User blog:TP87/TP reviews ERB Episode 3: Michael Jordan vs Muhammad Ali

Hi guys and welcome to the 3rd episode of TP reviews ERB. In this one I'll review Michael Jordan vs Muhammad Ali. So, as the Announcer says: BEGIN!

Characters and Connection
In this one, we have NBA player Michael Jordan (Keegan-Michael Key) facing boxing champion Muhammad Ali (Jordan Peele)

Their connection is: sportsmen, although I think there are 2 more specific connections:

1)Team Sport (Basketball->Michael Jordan) vs Individual Sport (Boxing->Muhammad Ali)

2) Controversial sportsmen: Muhammad Ali because for his change of religion which made him avoid the Vietnam war thus being stripped him of all his titles and Michael Jordan for his baseball career and for his comeback in 2003, in which he didn't achieve as much he achieved in the Chicago Bulls.

Michael Jordan:
Why don't you dodge this battle like you did Vietnam?

'Cause you've got as much chance of beating me as LeBron.

I'm a flying machine, like the world has never seen!

You can fight one man? I can drive through a whole team!

I choke a dope with his own jump rope!

You'll get smoked when I flow, you Kentucky fried joke!

Used to float like a butterfly, sting like a bee,

Now you double dribble balls that nobody can see!

(Jordan starts out pretty well with the Vietnam and the Lebron lines. However he started bragging too much from the 3rd to the 6th line, which could've been avoided. The last line is kinda cheap because Jordan disses Ali for his disease, but it works pretty good)

Muhammad Ali:
I saw you slapping Reggie Miller, boy, what's wrong with you? You fight like the little girls who make your Nike shoes!

Your whole basketball career turned whack.

When you came back a Wizard like Gandalf the Black!

You should have kept your ugly sneakers packed up on a shelf.

Stick to golf, you can keep the ball to yourself!

I'm so pretty, my hands are so fast.

I'll whup your face back to your Hitler mustache!

Now your daddy got killed and I feel for your family,

But your baseball career, now that was a tragedy!

(I really liked Ali's 1st verse, as it has many disses and only 1 bragging line, which is the 9th. The best lines in this one were the "Gandalf the Black" one and the "Gambling" one. He is slightly cheap with his 11th line but instead of dissing Jordan of a family tragedy, he connects it with the last one to diss him about the baseball career. Pretty smart indeed)

Michael Jordan:
Man, you make me sick, but I'm better with the flu!

You should let the Fresh Prince do your rapping for you!

I would pass the mic to Pippen but I'm not done scoring!

Stay all up in your grill like my name was George Foreman!

(Michael Jordan has improved a lot from his 1st verse as each of his line has a reference. The 1st one mentions his famous "Flu Game", the 2nd one refers to Will Smith (the Fresh prince) playing Muhammad Ali in the film "Ali", the 3rd one to his habit of passing the ball to his teammate Scottie Pippen and the 4th one to Ali's rivalry with George Foreman)

'''We're in the middle of the battle now and Jordan's having the upper hand thanks to his 2nd verse. Let's see if Ali will have a comeback.'''

Muhammad Ali:
I saw you slapping Reggie Miller, boy, what's wrong with you? You fight like the little girls who make your Nike shoes!

McDonalds and underpants as corporate backers.

You stay at the Ritz 'cause you sold out to crackers!

(Ali's hand gesture during the Reggie Miller line made me cry a lot and the Nike shoes line is actually an awesome line. However, he makes a mistake in his last 2 lines, which lead to Jordan's 3rd verse)

Michael Jordan:
So Cassius wants to talk about cashing checks!

I'll school you through your bug spray, off your Broadway play, over the Japanese dude sittin' on your face!

Hit nothin' but net! You ain't seen nothin' yet!

Man, you needed a movement, 'cause you're so full of shit!

I'm a better athlete and a better MC!

Battle me two more times, watch me get a three-peat!

(The first 2 lines of this verse consist of Jordan responding to Ali disses about him being a sellout. Jordan actually manages to nullifiy Ali's disses, gaining an advantage. However, the 3rd,4th and 5th lines were kinda meh for me, although the last one was kinda good)

Muhammad Ali:
Beep beep! Why don't you back up that trash?

I'll leave you like Liston: flat on your ass!

You need to bounce back to North Carolina, kid,

'Cause your rapping sucks more than Space Jam did!

(You can see Ali being pretty angry in this last verse. Probably Jordan's disses hurt him. I really loved the Liston line and the North Carolina one. The last line is kinda risky for Ali, as many people actually liked Space Jam)

What I liked and what I didn't like
What I liked What I didn't like
 * The characters were pretty close to the original ones
 * There is lots of learning in this battle as there are lots of facts to look up. ERB did a great job in this
 * The unusual verse structure
 * The beat. I thought it was pretty boring although it fitted in for the battle

The Winner
It was kinda hard for me to pick up winner, as both of them had great raps and flow. I decided to pick up Ali, as he had a catchier voice and overall less bragging and better flow.

Lines that made him win:

Here comes Jordan, big tongue wobbling,

Flying through the air like a big dumb goblin!

You're the only Bull that's uglier than Rodman!

Messing with me is gambling, you got a problem!

I saw you slapping Reggie Miller, boy, what's wrong with you? You fight like the little girls who make your Nike shoes!

Beep beep! Why don't you back up that trash?

I'll leave you like Liston: flat on your ass!

Fin
Here ends the 3rd episode of TP reviews ERB. As always, feel free to leave a comment below. See ya in the next episode ^_^