Talk:Epic Rap Battles of History 45/@comment-83.183.18.254-20140703203151/@comment-98.222.132.11-20140703211335

suggestions for improvements:

make insults / boasts more specific. half the fun of erb is in the clever references to the source material. "things are stupid", "you think you're cute", "im hot, hardcore, fast, black, lightning", all have way too much generic-ity in them. in contrast, the first few lines of superman. "who can stop", "constipated jock", "awful animation", "complicated plot", "rap bombs to drop on Japan", "this looks like a job for the OG Superman".

All of those are a direct reference to something, and the only thing in between are modifiers. In fact, I'd say real ERBs almost go overboard with this, including references that are neither insults nor boasts. Having a lot of unique material is the key to making a good rap battle.

That's probably another reason I don't like this matchup so much. Usain Bolt is known for his record breaking speeds. Lionel Messi is a famous footballer. But outside of that, how much can you really get without digging deep into them. This is in contrast with, say, Michael Jordan. Sure he's a famous basketball player. But he had a long career of events to draw from, as well as his adverts, his baseball career, Space Jam, etc..