| Mansa Musa | |
|---|---|
 Scru Face Jean as Mansa Musa | |
| Character information | |
| Birth name | موسى بن أبي بكر بن أبي الأسود (pronounced Musa ibn Abi Bakr ibn Abi al-Aswad) |
| Nickname(s) | Mansa Musa |
| Born | c. 1280 Mali Empire |
| Died | c. 1337 (aged 56–57) Mali Empire |
| Physical description | |
| Hair | Black |
| Eyes | Black |
| Based on | |
| |
| Rap battle information | |
| Appeared in | Jeff Bezos vs Mansa Musa |
| Vs | Jeff Bezos |
| Release date | November 27, 2021 |
| Official vote(s) | TBD |
| Location(s) | The Djinguereber Mosque The Sahara The Catalan Atlas |
| “ | The hottest on the map since the Atlas of Catalan!
— Mansa Musa
|
” |
Mansa Musa battled Jeff Bezos in Jeff Bezos vs Mansa Musa. He was portrayed by Scru Face Jean.
Information on the rapper
Musa I, or Mansa Musa, was the ninth Mansa of the Mali Empire, an Islamic West African state. At the time of Musa's ascension to the throne, Mali in large part consisted of the territory of the former Ghana Empire, which Mali had conquered. The Mali Empire consisted of land that is now part of Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia and the modern state of Mali. At the time of his ascension, Musa was estimated to be in his early twenties, though the method of his ascension as well as the identity of the previous Mansa are unknown to historians.
Musa went on the hajj (mandatory pilgrimage) to Mecca in 1324, and traveled with an enormous entourage and a vast supply of gold. En route, he spent time in Cairo, where his lavish gift-giving caused a noticeable drop in the price of gold for over a decade and garnered the attention of the wider Muslim world.
Musa expanded the borders of the Mali Empire, in particular incorporating the cities of Gao and Timbuktu into its territory. He sought closer ties with the rest of the Muslim world, particularly the Mamluk Sultanate and Marinid Sultanate. He recruited scholars from the wider Muslim world to travel to Mali, such as the Andalusian poet Abu Ishaq al-Sahili, and helped establish Timbuktu as a center of Islamic learning. His reign is associated with numerous construction projects, including part of Djinguereber Mosque in Timbuktu. Musa's reign is regarded as the apogee of Mali's power and prestige. He has often been called the wealthiest person in history, though his wealth is impossible to accurately quantify and it is difficult to meaningfully compare the wealth of historical figures. Also, during the time he lived, there was no clear distinction between the wealth of the country and the personal wealth of the ruler, so his actual wealth may or may not have been that big.
Lyrics
Verse 1:
Wallah, by the holy Quran I lay my hand upon,
I blaze Bezos, inflict inflammatory damage on
Amazon, burn it down like when they put the cattle on
The hottest on the map since the Atlas of Catalan!
The King of Mali, with gold bars you can't escape from!
Lyrically, I pack heat! You pack a tape gun!
I'm landing blows you can't dodge; this ain't sales tax!
I left footprints in the Sahara; I know hot tracks!
I bust dorks like dot-com bubbles when I hit 'em!
Nah, you can't spit! You got that Al Gore rhythm! (Ha ha!)
Here's a nugget of advice to get your union problems handled:
Want workers that don't piss? Hire some camels!
I expanded horizons with libraries and mosques
While you chopped off the top of all the mom and pop shops!
All you widened the gap between the haves and have-nots!
Now they ordering or living in your cardboard box!
Verse 2:
Ayo, Lex Loser, you look like a villain at Comic-Con!
You gettin' ate up; you should've battled me on Ramadan!
A harem of women is what I had on my staff!
You married one woman, Jeff, and she cut you in half! (Shink!)
(Haha!) David Pecker picked a pack of your peter pics!
Now your new girl got them "Feed me, Seymour" lips!
And it turns out, her own brother was the snitch!
He... woo! Fix your face! No wonder you bought Twitch! (Woooo!)
Now let me really break it down because there's more to him!
He ain't a Bezos! His real name is Jorgensen! (Ha!)
But Daddy loved unicycles more than him,
So he rolled out! Now that's a Blue Origin!
Take one small step towards a different prophet
'Cause these days, you're just as cocky as your rocket!
I'm the cream of the crop! I'm on top! I'm ice cold!
This Muslim just served you: Allah mode!
Trivia
- Musa is the second Muslim to rap, after Muhammad Ali.
- He is the third African leader to rap, after Cleopatra and Shaka Zulu.
- However, he was the first rapper to be played by an African-born person (Scru Face Jean was born in Nigeria which, like Mali, is in West Africa).
- As said in the behind the scenes, the original idea for Musa's costume was to have him wearing lots of resplendent, gold jewelry to signify his and the Mali Empire's alleged, vast wealth. This was however changed due to a suggestion from a patron on ERB's patrons-only Discord server. In it, the patron pointed out that Musa, as a devout Muslim man, would likely not have worn gold jewelry and regalia like European monarchs because wearing gold and silk is prohibited for Islamic males. This is due to Islam seeing both gold and silk as things only women should wear.
- Incidentally, Musa is also the Arabic translation of Moses.
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