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Neil deGrasse Tyson Rap Battles B.o.B. And Is Winning

By Jane Seedhouse
Published on: 00:08 PST, Jan 27, 2016

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Twitter feud with recording artist B.o.B over the flat Earth theory has escalated into a full-blown rap battle. B.o.B, whom you might know from his musical hits “Airplanes,” “Nothin’ On You,” and “Strange Clouds,” kicked things off Monday when he started tweeting about how he believes the Earth is flat.

“I’m going up against the greatest liars in history… you’ve been tremendously deceived,” B.o.B. tweeted.

Amongst another 50 or so tweets about his flat Earth theory, the rapper also illustrated his beliefs on how NASA is hiding the truth about the edge of the world.

Astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson pushed back on Twitter with a series of tweets explaining why the Earth is round.

“Earth’s curve indeed blocks 150 (not 170) ft of Manhattan. But most buildings in midtown are waaay taller than that.”

“Polaris is gone by 1.5 deg S. Latitude. You’ve never been south of Earth’s Equator, or if so, you’ve never looked up.”

“Flat Earth is a problem only when people in charge think that way. No law stops you from regressively basking in it.”

On Monday night, B.o.B knocked out a song about why the Earth is flat, called “Flatline.” According to NPR, this song expanded on the #FlatEarth theory, called out Neil deGrasse Tyson by name, and also name-dropped David Irving, a renowned Holocaust denier.

The lyrics of “Flatline” specifically call out Neil deGrasse Tyson and can be read in full on Gawker.

“Aye, Neil Tyson need to loosen up his vest / They’ll probably write that man one hell of a check”

On Tuesday afternoon, Neil deGrasse Tyson dropped his own track, “Flat to Fact.” This rebuttal was both written and rapped by Tyson’s nephew, Stephen Tyson.

Neil deGrasse Tyson tweeted B.o.B. last night. “As an astrophysicist I don’t rap, but I know people who do. This one has my back.”

The lyrics of “Flat to Fact” doesn’t pull any punches.

“He learned the game from Carl Sagan, you can never check him / You say the Earth is flat and then you try to disrespect him?”

“I’m bringing facts to combat a silly theory / Because B-O-B has gotta know the planet is a sphere G”

“Very important that I clear this up / You say that Neil’s vest is what he needs to loosen up? / The ignorance you’re spinning helps to keep people enslaved, I mean mentally.”

“You the Donkey of the Day, I ain’t waitin for Charlamagne… / All them strange clouds must be messin’ with your brain”

“I got science in my corner and there’s nothing to fear / I’m not sure what it was that really made you think / That you could disrespect a Tyson and your ship won’t sink?”

“I think it’s very clear that Bobby didn’t read enough / And he’s believing all this conspiracy theory stuff.”

The song drummed up a lot of support on Twitter.

Music fans are even saying it’s better than Meek Mill vs. Drake

Shockingly, B.o.B. wasn’t the first celebrity in 2016 to take to Twitter and claim the Earth is flat. Earlier this month, Tila Tequila, of MTV fame, fired off a series of tweets demanding proof the Earth was round.

Hopefully, this is the last we’ll hear about the #FlatEarth debate. Neil deGrasse Tyson seems to have had the last word in this rap battle, but will B.o.B respond?

[Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images – Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images]

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