‘Epic Rap Battles Of History’ Debuts Director Battle, Goes On Hiatus

For its fourth season, Epic Rap Battles of History did away with its biweekly release schedule in order to bring fans a new battle each week. That format succeeded in diminishing the wait between episodes, but it also caused ERB to exhaust its new episodes twice as fast. The extremely popular web series has concluded the first half of its fourth season with a free-for-all among five famous directors.

The video is billed as a battle between Steven Spielberg and Alfred Hitchcock, played by ERB co-creators Peter Shukoff and Lloyd Ahlquist, respectively. In truth, the two-time Oscar winner and the master of suspense only get one verse apiece before ceding the microphone to three more accomplished directors: Quentin Tarantino (played by rapper Wax), Stanley Kubrick (played by an actor who is only credited as “The Ghost of Stanley Kubrick”), and Michael Bay (played by Shukoff). Bay may not have the directorial clout of his competitors, but as he notes, he makes up for it by having a lot of “mother f***king money.”

Other episodes aired during ERB‘s fourth season include a team battle between the Ghostbusters and the Mythbusters and an “famous couple” battle that included Grace Helbig and Hannah Hart among its cast.

The director battle’s five-headed approach resembles ERB‘s previous Russian showdown, which served as the final episode of season two. As with that battle, the directorial slugfest will be ERB‘s last for a while. According to the channel’s official Twitter, new episodes won’t arrive until 2015. I’m sure that Teddy Roosevelt (or some other historical figure) will show up to give us an exact air date once the new year rolls around.