service; and a "beard" may be an engineer, programmer, or production-line worker responsible for making or transporting the product, or performing the service.)

Steve Jobs:
Ooh, everybody knows Windows bit off Apple!

(In 1988, Apple sued Microsoft for copyright infringement of the Lisa and Macintosh GUI's. The court case lasted 4 years before almost all of Apple’s claims were denied on a contractual technicality. Subsequent appeals by Apple were also denied. Microsoft and Apple apparently entered a final, private settlement of the matter in 1997. This is also a reference to Apple's logo of a bitten apple.)

Bill Gates:
I tripled the profits on a PC!

(Gates is saying that thanks to Windows, the profit margins on PCs increased threefold at a time when Apple was losing money; the latter's OS was still a closed system and there were too many Apple systems with identical hardware, which confused buyers.)

Steve Jobs:
All the people with the power to create use an Apple!

(Apple products are usually known as the products for "creative" people, since the company sells most of its wares to artists and songwriters. This plays off an historic Apple tagline, "The power to be your best.")

Bill Gates:
And people with jobs use PC!

(A counter to Jobs, saying that the "creative" people Jobs sells his products to are unemployed. PCs are also commonly found in work areas.)

Steve Jobs:
You know, I bet they made this beat on an Apple.

(There are many, many people that use Apple products (GarageBand, Logic) to create music, including raps. Here, Jobs breaks the fourth wall by saying that the beat Jobs and Gates are rapping to must be made on a Mac.)

Bill Gates:
Nope, FruityLoops, PC.

(FruityLoops, now known as FL Studio, is a program made for Windows to create beats. Gates is countering Jobs' previous statement of the beat they're rapping to being made on a Mac. The rap battle's beat was indeed produced by FL Studio.)

Steve Jobs:
You will never, ever catch a virus on an Apple!

(Apple is known for its claims of not being able to have viruses or malicious computer programs which often compromise a user's data and can impact a machine's overall performance. Since 2008, however, Apple users have been targeted by Trojan horses, prompting the company to slowly reverse its position on security. Apple began implementing baseline malware screening in 2009.)

Bill Gates:
Well, you could still afford a doctor if you bought a PC!

(Apple's products are frequently perceived as outrageously expensive. So expensive, says Gates, that one can't afford a doctor if he buys Apple gear. On top of this, if an Apple product becomes broken, you would have to buy another just to replace it, whereas a PC can just be fixed and function correctly. It also plays on a proverb, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away.")

Steve Jobs:
'''Let's talk about doctors. I've seen a few.'''

(Going back to Bill's previous line, Jobs continues talking about doctors, as he had seen several from the health conditions he experienced over the years.)

'Cause I got a PC, but it wasn't from you.

(Steve Jobs was famously diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer (abbreviated as a PC, though not the same as a Personal Computer), which was also the cause of his death. Before his untimely demise, Jobs had to see a lot of doctors to prevent his sickness from getting any worse. His tumor was an extremely rare and inoperable case known as a pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor, which ultimately metastasized (broke apart and spread) to other organs.)

I built a legacy, son, you could never stop it!

(Jobs was met with great successes throughout his life: the founding of Apple, then NeXT and Pixar, followed by his return to Apple and its renaissance as a top media power. In the current Mac lines, the iPhone, the iPods, the iPad, and everything in between, one can see the influence of Jobs' attention to detail and his obsession with simplicity. These are integral to Jobs' legacy. Gates can do nothing to drown it out.)

Now excuse me while I turn heaven a profit.

("To turn a profit" means to make money. Jobs' foremost accomplishments in life came when he retook Apple as CEO and returned it to massive profitability from more than a decade on the precipice of bankruptcy. Here, he knows he's going to die, so why not go out and turn Heaven itself a profit in the process? Basically, his investing skills are so great, he'll even make money in the afterlife.)

Bill Gates:
'''Fine, you wanna be like that? Die then!'''

(Gates couldn't care less about Jobs dying, but he is actually upset that his lifelong rival and friend is dying, leaving him alone. This assertion, however, is only accurate in the context of the battle. As stated prior, Jobs had no control over his cancer despite best efforts.)

The whole world loved you, but you were my friend!

(Shockwaves from Jobs' passing were felt the world over, as many knew Jobs through his products and speeches about his products. But before that, Jobs and Gates were fast friends.)

I'm alone now with nothing but power and time.

(With Jobs dead, Gates is seemingly in control of all things cyberspace, as he has all the time and money in the world.)

And no one on earth who can challenge my mind!

(Gates is brilliant, but bored here as he has just lost the one man who kept him on his toes in Jobs.)

'''I'm a boss! I own DOS! Your future is MY design!'''

(Gates is the boss of Microsoft. He bought the rights to what became MS-DOS on or about 1979 from Tim Patterson's Seattle Computer Products. Microsoft's 2011 motto was "Your potential. Our passion." Much of what Microsoft is, and what personal computing is today, owes itself to Gates.)

'''I'm a god! Own Xbox! Now there's no one to stop me, the world is mine!'''

(With nothing to keep him in check, Gates has a brush with megalomania (the desire to control all things in the universe). Microsoft developed the Xbox under Gates. After Steve's death, Apple won't have the ability to rival against someone like Bill Gates, so Bill assumes all the power of the planet will belong to him.)

HAL 9000:
'''I'm sorry, Bill. I'm afraid I can't let you do that.'''

(Reprising its famous quote from "2001: A Space Odyssey", in which it originally said, "I’m sorry Dave, I’m afraid I can’t do that," HAL 9000 is moving in to battle Gates in place of Jobs. It's not going to let him have the universe he wants.)

Take a look at your history.

(HAL tells Gates to look at humanity's past. A subtle hit on "browser history", which records a user's prior Web crawls.)

Everything you built leads up to me.

(Though it addresses Gates himself, HAL is saying that our current progress in technology as humans will lead to the development of not only AI, but completely sentient (self-aware) machines like it.).

I got the power of a mind you could never be.

(HAL has multiple CPU's and vast amounts of RAM, giving it power beyond anything mortal man can muster; thus, it can easily out-think Gates.)

I'll beat your ass in chess and Jeopardy!

(HAL compares itself to two supercomputers that really did kick humans to the proverbial curb. Both were developed by IBM. "Deep Blue" throttled chess grand-master Garry Kasparov in 1997 — twice. Later, 2011's "Watson" cluster soundly thumped "Jeopardy!" champs Ken Jennings and Brad Ritter in a two-part shootout.)

I'm running C++, saying "hello world".

(C++ is a coding language, one used on Linux. It is the expanded version of the C coding language and is used for system and application programming. "Hello World" is a staple of new programmers, as one of the first (and usually simplest) exercises is to display this text in C++. Curiously, most if not all Apple applications (most notably their operating systems) are coded in Objective C, not C++.)

I'll beat you 'til you're singing about a daisy girl.

(In the film "2001: A Space Odyssey", HAL 9000 went out singing "Daisy Bell" (aka "A Bicycle Built for Two") as it was the first song that he learned. It was also the first song "sung" by a computer in real life — an IBM 7094 in 1961. Arthur C. Clarke, author of "2001", was at the demo event and drew HAL from that.)

I'm coming out the socket.

(HAL 9000 was fully integrated into the spaceships systems, so if it's getting out of its socket, that's its way of saying "Shit just got real." A socket is also an open Internet connection, or the receptacle used by a CPU chip. "Coming out the socket", hence, could mean that HAL is spreading beyond the protocols, and thereby, human control. It could have to do with the implementing of technology becoming mobile.)

Nothing you can do can stop it.

(The advancement of computing technology (such as HAL) is moving too fast for anybody to stop. Basically, Gates is hopeless to try to stop HAL from winning the battle.)

I'm on your lap and in your pocket.

(With computer technology becoming mobile, laptops can be found on people's laps, and smartphones can be found in their pockets.)

How you gonna shoot me down when I guide the rocket?

(Another one of his quotes from 2001: A Space Odyssey. This could refer to HAL 9000’s role in the movie: flying the spaceship. In fact, most disaster countermeasures are computer controlled, so no one would be able to fire a missile at HAL because they're computer guided and therefore under his control. It references that US Military changed from Windows to Linux, since Windows was full of security issues. It could also reference how Linux runs PCs and Macs, so Gates can't take down Linux without Microsoft coming down with it.)

Your cortex just doesn't impress me.

(Cortex is another word for brain, so HAL considers his "brain" to be superior to Bill's or any other human.)

So go ahead, try to Turing test me.

(The Turing test is a test of a machine's ability to exhibit intelligent behavior equivalent to, or indistinguishable from, that of an actual human. In the original illustrative example, a human engages in a natural language conversation with a human and a machine designed to generate performance indistinguishable from that of a human being. All participants are separated from one another. If the judge cannot reliably tell the machine from the human, the machine passes the test. Here, HAL challenges Gates to see if he can tell the difference between HAL and a real human, betting him that he can't, as HAL's intelligence is far too superior.)

I stomp on a Mac and a PC too.

(HAL challenges Gates, but also demonstrates he could beat Steve Jobs in the same way, and claims he stomps on both their products, a Mac and a PC.)

'''I'm on Linux, bitch. I thought you GNU.'''

(Linux is a system a little bit like Unix, sometimes paired with GNU, an initiative aimed at creating a truly free and crowd-sourced operating system and software, whose name comes from "GNU's Not UNIX". Unix is a multi-user operating system. Although GNU is pronounced "guh-new", it's making a play on the sentence, "I thought you knew." HAL says Linux can beat Apple and Microsoft. Because Linux and GNU are closely related, the pair may be written GNU/Linux)

My CPU's hot, but my core runs cold.

(Both "CPU" and "core" refer to a computer's processor. The reference to temperature is a double meaning. The first, "hot", is meant figuratively, as in "attractive or desirable". The second, "cold", is meant literally; a processor that is "running cold" is barely exerting itself (processors generate heat as they work). He's saying that his computers can perform multiple actions without overheating, or it could also talk about how HAL 9000 is often cold-hearted and unforgiving.)

Beat you in seventeen lines of code.

(This could be a reference to the 17 lines of code SCO claimed were stolen from SCO UNIX and put into the Linux Kernel. The lawsuit was sometimes viewed as a proxy battle between the Linux community and Microsoft. At this point of the battle, HAL had given 17 lines of his verse, from when he started until this line.)

I think different from the engine of the days of old.

(Reference to "Think Different", Apple’s famous advertising slogan. HAL functions differently from machines before him.  It also refers to the difference engine, a mechanical calculator designed by Charles Babbage in the early 19th century.  It is often considered the forerunner to the modern computer.)"

Hasta la vista, like the Terminator told ya.

("Hasta la vista" is Spanish for "I'll see you when I see you." HAL could be saying he'll see Gates in Heaven, or it could also reference Windows Vista, a once much-hated operating system. The Terminator, a sentient machine like HAL, also famously said this line in the movies of the same name.)