Mother Teresa:
Mother Teresa, for short, call me "M.T."
(Teresa introduces herself, referring herself by her initials.)
I'm a Missionary of Charity M.C.
(In 1950, Teresa founded the Missionaries of Charity congregation. Members of the order designate their affiliation using the order's initials, "M.C.", which means "Master of Ceremonies" but also refers to rappers.)
Three stripes like Adidas, and I'm doing it for Jesus
(Adidas is a multinational corporation that designs and manufactures athletic apparel, footwear, and accessories. Its logo has three stripes, similar to those on the trademark sari worn by Teresa and other members of the Missionaries of Charity. Teresa was a Catholic nun who devoted her life to the teachings of Jesus Christ.)
A one woman Nun-DMC
(Run-DMC is a popular rap group, which has a rap song titled My Adidas in their third album Raising Hell. The aforementioned company is also closely associated with the rap group. Teresa makes clever wordplay exchanging Run for Nun, claiming her rapping skills are as good as the group's, only she is one woman.)
I got a peace prize, but I'm not friendly
(In 1979, Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, although she states she won’t be friendly with Freud.)
You're 0-for-13 as a nominee
(In contrast with Teresa, Freud did not win a Nobel Prize despite being nominated thirteen times from 1915 to 1938, twelve times for Physiology and Medicine and once for Literature.)
I got lines like the DMV
(A Department of Motor Vehicles, also known as a DMV for short, is a government business in parts of the United States that provides automobile-related services. The DMV is infamous for often having very long queues, or "lines", and Teresa says that she also has a lot of "lines", or lyrics.)
And being me takes balls, but I ain't got no D-envy!
(Teresa says it takes a lot of bravery to do what she does. Freud is known to have proposed that all females experience "penis envy" during their psychosocial development, wherein they experience anxiety upon realizing they do not have a penis. Teresa states that she did not get "dick envy" and censors it as a possible nod to her disallowance on swears, making a wordplay on the phrase "takes balls".)
I couldn't ask for a better adversary on the mic
(Teresa says Freud is the best opponent for her to face...)
Than the father of psychoanalysis. Psych!
(...before stating that she was only joking. Psych is a term used to indicate that whatever the person speaking just said was done so purely to mess with the listener's mind, but also refers to the psychological analysis that Freud partakes in.)
Look at that egghead! Momma wants some omelettes
("Egghead" is an archaic epithet for a learned person, equal to "nerd" or "geek". Mother Teresa uses it to poke fun at Freud, one of the most learned men in his time, while also referring to his nearly bald head, saying that it resembles an egg. An omelette is a dish made from cooked, beaten eggs.)
I'm here to crack the mind behind the mom-sex complex
(Freud came up with the theory of the Oedipus complex, which is a now-largely discredited theory that claims that children may have an unconscious sexual desire for the opposite-sex parent and hatred for the same-sex parent. Teresa thus says she will crack Freud’s mind like the aforementioned egg.)
I gave food, bed, medicine and showers
(Teresa travelled and gave “wholehearted free service to the poorest of the poor”.)
To those whose flesh leprosy had devoured
(Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity cared for those suffering with leprosy, a disease that can lead to major disfiguration.)
Your legacy is people who are mad at their parents
(Teresa says Freud is only known for his Oedipus complex, which involves a concomitant sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex.)
Complaining on the couch for 200 bucks an hour!
(Psychoanalysis is a clinical method for treating psychopathology through dialogue between a patient and a psychoanalyst, and is often very expensive for what it is worth. Teresa makes a contrast between her actually giving help to the needed for nothing in return and Freud and other psychoanalysts who just listen to patients' complaints and also charge them a lot of money for it.)
Sigmund Freud:
Jokes I can make about your looks: abundant.
(Freud states he could make plenty of jokes about Teresa’s looks.)
Your chastity vow: redundant.
(As a nun, Teresa made a vow to refrain from sexual intercourse. Freud says her vow is pointless as nobody would want to sleep with her anyway.)
But that's enough about Mary B.
(Teresa, who was an Albanian born in what is now North Macedonia, was born Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu and known as Mary Teresa Bojaxhiu throughout her adult life. Freud says he has finished talking about Teresa. "Mary B" might also refer to the biblical Mary - mother of Jesus, who Catholic nuns strive to emulate. Calling Teresa "Mary B", Freud states, that she's like a worse (B-class) "copy" of Mary.)
Let's turn to my favorite subject: me!
(Freud would prefer to talk about himself instead. Psychoanalysists would often refer to their patients as their subjects. This also serves to reference Freud's theories on the subject of narcissism, summarized in his 1914 essay "On Narcissism." Similar to the way a narcissist derives gratification from vanity or self-admiration, Freud will focus on talking himself up.)
I got mouth cancer, wasn't feeling so hot
(In February 1923, Freud was detected with leukoplakia, a benign growth associated with heavy smoking, on his mouth.)
Had the Doc put me down with a morphine shot
(During his suffering, Freud convinced his doctor that it was pointless to keep him alive, and was administered doses of morphine that resulted in his death in 1939.)
Thank imaginary God I wasn't in one of your beds,
(Though he was born to a Jewish family, Freud was an atheist all throughout his life and regarded God as an illusion created by the human mind based on the infantile need for a powerful father figure. He is however thankful that Teresa wasn’t the one caring for him because...)
You'd have just sprinkled magic water on my forehead!
(...he believes that all Teresa and her nuns would have done was sprinkle Catholic holy water (which he calls "magic" implying that it is bogus and Teresa is a Fraud) on his forehead, hoping to use such to invoke God's power to cure him. Furthermore, despite policies requiring that the religious affiliations of their patients be respected, Teresa's Missionaries of Charity were alleged to have baptized their patients with holy water on their deathbeds regardless of religious affiliation, believing that such would invoke the power go God to cure the patients of whatever ailments they had. Holy water is water that is believed to be blessed by God used in many Catholic rituals and sacraments. )
I help people live, you watch people die
(Freud says his psychoanalysis has helped his patients survive while Teresa simply watches them die in front of her, once again taking a jab at the controversial practice of Teresa's Sisters secretly baptizing dying patients regardless of their religious affiliations or beliefs. Freud says that Teresa only does this because...)
To get souls for a man in the sky!
(...she doesn’t care about her patients dying, as their souls would apparently go to heaven and to God, suggesting narcissism is at play. Anthropomorphic depictions of God in Western art (for example as painted by Michelangelo on the Sistine Chapel ceiling) often show him as an old man with long white hair and a beard enthroned on the clouds as they are influenced by depictions of Greek, and Roman deities like Zeus (Roman equivalent Jupiter).)
You took credit that you didn't deserve,
(Freud says Teresa doesn’t deserve all her credit and wasn’t a good person.)
You're the fakest Sister Act since Whoopi Goldberg!
(Sister Act is a film where the character, Deloris Van Carter (played by Whoopi Goldberg) is forced to go into a convent after she is placed in a Witness Protection Program after she witnesses a murder going with her cover being Sister Mary Clarence. Hence Freud once again says that Teresa is just a fraud.)
You were running Project Pimp the Projects
(Freud suggests Teresa was running a sensationalized job in her missionary work, by exploiting the poor's condition in order to generate the necessary sympathy for increasing charitable donations or support for a given cause. Some criticisms of Teresa have alleged that many of the donations given to her went to her pockets as well as to fund Catholic missionary activity, instead of charitable activities or improvements in the deficient attention of the congregation. The projects refer to housing operated by the government, known for housing people of low income. It also references the MTV show Pimp My Ride, in which the host Xzibit would "pimp" automobiles by making flashy additions to them. The show was criticized in that it only focused on the appearance of the cars rather than actually repairing them, much like how Freud says that all the work Mother Teresa did was just to make herself and the Catholic Church spread their message, but didn't actually improve the internal conditions in any meaningful way.)
To you, Calcutta meant Cal-cutta check!
(Teresa was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta after her death. However, her critics believe that she spent more of the money from her charity works in Calcutta on herself and Catholic missionary activity than helping those in need. For example, in his book "The Missionary Position", Christopher Hitchens cited a former worker of the Missionaries of Charity who said Mother Teresa acquired lots of money but very little of it was used to help the sick. Freud thus uses wordplay to say that Teresa only really cared about acquiring money for her own use and funding missionary activity. )
I can see right through you and you've got no flavor
(Freud says he can see through Teresa’s acts and she has no character despite how she has been viewed.)
I'm battling a communion wafer!
(Freud says Teresa has as much flavor as a communion wafer, a round, bland wafer made of unleavened bead similar to a matzoh used in the Christian ritual of the Eucharist.)
Mother Teresa:
You call that a verse? You're super-ego tripping
(Teresa mocks Freud's verse, saying his is nothing compared to hers. The id, ego, and super-ego are three distinct, yet interacting agents in the psychic apparatus defined in Sigmund Freud's structural model of the psyche. An ego-trip is an activity done to increase someone’s sense of self-importance. Teresa also uses this to create wordplay upon the phrase "tripping", which means to be overly defensive and not make sense.)
I gotta say, Sigmund, you're Freudian slipping!
(A Freudian slip, also called parapraxis, is an error in speech, memory, or physical action that occurs due to the interference of an unconscious subdued wish or internal train of thought.)
I built mad missions in my savior's name
(Teresa and her Missionaries of Charity, who served Jesus (the Savior in Christianity), conducted many missions around the world, doing both religious and social work.)
All you built was a mad tolerance for cocaine!
(Freud had a fascination with cocaine and abused it for many years, believing it useful medically and could largely improve someone's mental health even though we now know cocaine can be extremely detrimental to it.)
Obsessed with masturbation, but you're off the beat
(Sigmund Freud wrote of the "disease of masturbation". Teresa makes a pun on the phrase “beat off”, meaning to masturbate, saying Freud’s flow is offbeat. In the rap, she further mocks Freud by deliberately pausing after "off", going offbeat herself before recovering at the end of the line.)
Your flows are so poor, I should be washing their feet
(In Catholic Church, the ritual washing of feet is associated with the Mass of the Lord's Supper. In it, twelve selected "apostles" have their feet washed to reenact Jesus washing his apostles' feet after the Last Supper. Teresa says Freud has poor flow.)
Dreams are the only place you'll ever be as dope as me
(The Interpretation of Dreams is an 1899 book by Freud, in which he introduces his theory of the unconscious mind with respect to dream interpretation. Teresa says Freud could only be as good as her in his dreams and never in reality.)
I make my rhymes count like beads on a rosary!
(Making something count means to make it important, so Teresa is saying she makes her rhymes important. She uses the word "count" in another context towards the beads, as beads in a rosary are used as counters by slipping them through the fingers for each repetition of a prayer.)
Everything is sex to you! After I'm through wrecking you,
(Teresa thinks Freud is obsessed with sexual activity to an unhealthy extent. Freud's theories were and still are heavily criticized for being focused on sex. She says that she will do something after she's finished beating him as she will explain in the next line.)
I'll have to go and do confession just for standing next to you
(A confession is the faithful obtain absolution for the sins committed against God and neighbor. Teresa says that as she is celibate, she will have to confess her sins to God for even being near Freud and his constant thoughts about sex and parental incest.)
You want a second coming? I'll bless the mic again (Ooh!)
(The Second Coming is a Christian and Islamic belief regarding the future return of Jesus Christ after his ascension to heaven. In this rap battle in particular, "second coming" might also be a euphemism for, and a reference to, Freud's second verse or his libido.)
I'll end you like a prayer, motherlover! Amen!
(Amen is a word used at the end of a prayer in all three Abrahamic Religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam). Teresa says she will end Freud like the end of a prayer. Motherlover is likely a play on the word motherfucker, referring to Freud’s theory on the Oedipus complex, as Teresa is against the use of swear words.)
Sigmund Freud:
I notice that you talk a lot about yourself which is funny,
(Freud analyzes Teresa and says she likes to talk a lot about herself. This also refers to the practice of analyzing people's personalities after they have spoken to their therapist.)
Since you hide your true feelings like they were other people's money.
(Freud says Teresa hides her feelings like the money donated by people to her charities, as nobody actually knows what happens to the money, which some have suspected went to her personal bank account and funding Catholic missionary activity. This is also a reference to the scandal where Charles Keating, an American lawyer, was found guilty of fraud after sending millions of stolen dollars to Mother Teresa. After Teresa was informed and approached however, she simply claimed it was "for the poor" and never returned the money.)
(Ooh!) An exception to my theory! I can't believe this!
(Freud finds an exception to his Oedipus complex and is excited by it. Later in his life, he was so sold on his own theories that he would never admit being wrong about anything, but...)
Here we have a Mother that no one wants to sleep with!
(...Freud says that nobody would want to sleep with Teresa. Freud’s Oedipus complex refers to the alleged sexual relationship of a son and his mother, and he claims that she is so ugly Freud breaks character about getting sold on his theories.)
You had a nice message, but your methods were detestable
(Freud says that although Teresa meant well and had a nice message, her methods of helping people were horrible. Teresa has been criticized for the fact that she glorified and romanticized poverty and suffering (by comparing it to that of Christ) and was less interested in relieving the pain of those in her care.)
I've seen better care given to organic vegetables!
(Freud says Teresa gives poor care to her patients, a criticism commonly used against Teresa and her homes, and claims to have seen organically farmed vegetables treated better than Teresa does the dying. This could be a reference of Teresa being a vegan or even a reference to those under a vegetative state. The reason Freud keeps on repeating her horrible deeds (and to a lesser extent her ugliness for 4 lines) is that one of Freud's theories are pressure pointing a specific characteristic or image of a person, where they feel most vulnerable is one of Freud’s theories, in which he claims it works because you get the person in an emotional state and they speak more freely.)
All these tokens and smoke and miracles
(This is a pun on "smoke and mirrors", a phrase meaning to make you believe that something is being done or is true. Freud says Teresa’s prayer tokens and miracles are all phonies.)
You really believe all this stuff? You’re hysterical!
(Freud asks how Teresa can believe in all her miracles and in God. Freud had conducted studies on hysteria and even diagnosed it in his patients.)
I've got the libido to continue to beat ya
(Libido is a person's overall sexual drive or desire for sexual activity, which links back to Teresa's "off the beat" line. Freud says he has the desire to continue to beat Teresa.)
But our time is up, Teresa.
(Freud says his therapy with Teresa is over. This is a way of showing Freud has mastered control over his desires. In the video, Freud checks his pocket watch just as he did during the title card as a reference to how the psychologists schedule their therapy sessions in a strict way.)
