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Season 2
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Nikola Tesla vs Thomas Edison
Nikola Tesla vs Thomas Edison
Battle information
Release date March 11, 2013
Number 30
Views 49M
Length 2:04
Timeline
Previous Gandhi vs Martin Luther King Jr.
Next Babe Ruth vs Lance Armstrong
Beat Information
Beat(s) Nikola Tesla vs Thomas Edison
BPM 90
Beat producer(s) Edward Cayce
Other information
Actors EpicLLOYD
Dante Cimadamore
Nice Peter (voice only)
Rappers Thomas Edison In BattleNikola Tesla In Battle
Location(s) Menlo Park
Wardenclyffe Tower

Nikola Tesla vs Thomas Edison is the thirtieth installment of Epic Rap Battles of History and the fifteenth episode of Season 2. It features the inventor of the Tesla coil and pioneer of alternating current, Nikola Tesla, rapping against the inventor of the first incandescent light bulb and discoverer of direct current, Thomas Edison. It was released on March 11th, 2013.

Cast

Dante Cimadamore as Nikola Tesla (body actor, additional vocals)

Nice Peter as Nikola Tesla (main voice actor)

EpicLLOYD as Thomas Edison

Lyrics

Thomas Edison:

Step up! You'll be shocked when I spit and start static!

I'll rip your style and add it to my long list of patents!

While you were busy digging ditches and burning bridges,

I'm pumping out inventions, stacking riches, so go back to your pigeons!

You're a geek; plagued by OCD!

You never had sex, but you sure got screwed by me!

I'll crush you, Tesla! There's just no putting it gently!

I don't alternate my flow; I diss you directly!

Nikola Tesla:

I see a universe of infinite energy,

But no potential for threat from this enemy!

So you can call me Tesla, Nikola, impeccably dressed!

Giving lessons in electrical nemesis; this will be on the test!

So confess to your thefts, and let the whole world know

What the Serbian did for the Wizard of Menlo!

History is getting rewritten, and I have reddit.

Your best invention was a way to steal credit.

Thomas Edison:

The truth hertz; you're broke and washed up!

Don't give a smidgen 'bout your visions if they can't make a buck!

I conduct business; understood things you never could!

So dope that I even make New Jersey look good!

I'm on the record I invented. You got duped; there, I said it,

And I'll bet you 50 thousand dollars that you'll never forget it!

Without me, here's a taste of what this battle would be:

No lights, no camera, no sound. See?

Nikola Tesla:

You fool! You think that you can touch me with this?

You couldn't handle my gifts with your greedy little mind.

What's inside mine was ahead of its own time!

You did not steal from me; you stole me from mankind!

It's a wireless transmission of truth,

And it's a shocking real story of a banker and you,

And if the people knew you stopped me from making power free,

They would curse the con Edison with every utility!

Poll

Trivia

General

  • This is the second battle to not include swearing, after Albert Einstein vs Stephen Hawking.
  • This is the first and only battle not to include any comments shown suggesting the matchup during the "Who won? Who's next? You decide" sequence of the video.
  • This battle was performed at a party held at Elon Musk's house; however, Nikola Tesla was portrayed by Nice Peter instead of Dante Cimadamore.
  • On August 22nd, 2016, "We are working on ERB - Season 5, part 2, right now, as we type this with one hand we are rapping with the other," was written in the description of the video.
  • During the line "No lights, no camera, no sound. See?", the screen goes black.
  • This is one of the few battles where the background music does not play during the credits.
  • Electrical sparks can be seen during the credits.

Production

  • This is the first battle not to have Nice Peter appear at all, either as a rapper or as a cameo, but only as the voice of a rapper.
  • This is the second battle in which a character is portrayed by one person and voiced by another, after Master Chief vs Leonidas.
  • This is the first battle since Moses vs Santa Claus in which Nice Peter has a rapping role.
  • This is the first battle since Steve Jobs vs Bill Gates in which all of the actors in the entire video have been either Nice Peter, EpicLLOYD, or an ERB crew member: in this case, Dante Cimadamore.
  • This is the first battle to have two different people providing the voice for one character at the same time, as both Nice Peter and Dante Cimadamore provided the vocals for Nikola Tesla.

Continuity

Errors

  • In the line, "What's inside mine was ahead of its own time", the word "its" is misspelled as "it's".

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