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Rap Meanings


BBACRapMeaning

Blackbeard:

I come strapped with six pistols and a dagger.

(Witness reports of Blackbeard show that he was commonly armed with said weapons. He normally carried an exact number of six pistols in case of backup (since pistols back then only had one bullet and would take time to reload them) and a dagger for a close-range weapon. In other words, Blackbeard is prepared for battle.)

Walk under the black flag with the scallywag swagger.

(Scallywag is a term mostly used by pirates to describe a mischievous rascal. Pirates are known to have swagger, and swagger also refers to walking with cool apparel. The black flag is normally flown by pirates, and to walk under it simply means to walk on the deck of the ship. It could also be a reference to the sponsor, "Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag".)

Ain't no parrot on my shoulder and no rings in my ear.

(Stereotypical cartoon or movie pirates are commonly depicted to have a parrot on their shoulder and large golden earrings, but Blackbeard doesn't, as he's a real pirate.)

I'm an irate pirate, real swashbuckling buccaneer.

(Blackbeard was a very angry, or irate, pirate, and a real good one at that. Swashbuckling is a term generally used to describe swordplay, which fits with most 17th-century men like Blackbeard since so many carried and fought with swords. "Buccaneer" is the official term for a pirate.)

Beef with me? Please, I'm the high seas Caesar.

(Julius Caesar was a former Roman dictator. Blackbeard is comparable to Caesar as he was the dictator of the high seas, or the best pirate, and that Capone shouldn't go against him. Blackbeard's most trusted crew member was an African with the name Caesar. While he's saying he's the ocean equivalent of Caesar, he’s also suggesting he's like a Caesar salad (invented by Caesar Cardini) — which is more commonly served with chicken, so you don't usually have beef with a Caesar salad. It may also be a backhand reference to the movie "Little Caesar" about a gangster who was based on Al Capone; Blackbeard may be implying that if Al's the little Caesar, he's the big one.)

My cold heart is many degrees beneath the deep freezer.

(Blackbeard's heart is so cold, or mean, that it's many degrees underwater, which is very deep, implying that his heart is colder than the coldest part of the seas.)

You're an obese greasy sleaze squeezing a diseased peter

(Here, Blackbeard suggests that Capone is little more than a fat slob masturbating, and he has syphilis, an STD. Syphillis often shows up as a series of welts on the skin, including the genitals. "Peter" is a loose slang term for the penis.)

That no skeezer would touch if she had fifty-foot tweezers!

(Skeezer is slang term for a low-class prostitute with poor hygiene. Tweezers are tools used for picking up objects that are too small to be picked up by human hands. So not only is Blackbeard calling Capone's penis very small, but also so diseased that not even a woman with low sexual standards would touch it if she had a pair of tweezers fifty feet long.)

Don't start a war with me! You're not hardcore!

(Despite the terrible deeds Capone committed in his life, Blackbeard is saying that Capone is not a hardened criminal and villain like Blackbeard is himself, as well as not being good enough for him to battle. The "start a war" phrase may refer to Capone's war scars. Furthermore, "hard core" may refer to the wood used in shipwright during Blackbeard's time. To ensure ships didn't rot as they spent years submerged in water, only the hardest types of woods were used. The hardest part of a tree is the center, or the "core" of the wood. Blackbeard may be saying that Capone is rotten and weak compared to strong pieces of hard core wood.)

I'll pimp-slap those face scars of yours, port and starboard!

(Capone's face was slashed three times during a fight at a Brooklyn night club. The scars gave him the famous nickname, "Scarface". Port and starboard are sailing terms used for the left and right sides of a ship, so Blackbeard will backhand slap Al Capone's scars left and right.)

You spent time in Alcatraz. I'm sure you were fine,

(Capone was an inmate on Alcatraz from 1934 to 1939. Alcatraz had the reputation of being a cold and unforgiving penitentiary, but Blackbeard thinks Capone could have easily survived the prison, and the reason why is explained in the next line.)

If you dropped the soap as little as you drop dope rhymes!

(A common prison stereotype is that if you drop the soap in the shower, you'll get anally raped when you bend over to grab it. That being said, Blackbeard implies Capone would survive prison if he did that as little as he drops any good rhymes, which would be very little or never.)

Al Capone:

I'm a busy man, Captain Crunch. I'll make this quick.

(As a mobster, Capone was very busy with smuggling operations during the Prohibition era, so since time is money for Al, battling a pirate who appears harmless to him shouldn't take too long. Cap'n Crunch is a cereal mascot dressed as a pirate, so Capone takes him as less of a threat than he is.)

I'm ruining pirates faster than Johnny Depp did.

(Johnny Depp plays the role of Captain Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, which altogether ruined the mean and ruthless reputation pirates left behind. Blackbeard is also the antagonist in the fourth movie in this series: "On Stranger Tides". This can also mean that Jack Sparrow fought pirates in the movies, so Capone will beat Blackbeard and ruin his image like Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow.)

I had syphilis, yeah. Well, you're a huge dick,

(Capone acknowledges that he had syphilis. A primary sign of this STD is development of ulcers or erosions on the penis, so by calling Blackbeard a 'huge dick', Capone is not only insulting Blackbeard, but he's also making reference to the disease he had.)

With a scurvy-ridden ship filled with bilge rat pricks!

(The circumstances on pirate ships were rather unhealthy. Most pirates had diseases, an example of which is scurvy, a tooth rotting disease from lack of Vitamin C that also opens old wounds. A common name for the lower tiers of pirates is bilge rats.)

I run an intricate criminal syndicate, so show respect,

(Capone's "Chicago Outfit" was one of the most dangerous syndicates in the world. Also, "show respect" is a reference to "The Godfather", where characters would show their respect for the Don by small favors or gifts.)

Or get that tongue ripped out your neck and shoved right up your poop deck!

(The Colombian Necktie is a method of murder where the victim's throat is slashed horizontally and the tongue is ripped out through the open wound. Blackbeard should respect Al Capone or Al will use this method and shove the tongue up Blackbeard's ass. Poop deck is the roof of a cabin built in the rear of the ship, but here, it's made to sound like Blackbeard's asshole, with "poop" being a reference to feces.)

Slappin' bitch ass Teaches back since I was 14.

(After slapping a teacher at age 14, Capone was expelled from school and joined a gang. Teachers sounds like Teaches in Capone's Chicago accent, and Blackbeard's name in the Boston Paper was Edward Teach (even though his name was Edward Thatcher), so he was slapping people like Blackbeard, or "Teaches", back since he was young.)

You ain't a tough guy; my kids dress up like you for Halloween.

(A pirate is a popular costume for young children during Halloween, depleting their ruthless reputation. Al Capone had a kid named Albert Francis "Sonny" Capone. )

I'll use that fuse in your hat to light up you and your buddies

(Blackbeard would tie lit fuses under his hat and the uprising smoke would give him an even more frightening appearance while fighting his enemies. Here, Capone is twisting the insult to inform Blackbeard that he'll set Blackbeard and his crew on fire with that same fuse.)

Then burn your sailboat down and collect the insurance money.

(Capone mocks Blackbeard's ship, calling it a small sailboat, and after burning it down, Capone will take the insurance money for himself.)

Then maybe they'll find your bloated body dead and washed up on the beach.

(Bodies that are thrown into the water become bloated and eventually wash up on a shore. They might find Blackbeard's dead body lazily discarded after being killed by Capone.)

This is Capone rappin' and I'm cappin' this Captain, capisce?

(A reference to the rapper named "Capone". Al is rapping and he's shooting, or capping, Blackbeard, who is a captain. "Capisce?" is the Italian slang phrase for "Do you understand?", since Al Capone is from Italian descent.)

Blackbeard:

Arr, The Valentine Massacre brought you condemnation,

(Al Capone and his gang held a massacre on St. Valentine's Day in Chicago, where they killed 6 people, yet Capone's target escaped. The result of the massacre brought Capone public condemnation for the photographs of the victims.)

But I'm gonna sink you faster than your income tax evasion

(Pirates would frequently sink the ships of the enemies they defeated. Capone was sentenced to 11 years in prison for tax violations, which caused a downfall for his crime career after this conviction, so Blackbeard is implying that he will bring him down even faster than his income tax evasion did.)

When I toss you overboard like a mob abomination,

(For Blackbeard, Capone was an abomination when it came to being the mob boss, and he'll throw him overboard, or off his ship into the water, like a normal pirate captain would do with his enemies or bad crewmates.)

So prepare to learn the Davy Jones' Locker combination!

("Davy Jones' Locker" is how pirates would refer to the bottom of the sea. A locker usually requires a combination of numbers in order for it to be opened. Blackbeard is telling Capone to prepare to lie dead at the bottom of the sea.)

Forty cannon on the Queen Anne, your gang can't stop it!

("Queen Anne's Revenge" was the name of Blackbeard's flagship, and it was equipped with 40 cannons. Al Capone's gang wouldn't be able to fight or stop it.)

I'll pilfer all your rum and sell it back at a profit,

(Rum is an alcoholic beverage favored by pirates because it prevents scurvy, thus sometimes being called a "Pirate's Drink". Capone led a gang for smuggling booze, such as rum, and they would sell the booze for a higher profit than they bought it for. Blackbeard will steal the booze and sell it back to Capone, but only at a profit. The video also shows Blackbeard's Pirates taking the rum from Capone's Warehouse.)

'Cause I'm a criminal legend with a bad ass name.

(Blackbeard made his name easily recognizable for being a vicious captain, and he is, indeed, one of the most infamous and notorious pirates in history.)

You're a fat thug with an STD in his brain!

(Blackbeard calls Capone fat once again, and yet again references that Capone had syphilis. Left unchecked, Capone's disease migrated to his brain, otherwise known as neuro-syphilis. Reports at the time of Capone's death list the causes of death as heart attack and stroke.)

Al Capone:

C'mon, they chopped your head off and they hung it from a rope.

(After Blackbeard was defeated by Lieutenant Robert Maynard on November 22nd, 1718, his head was cut off and suspended from the bowsprit of Maynard's sloop so that the reward for his death could be collected.)

The only legend you left was your prohibition on soap.

(Prohibition was the national ban of use and sale of alcohol in the 1920s. Capone is stating that Blackbeard banned the use of soap because he and his crew also almost never washed themselves, and he'll just be remembered for being a filthy pirate.)

I mean, that rat nest beard's trapped so many crumbs,

(Blackbeard's long tangled beard could trap lots of food crumbs, as most beards do. Also a reference to the previous line, where Capone is stating that Blackbeard doesn't wash, beard included, and the crumbs stay in there.

This bum could get marooned and still eat lunch for a month!

(Capone makes an exaggeration of how filthy Blackbeard's facial hair is, stating that if he were stranded on a deserted island with no food, he would still be able to survive for a month by eating the crumbs that have fallen in his beard.)

I'm the emcee Assassin, slash like Edward Kenway.

(Edward James Kenway is a British Privateer-turned pirate and a member of the Assassin Order in "Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag", in which Blackbeard also plays a role. Emcee is a master of ceremonies, and could also mean MC, or rapper. In the video, Kenway appears as an assassin hired by Al Capone's Mobsters after the pirates steal Capone's rum, and he kills Blackbeard's crew. Capone also says that his raps cut deep like assassin blades.)

Rap so hard call me Al... dente.

(The obvious play on Capone's name is a common method for cooking pastas. "Al dente" is Italian for "to the tooth". To prepare pasta al dente is to cook it long enough that one can bite into it, and yet it remains soft. Capone says he raps hard enough to be as hard as the pasta is when cooked.  Rapping hard implies that the rapper is skilled.  Since there's a food reference and Capone looks well-fed, one could say that he's playing off of Babe Ruth and his "bring me back some fries" verse.)

Take your little sloop John B and go home.

(The John B was a sloop from around Blackbeard's time, which some believe Blackbeard sometimes used. Capone is saying Blackbeard should take the sloop and leave the battle. "Sloop John B" is also a reference to a Beach Boys cover and reimagining of "John B Sails," a folk song about the titular ship and a dissatisfied member of its crew, who hates the trip he's on, hates every place he ends up, and just wants to go home. Capone is suggesting that Blackbeard is a whiner, and is also subtly comparing Blackbeard's rapping to either the Beach Boys' less hard sound or even folk music a la the Kingston Trio.)

Tell South Carolina Blackbeard got Capwned!

(Blackbeard once blockaded the port of Charleston, South Carolina. "Capwned" is play on the name "Capone" and the word "pwned", which is the internet word for when someone gets beaten badly.)


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