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Rap Meanings


ERBoH33Meaning

Note: Due to differences in rendering italic text, some Cyrillic lowercase letters used here may appear in different forms, or may look similar to Latin lowercase letters on some systems, as italics are subject to the rules of Cyrillic script.

Rasputin:

Cool mustache, Wario.

(Rasputin compares Stalin to Wario, an anti-hero and Mario's polar opposite/rival from the Super Mario franchise, as Stalin's and Wario's mustaches are similar in appearance.)

Try messing with the Mad Monk, you'll be sorry, yo!

(Rasputin has been called the "Mad Monk", even though he was never actually a monk. He was a mystic and a faith healer who exerted considerable influence over Tsar Nicholas II, the Emperor of the Russian from 1894 to 1917.)

How many dictators does it take

(This is a reference to the classic joke, "How many _____ does it take to change a lightbulb?")

To turn an empire into a union of ruinous states?

(Before the Russian Revolution in 1917, Russia was the head of an empire stretching over most of Eastern Europe and much of Central and Northern Asia. The empire was dissolved following the February Revolution, the resulting and short-lived Russian Republic, the October Revolution and the Russian Civil War, after which the Soviet Union (USSR) was formed. A number of so-called "dictators" (Vladimir Lenin, Joseph Stalin, Georgy Malenkov, Nikita Kruschev, Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Konstantin Cherneko and Mikhail Gorbachev) led the USSR until the early 1990s, during which time the empire was split into several Soviet Socialist Republics that formed the USSR, representing what Rasputin terms a "union of ruinous states". This may also reference the Soviet national hymn used from 1944 until its dissolution; therein is found reference to "an unbreakable union of free republics". The Soviet Union itself was a country of twelve states and three administrative territories, which acquired a sphere of influence in most of Central and Eastern Europe following World War II.)

It's a disgrace what you did to your own people!

(Stalin was both directly and indirectly responsible for the deaths of millions of Russians and others living within the USSR. Many of them were evicted or executed, and Rasputin finds this to be shameful towards Stalin's reputation in the USSR.)

Your daddy beat you like a dog and now you're evil!

(Stalin's father was an alcoholic and reportedly severely abused both Stalin and his mother during Stalin's childhood. Rasputin believes this is the reason behind Stalin making the lives of others so miserable.)

You're from Georgia, sweet Georgia,

(Stalin was from the country of Georgia, an annexed territory of the Russian Empire which became the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1921. "Georgia, Sweet Georgia" is a reference to a section of the chorus of Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind", written about the U.S. state of Georgia, stereotyped as a state of great hospitality.)

And the history books unfold ya

(Although the USSR under Stalin was part of the Allies, Stalin has been viewed by many Western accounts as an evil mass murderer as he ruled the USSR with an iron fist.[1]).

As a messed up mutha fucka bent in the mind

(Stalin was paranoid, which caused the Great Purge in the mid-late 1930s. This caused many of his closest confidants, among many others, to be executed in show trials, further solidifying his influence within the Communist Party.)

Who built a superpower, but he paid the price

(The USSR became a Superpower under Stalin's leadership, but collapsed in the early 1990s into a number of mostly third world countries in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.)

With the endless destruction of Russian lives!

(Some sources claim that Stalin murdered many Soviet government figures, military personnel and civilians throughout his tenure as Soviet Premier.)

If you're the man of steel, I spit kryptonite!

(The name Stalin literally means "steel" in Russian. Stalin's birth name was Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili: he adopted Stalin as a pseudonym in his early writings. "Man of Steel" is also a nickname of Superman's, whose weakness is a mineral called Kryptonite, so Rasputin says that his raps are Stalin's weakness. This line follows-up the previous two, alluding to Superman's superpowers (in his case, superhuman abilities, compared to Stalin's state superpower) and controversy over civilian death caused by Superman in some renditions of the character.)

Big dick mystic, known to hypnotize!

(Rasputin, as an infamous seducer, supposedly had sex with many women and is also said to have performed miracles and hypnotize. When Rasputin was killed, his testicles and penis (larger than the average size) were supposedly removed and preserved in formaldehyde.)

I can end you with a whisper to your wife.

(It was rumored that Rasputin had been bedding Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsar Nicholas II's wife, while he was there to help cure their son, Tsarevich Alexei, of his haemophilia (which he inherited from Queen Victoria, being descended from her through his mother). Such rumors became more exaggerated when Empress Alexandra was left in charge of Russia's domestic policy while Nicholas II was fighting alongside the Russian army in WWI since Rasputin was a close adviser to Empress Alexandra. Rasputin was also said to manipulate the Tsar through his wife, making this one of the most important factors in the Tsar's downfall. Rasputin says he'll cause Stalin's downfall in the same way.)

Joseph Stalin:

Look into my eyes, you perverted witch!

(Stalin wants Rasputin to look at him directly in the eyes. Rasputin can be seen as a witch, due to his healing and supposed psychic powers. Stalin calls Rasputin a pervert due to his rumored sexual deviancy.)

See the soul of the man who made Mother Russia his bitch!

(It is often said that "the eyes are the windows to the soul." Stalin wants Rasputin to see his soul by looking him in the eyes. Russia is often called "Mother Russia" by its people and is personified as a woman. To "make someone your bitch" means to control, dominate and enslave that person, which is how Stalin ruled the USSR.)

You think I give a fuck about my wife?

(Referencing Rasputin's last line about Stalin's wife, some sources state that Stalin had an "uneasy" relationship with his second wife, Nadezhda Alliluyeva, who was found to have committed suicide in 1932; the stress of being married to Stalin and suspicion of infidelity being contributing factors.)

My own son got locked up in prison, and I didn't save his life!

(Stalin's first son, Yakov Dzhugashvili, was captured by the Wehrmacht during the Battle of Smolensk where he had been mobilized in response to Operation Barbarossa. After several efforts to use their prisoner in propaganda campaigns, the Nazi government sent him to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Following the surrender and capture of Field Marshall Friedrich Paulus by the Red Army during the Battle of Stalingrad, the Nazi government offered to exchange Yakov for the captured officer, despite requests from Yakov to not be traded for the Field Marshall. Upon receiving the offer, Stalin refused, stating "Just think how many sons ended in camps! Who would swap them for Paulus? Were they worse than Yakov?" and "All of them are my sons". Stalin viewed prisoners of wars as traitors and he did not make an exception for his son. A subsequent offer to exchange Yakov for Hitler's nephew, Leo Raubal, was also refused by Stalin. Yakov was later shot in prison after refusing orders, despite earlier Nazi propaganda using him stating "he is alive and well, and feels great".)

You got off easy when they pickled that moose cock!

(Rasputin's assassination was said to have been long and torturous. His killers made repeated attempts to kill him in one day but each time he was only heavily wounded. He was said to have only died after drowning. Rasputin's penis was also said to be very large, and was preserved in a jar, but it was subsequently claimed to have actually belonged to a moose. Stalin says that this wasn't torturous enough by his own standards, so Rasputin "got off easy" when he was tortured to death and penis was amputated and preserved.)

I'd leave your neck in a noose in a trench and shot!

(Numerous disputed sources report Stalin executed dissidents indiscriminately, so he says that he would hang Rasputin with a rope, shoot him, and leave him there for dead. This may also be a reference to Rasputin's death, in which he was poisoned, shot, stabbed, and bludgeoned to death before his body was thrown into a river. Stalin says that he would kill him using multiple methods to make sure he dies.)

Your whole family; shot! All your wizard friends; shot!

(Stalin will then execute all of Rasputin's relatives, friends, and anyone else who was close to him. Some sources claim that Stalin had entire families killed during his tenure as the Soviet Premier. Two years after Rasputin died, the Tsar and his family were executed by firing squad. Rasputin's "wizard friends" may refer to his close associates whom Rasputin was able to get positions in government through good word to the Tsarina, in addition to relating to Stalin’s first line of calling Rasputin a “perverted witch”.)

Anyone who sold you pierogi; shot!

(Pierogi[2] are Slavic potato dumplings that have more in common with ravioli than they do with dumplings. Stalin is willing to kill anyone who is associated with Rasputin. If anyone even sold Rasputin food, Stalin would shoot the seller.)

Starve you for days till you waste away!

(Stalin will starve Rasputin to death until his remains decomposed. This may be a reference to the Soviet Famine of 1932-33 (sometimes referred to as the Holodomor), in which millions of people died of starvation as a result of responses to collectivist agricultural policies enacted by the Soviet Union.)

I even crush mother fuckers when I'm laid in state!

("Lying-in-state" is when the coffin of a deceased person is placed in view, so the public can pay their respects to them. After Stalin's death, he was laid-in-state for 3 days. Thousands of people lined up to see him, but it was so chaotic outside that people were crushed and killed underneath the crowd. About 500 people lost their lives during this event.)

Pride of Lenin, took Trotsky out of the picture.

(Lenin was Stalin's mentor, and much of Stalin's political rhetoric involved him arguing that he was Lenin's rightful successor. Leon Trotsky was another associate of Lenin and played a major role in the October and the consequent Russian Civil War that resulted in the Bolshevik party taking power in Russia. Trotsky was Stalin's main rival to become leader of the Soviet Union after the death of Lenin, forming the Left Opposition faction in the Soviet government with others who believed that he should take the Premiership of the USSR over Stalin. When Stalin was installed as the Soviet Premier, he had Trotsky exiled. Trotsky moved around several countries before ending up in Mexico where he was eventually murdered with an ice axe by Ramón Mercader, ostensibly one of Stalin's operatives, following Trotsky's attempted formation of the Fourth International in opposition to the existing Third International (or Communist International) led by the USSR. Following Trotsky's death, numerous photographs that showed him and Lenin together were altered to remove Trotsky from the image (in addition to Trotsky, many other people who fell out of favor with Stalin were also removed from images that showed them together with Stalin - a notable example being Nikolai Yezhov).)

Drop the hammer on you harder than I bitch-slapped Hitler!

(The Soviet emblem includes a hammer and sickle, a symbol of Proletarian solidarity adopted by the Bolshevik party during the Russian Revolution and thereafter a symbol of Communism recognized worldwide. In World War II, the Wehrmacht attacked into the USSR during Operation Barbarossa in 1941 which saw early success before a significant and bloody retreat during the winter months. The Red Army was better-equipped for adverse weather and was indomitable in their resistance, leading to the Wehrmmacht being decimated. Stalin says he's going to "drop the hammer" on Rasputin, or hit him hard with all he has in order to defeat him—harder than he did Hitler.

Vladimir Lenin:

I have no pride for you who ruined everything

(Lenin breaks in, rebutting Stalin's second to the last line by claiming that he never would have approved of the government Stalin created; a view which is highly controversial.)

My revolution was doing to stop the bourgeoisie!

(In the October Revolution in 1917, Lenin and his Bolshevik faction overthrew the short-lived Russian Republic (which was formed after the February Revolution that overthrew Tsar Nicholas II) to empower the Proletariat (working class) against the Bourgeoisie (upper classes and owners of the means of production) to shift the balance of power. His intention was for a "vanguard of the Proletariat" to pave the way for a classless utopian society (Communism).)

I fought the bondage of classes!

(Lenin believed that the lower class were in bondage, or oppressed and enslaved by the upper classes and they needed to be freed from this.)

The proletariat masses have brought me here to spit a thesis against both of your asses!

(The Proletariat is the working class, which forms the basis of Marxist revolutionary theory. Lenin's vanguard party was supposed to exist as representatives of the Proletariat, with their power coming directly from this class. Hence, Lenin as a representative of the Proletariat is here to diss both Stalin and Rasputin in the battle. This also refers to Lenin's April Theses, in which he encouraged the middle classes to depose the Russian Provisional Government that had been formed after the overthrow of the Tsar in the February Revolution.)

Let me start with you there, Frankenstein!

(Lenin starts out by dissing Rasputin, poking fun at Rasputin's homely and unkept appearance, saying he looks like Frankenstein's monster, a grotesque humanoid creature from Mary Shelley's 19th-century novel Frankenstein.)

Looking like something out of R. L. Stine!

(Continuing from his previous line, Lenin once again compared Rasputin's homely and unkept appearance to characters from horror literature, saying that he looks like a creature straight out of the works of R. L. Stine, an American author who penned several famous works of horror fiction including the famous Goosebumps series directed towards adolescents.)

It's hip-hop chowder, red over white,

(A veiled reference to both sides of the Russian Civil War; the communists were known as the reds, while those who opposed them were the whites. Lenin's faction won, so it was red over white. There's a nod in here to red and white chowder; some prefer the tomato-based red chowders over the cream-based white ones, so based on this, Lenin says he'll be victorious in this rap battle. This may also reference propaganda posters for communism which often used a red and white color scheme, such as the propaganda poster serving as Lenin's background in the battle along with him depicted in red and white.)

'Cause the Tsar's wife can't do shit tonight!

(Rasputin was very close with Tsar Nicholas II's wife, and it was widely rumored that they had an affair. Lenin calls him out for hiding behind a woman when challenged.)

And Joseph, you were supposed to be my right-hand man,

(Stalin was Lenin's subordinate during the Revolution and was eventually promoted within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union the rank of General Secretary of the Central Committee (effectively behind Lenin). His title may have been equal to a vice-chairman, which would also place him at Lenin's right hand in order of succession.)

But your loyalty shriveled up like your right hand, man!

(After a carriage accident that happened to Stalin when he was 12, his left arm suffered a severe injury and had to be surgically reconstructed, causing it to be shorter than the right and stiffened at the elbow. Also Lenin refers his criticism against Stalin for his rude-manners, excessive-power, ambition and his politics and he also suggested that Stalin should be removed from his position as General Secretary.)

Our whole future was bright! You let your heart grow dark,

(According to some opinions, Lenin's rebellion might have worked in the USSR's favor if not for Stalin's actions, and their future could have been better. He uses opposite adjectives, light and dark, to describe the effects.)

And stopped the greatest revolution since the birth of Marx!

(Karl Marx was the German figure whose theories and research have laid the groundwork for the revolutionary socialist movement, among other things. His works were the primary inspiration for the Russian Revolution and Lenin's policies, but Lenin here claims that Stalin broke from their ideals.)

Mikhail Gorbachev:

Knock knock knock knock.

(Mikhail Gorbachev, Premier of the USSR from 1985 to 1991, opens a hidden door. This references Gorbachev playing a role in the knocking down the Berlin Wall.)

Did somebody say birthmarks?

(Gorbachev enters after hearing Lenin's "birth of Marx" line, thinking he said "birthmarks". Gorbachev was well-known for having a birthmark known as a port-wine stain on his head.)

Yo, I'm the host with the most Glasnost!

("Host with the most" by itself is a colloquial expression that indicates "a great host all around". During Gorbachev's tenure as Premier, he introduced his policy of Glasnost (Гласность), from a word meaning "openness". Though widely believed to refer to the détente in relations with the West, Glasnost was intended to encourage the Soviet Union to be more transparent in how it dealt with issues of policy and human rights.)

Assholes made a mess and the war got cold!

(The Cold War was a series of conflicts and tension between Soviet Russia and the Western world from 1947 to 1991. Under Stalin and Lenin, the Russian economy and culture were suppressed by the regime; thus, the Soviet Union was a mess and that was largely covered up by the Communist Party. However, Gorbachev's new policies helped to end the Cold War.)

Shook hands with both Ronalds: Reagan and McDonald's, no doubt!

(Gorbachev shook hands and made peace with US President Ronald Reagan, who called for Gorbachev in an infamous speech in 1987 to "Tear down this [Berlin] wall". During his leadership, the first McDonald's was opened in the Soviet Union. The McDonald's mascot is Ronald McDonald, who has the same first name as Reagan, referring to the fact that, beginning with McDonald's, Russia's market was opened for Western investors and companies. McDonalds, however, has suspended all of its businesses in Russia following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.)

If your name end with "in", time to get out!

(Rasputin, Stalin, and Lenin all have names ending with "in". Gorbachev wants them to step aside while he raps. This is also a pun since the word "in" is the opposite of "out". Putin, who will appear after Gorbachev, also has "in" in his name.)

I had the balls to let Baryshnikov dance, playa!

(Mikhail Baryshnikov is a ballet dancer from the USSR who defected from the Soviet Union to Canada in 1974 while on a tour. Under Gorbachev, exiled talents from the USSR such as Baryshnikov were personally invited to come back by him. Though Baryshnikov declined, the invitation was something no other politician in the USSR dared to do.)

Tore down that wall like the Kool-Aid Man, oh yeah!

(Reagan famously demanded that Gorbachev "tear down" the Berlin Wall. The Kool-Aid Man serves as the mascot for the Kool-Aid powdered fruit-flavored drink. Starting in the mid-1970s, their advertisements would have the Kool-Aid Man break in through a wall in response to thirsty children calling out "Hey, Kool-Aid!", and shout his catchphrase, "Oh yeah!" before supplying the kids with Kool-Aid.)

You two need yoga. (Дa!) You need a shower, (Дa!)

(Yoga is a group of spiritual, physical, religious, philosophical, and mental ideas, practices, and disciplines with origins in India whose aim is to still and control the mind in the hopes of attaining advanced states of consciousness and liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth. In the west, it has come to be incredibly commercialized and is usually performed in a highly secularized form, divorced from its Indian origins, with greater emphasis on the performance of certain bodily postures called asanas for both exercise and stress relief. Gorbachev is thus telling Stalin and Lenin that they need to do yoga in order to relax because they have a lot of pent-up stress from being in power and arguing over their policies. Both Stalin and Lenin died from strokes which could be aggravated by pent-up stress. Gorbachev also tells Rasputin to clean up his homely, ragged, and dirty appearance.)

And you all need to learn how to handle real power!

(True power is neither psychic, nor acquired by force, Gorbachev says. He believed it is attained through understanding what the people want.)

Vladimir Putin:

Did somebody say real power?

(Putin is considered to be one of the most powerful and influential world leaders of the 21st century, so after Gorbachev says "real power", Putin busts his way into the battle to demonstrate to these Russians what true power is. His entry into the battle, though, is in opposition to Gorbachev's line, "If your name end with "in", time to get out!" as Putin's surname ends in "in" as well. Thus, this may also refer to how Putin in effect reversed everything that Gorbachev did to open up and Westernize Russia when he (Putin) came to power. )

Дa, you want to mess with me?

("Дa" /DAH/ means "yes" in Russian. Here: "Yeah, you want to mess with me?" Putin says he can take them all on due to him being known as a badass president. His entering the battle topless is a reference to the fact that he is often photographed doing activities in the Russian countryside topless. )

I spit hot borscht when I'm crushing these beats.

(Borscht (or more accurately borshch) is a beet (pun on rap beats) soup served many ways in Russia and surrounding areas, such as in Ukraine from where it came from. It can also refer to crushing as a method of cooking ingredients when making the borscht, and Putin saying it's hot means it roasts his opponents. Incidentally, the Russian word for power (strength) is мощь/Moshch, a similar sounding word to borscht, which enhances Putin's prior line about him having real power.)

Blow it up like a tuba while I'm balling in Cuba.

(Putin refers to his visit to Cuba, the first by a Russian president since the end of the Cold War, but says he's going to "blow up the mic", or rap hard and fast. Tuba players make their unique sound by blowing into their instruments.)

Doing judo moves and schooling every Communist сука!

(Putin has studied judo since he was 14 years old. Сука [suka] /SOO-ka/ is Russian for "bitch", so he says he will use his experience to beat up every Communist bitch, i.e. all but Rasputin.)

I'm a president in my prime. My enemies don't distract me.

(Putin is the current President of Russia, having held that title since he was 48, quite young for someone at his position. Russia has been secure ever since Putin became president. The use of "prime" may also refer to Putin's tenure as Prime Minister of Russia from 2008 to 2012; during this time, the President of Russia was Dmitry Medvedev, though it is widely perceived that Putin held the real power in the Russian government. Despite the fact that Putin has a long list of enemies, he says he isn't flustered by them.)

The last man who attacked me lived a half-life, so comrade, come at me!

(The "last man who attacked" Putin is Alexander Litvinenko, a Russian dissident, who died in exile in London after ingesting polonium-210, a radioactive element and it's widely believed Putin ordered it or knows who did. He invites all to try and beat him, but in doing so invokes a common stereotype of Russian-English speech using "comrade" as a form of address as well as making a pun on the word "half life". The half-life of a radioactive isotope is the amount of time it takes for one half of a quantity of it to decay into a more stable isotope material (in the case of Polonium-210, it is 138 days). Putin is therefore threatening anyone who attacks him with death in the same way that Alexander Litvinenko was killed by polonium-210 poisoning. )

You don't know what you're doing, when you try to bust a rhyme against a mind like Putin.

(Putin essentially says that it wasn't smart of the other four men to rap against him. This is a reference to a song by Russian electro-dance band Poyushchie vmeste (Singing Together) called "Такого как Путин" [Takogo kak Putin] /TAH•kō•gō KAHK POO•tin/, also known as "A Man Like Putin.")

You'll find that the ex-KGB is the best MC in the ex-CCCP!

(Putin was an agent of the Soviet State Security Committee, better known as the KGB, before he entered into politics and became the second and fourth President of the Russian Federation. СССР is the Russian abbreviation for the USSR, read as "SSSR",[3] but since the Cyrillic S looks like Latin C and the R like Latin P, it's often read that way in English. Finally, MC is the term used for rappers, and Putin uses these abbreviations to claim that he is the best rapper in all of Russia.)

Scrapped lyrics

Joseph Stalin:

They're calling this for Stalin, I will kick you in the rectum

(Stalin claims that all are predicting his victory in the battle. The rectum is the organ in the digestive system that stores fecal matter until release. Stalin says he will kick Rasputin's ass.)

You should now prepare to be my next Bolshevik-tim

(Stalin was a Bolshevik, a member of the Communist Party in Russia. Stalin warns Rasputin that he will be Stalin's next victim, one of the many people he killed. Stalin connects the words Bolshevik and victim as a pun.)

What smells like a poo log? It must be rhymes from you, dawg

(Stalin implies that Rasputin's rhymes are shit.)

I got this battle locked up like I threw it in the Gulag

(To have something locked up means to be sure to be successful in it. Stalin says he has the battle locked up as if it were a prisoner he threw in a Soviet labor camp (known in the west as Gulag). Soviet Gulags were known for their brutality as well as the harsh conditions prisoners in them faced.)

You're a gross and creepy scary-eyed weird wizard

(Stalin calls Rasputin gross and weird-looking, while also generalizing Rasputin to a kind of wizard.)

Now poof, disappear and conjure up some beard scissors

(If Rasputin actually was a wizard capable of impossible feats of magic, Stalin wants him to leave quickly as if he was instantaneously disappearing. He also wants Rasputin to make some beard scissors appear out of nowhere so he could trim his unruly beard. Beard cutting, performed by Peter I the Great of Russia, signified the advancement and modernization of Russia into a new age. Similarly, Stalin is saying that Russia is entering a new age by cutting off Rasputin's beard.)

I'm Stoli Gold, you're a plastic handle of Popov

(Stolichnaya Gold is a well-respected Russian vodka. Popov is a relatively cheaper British vodka with a plastic cap. Stalin is referring to Rasputin as cheap and a knock-off compared to him.)

You sure act like a dick for a punk with his junk chopped off

(Despite Rasputin's penis being preserved in a jar after his death, Rasputin's behavior is observed by Stalin as obnoxious and mean, or "like a dick.")

I'm majestic, you're a bit thick, I'm not impressed with your magic tricks

(Stalin calls himself dignified and beautiful, while calling Rasputin thick, or stupid. He says that Rasputin's magic tricks (faith healing) don't impress him.)

I'm sadistic, with a swift kick for a mystic with a missed dick

(Stalin is sadistic, or derives pleasure from the displeasure and pain of others. He will beat down Rasputin quickly. He once again notes Rasputin's penis being taken off in death.)

Ass-putin, you've surely lost now

(Stalin confirms his victory, making a pun on Rasputin's name and the insult "ass.")

You want beef? I got the whole Moscow

(To beef means to have a grudge with someone. Stalin likens this to beef, the edible meat of cattle, saying that his owning of Moscow (pun on 'cow') makes him the owner of said beef.)

Rasputin:

Come on, bring it on, I'm ready to start brawlin'

(Rasputin challenges Stalin.)

I don't mean to Russia but you just seem like you're Stalin

(Rasputin makes a pun on the nation Russia with "rush ya" and Stalin with "stalling." Rasputin calls Stalin out for stalling, or saying vague things to take up time.)

You're just five-foot-four but your failure's epic-sized

(Stalin was fairly short in stature, yet Rasputin states that despite this, the consequences of Stalin's rule were huge.)

You're doing worse in this battle than the farms you collectivized

(As a part of the First Five-Year Plan, Stalin collectivized the farms in Russia to be run by the state in a process known as kolkhozy. The immediate effects were reduced output from the farms, causing large-scale famine in Russia.)

I'll beat you past the point my magic powers can heal

(Rasputin will beat Stalin so hard that his faith healing would have no effect on him.)

Man of Steel? You fat pig, more like Man of Squeal

(The Man of Steel was Stalin's nickname, referring to how Stalin's name means steel. Rasputin instead calls him Man of Squeal, implying that he is crying. He calls him a fat pig, a heavy insult that compares Stalin to an insult commonly given by Russians to Americans: "fat capitalist pigs," questioning Stalin's communist status. Pigs are also known for making a squealing noise. In addition, in George Orwell's book Animal Farm, pigs were used as an allegory for the communist regime, with Napoleon the pig as a stand in for Stalin.)

I'll hand your Georgian ass a true Russian defeat

(Georgia has had several wars with Russia, so Rasputin calls Stalin, who was Georgian, out for not being a "true" Russian while also threatening him.)

You would think I'm making borscht the way I'm crushing these beats

(This lyric is what developed into the lyric, "I spit hot borscht when I'm crushing these beats!" It was said by Putin instead of Rasputin.)

I was poisoned, shot and beaten and I still fought back like no sweat

(In Rasputin's assassination, all three of these occurred, yet he was allegedly able to survive and fight back until he was tied and thrown into the Moyka river, where he was said to have died of hypothermia.)

I'm so hard to kill, my rap name should be 50 Kopek

(In 2000, rapper 50 Cent was shot nine times at close-range yet did not die. Rasputin likens this to his assassination, in which he proved himself difficult to kill. Rasputin replaces the "Cent" in 50 Cent with "Kopek," which is one-hundredth of a ruble, just as a cent is one-hundredth of a dollar.)

I was shot and poisoned, my assassin's plot: sadistic

(Rasputin's assassination was very brutal.)

But that couldn't stop the mystic, if you think you can, you're optimistic

(Rasputin notes the term "mistic" in "optimistic" being homophonous as "mystic." Rasputin says that if Stalin thinks he can beat him, he's way too positive and confident.)

Vladimir Lenin:

You used to be my right hand man

(This lyric is what developed into the lyric, "And Joseph, you were supposed to be my right-hand man!")

Till your loyalty shriveled up like your right hand, man

(This lyric is what developed into the lyric, "But your loyalty shriveled up like your right hand, man!" Again, this is the same mix-up between Stalin's right and left hand being stinted.)

Vladimir Putin:

We're all Russians, no one's going to get their butt kicked

(Putin announces that the Russians should all work together and that none of them can be defeated as they all are Russian.)

The way our space program's whipped NASA's ass with Sputnik

(Putin claims he is bringing the Russians against one enemy, the USA. One notable part of the Cold War was the Space Race, in which the USA and the USSR were vying to become the dominant power in space in order to gain a better hold in the Cold War. Despite the fact that the USA ultimately would win the space race by landing the first man on the moon, Russia was the first to send something to space, launching the satellite Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. )

Notes

  1. CIA: COMMENTS ON THE CHANGE IN SOVIET LEADERSHIP
  2. This should not be confused with Russian pirogi, which are entrée pies. A similar dish to the Polish pierogi served in Russia would be pirozhki.
  3. In Russian, Союз Советских Социалистических Республик, Soyuz Sovietskikh Sotsialisticheskikh Respublik.
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