 |
The topic of this article may not meet Wikipedia's general notability guideline. Please help to demonstrate the notability of the topic by citing reliable secondary sources that are independent of the topic and provide significant coverage of it beyond a mere trivial mention. If notability cannot be shown, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted.
Find sources: "Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney" video – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (December 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
| "Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| SinglebyEpic Rap Battles of History | ||||
| Released | October 15, 2012 | |||
| Genre | Rap battle | |||
| Length | 3:08 | |||
| Label | Maker Studios | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Peter Shukoff, Lloyd Ahlquist | |||
| Producer(s) | Michlle Maloney, Drew Walkup | |||
| Epic Rap Battles of History singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music video | ||||
| Barack Obama vs Mitt Romney. Epic Rap Battles of History Season 2.onYouTube | ||||
"Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney" is a song and music video, performed by Iman "Alphacat" Crosson, Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff, and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. It is the 8th episode of the 2nd season of the YouTube video series Epic Rap Battles of History. The video was released on October 15, 2012 on the show's YouTube channel in anticipation of the 2012 U.S. presidential election.
The video features then-President of the United States Barack Obama (portrayed by Iman Crosson) and former Governor of Massachusetts Mitt Romney (portrayed by Lloyd Ahlquist) facing off in a rap battle. Romney raps first, Obama second; following four back-and-forth verses, former President Abraham Lincoln (portrayed by Peter Shukoff) interrupts the two and begins rapping against both Obama and Romney (Lincoln had previously appeared in the first season of the series, battling Chuck Norris). Lincoln proceeds to "bitch smack" the two before being carried away by an American bald eagle.
As of May 2024, the video has received over 161 million views and 1.2 million likes on YouTube and is currently the most-viewed episode of the series.[1]
Two spiritual sequels to the battle, "Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton"[2] and "Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden"[3] were made in correspondence with the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections. Abraham Lincoln returns in the former as a third party rapper, only "bitch smacking" Trump, though he does make Clinton flinch.[4] This was allegedly done as Peter and Lloyd thought it would not be in Lincoln's nature to hit a woman. Following criticism that the battle was tipped in favor of Clinton as support for her in the election (as her criticism by Lincoln was less harsh than that directed at Trump), "Donald Trump vs. Joe Biden" did not feature a third-party rapper.[5]
The video was one of the most popular viral videos of 2012[6] and was discussed in a New York Times article.[7]
The video was nominated for "Video of the Year" at the 2013 YouTube Music Awards but lost to Girls' Generation song "I Got a Boy".[8]
In July 2013, the song was certified Gold by the RIAA, making ERB the first YouTube channel to do so.[7][9]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[10] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
|
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
|
| ||
|---|---|---|
| ||
| Politics |
|
|
| Business |
| |
| Olympics |
| |
| Bibliography |
| |
| Family |
| |
| ||
