Epic Rap Battle Parodies is a series of fan-made parodies/tributes to Epic Rap Battles of History. which started in December of 2012, they have gained a rather surprising amount of popularity with thousands of subscribers and millions of views, eventually becoming one of the most well-known rap battle series.
Created by Nathan Provost and Justin Michael Buckner. The most popular rappers/actors on the series original run were Justin, Nathan, Zander Kanack (commonly known as WoodenHornets), Froggy, Matteo Adonis (commonly known as Mat4yo), and Matthew Thomas Picciotto (commonly known as SuperThingsOnCups).
The series was seemingly discontinued in 2018, with a series finale intended to be released that year before it ultimately ended up being unfinished (although a crew member uploaded what they did get finished of it around mid-2018) due to Troubled Production. In 2020, Nathan Provost was put in charge of the series as the executive producer, and officially rebooted the series with so far two new battles and one bonus battle. All of the original series' battles are currently unlisted for a while, though they can be accessed through the channel's playlists, and their reboot battles are up publicly. In 2022, the series relisted the original series and released "Charlie Chaplin vs George Lopez" which is styled more like the classic battles rather than the reboot ones, which has continued with every battle released after it so far. The series is officially owned by Nathan Provost's own company and brand, Whatever Entertainment.
The current members are, as listed on the channel:
- Whatever Entertainment / Nathan Provost - Announcer & Executive Producer
- WoodenHornets / Zander - Owner & Editor
- DeegleNV - Writer
- Investigateur - Writer
- MultiSuperVids - Writer
- Hippie Rat - Writer
- Walk - Writer
- Stofferex - Writer
You can find their channel here
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Epic Rap Battle Parodies provides examples of the following tropes:
- Ascended Extra:
- LazySundayPaper's first role in the series was as a zombie in the background of The Merchant. He later became one of the most popular guest rappers in the series' original run.
- Froggy similarly had his first couple roles as cameos, which eventually lead to him body acting for a couple people's vocals, before he became a frequent rapper and one of the channel's producers as of the reboot.
- Bigger Is Better in Bed: Frequently referenced, such as when Dovahkiin says he showed Zelda his "Biggoron Sword".
- Boastful Rap: It may be a parody but these rappers still talk big about themselves, as expected in a rap battle.
- Butt-Monkey:
- In Steve vs Joe, Joe was clearly not supposed to win.
- Neither was Jack the Ripper, but at least he put up a fight.
- Ever since Dakota Wilson got fired, the rap battle community LOVES to make fun of him. Same goes for Zander Kanack and to a lesser extent Michael Currenti, the latter having left on his own. It should be noted that Zander loves to make fun of himself a lot as well, as almost all of his content on his own channel is pretty much shitposts.
- Clean Cut: Link disposes of Dovahkiin, after freezing him. by cutting his frozen form.
- Cluster F-Bomb: This series is full of swearing, especially in the original run.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Many raps are one-sided in the result of their battle. Sometimes deliberately, such as Steve VS Joe. Sometimes unintentionally, such as Jack the Ripper VS Jeff the Killer.
- Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Jeff the Killer. White face? Check. Black hair? Check. Carries a knife and kills people in their sleep? Check.
- Flipping the Bird: Frequently in the background of various battles, or in the foreground, such as with Tom Sawyer's "I DON'T GIVE A HUCK" line.
- Jaw Drop: Vault Boy does this during Cole Phelps' second verse in their rematch.
- Monochrome Past: Adrian Monk transitions into this during his second verse, referencing the "Here's what happened" portions of his home series.
- Pædo Hunt: If a character is associated with children on any level, they will almost definitely be called a pedophile in this series. Even Jeff the Killer, who himself is a child.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Some battles are set up to look like this, but then the sensitive guy will often prove to be manly as well.
- Stylistic Suck: The April Fools episodes (Patrick Star vs Carl Johnson, Jack Sparrow vs Hancock, and Steve vs Joe 2) are all deliberately intended to be bad.
- The Voiceless: Defied with Link, who's normally infamous for it. It's a given, considering that he raps.
- The same goes for Jason Voorhees and Michael Myers, who are also known for being mute.
- Uncle Sam Wants You: Uncle Sam was in a battle (against Captain America) and this happened.
- Uncle Sam: I WANT YOU! TO SHUT THE FUCK UP!
- You Are Fat: Many insults dissed out towards Justin Buckner and Andy Milonakis are about their weight.
