Nerd vs. Geek

Submission 2,432

Part of a series on Rhett and Link. [View Related Entries]

About

Nerd vs. Geek refers to a 2013 comedy rap battle video titled "Epic Rap Battle: Nerd vs. Geek" by the YouTuber duo Rhett & Link. In 2021, the video gained virality as a meme format, with users replacing the starting lyrics with various sound effects such as the sound of a car horn.

Origin

On October 3rd, 2013, YouTuber^[1] duo Rhett & Link uploaded a comedy rap battle video titled, "Epic Rap Battle: Nerd vs. Geek." The video starts with the two having a dispute at an electronics store, which heats up as they start calling each other "geek" and "nerd," with the Nerd exploding and starting the rap battle. The video gained over 51 million views in nine years (shown below).

- What do you think you're doing, nerd?
- Did you just call me a nerd, geek?
- Yeah, nerd!

Spread

Prior to May 12th, 2021, the video saw minimal presence in memes. For example, on July 3rd, 2020, YouTuber^[2] FlawlessPiner posted an edit in which they removed the punchlines from the lyrics. The video gained over 13,000 views in two years.

On May 12th, 2021, YouTuber^[3] Polaris Lmao posted a video titled, "Epic Rap Battle Nerd vs. Geek But It's Awesome," crediting YouTuber Hyper the Weirdo for making it. The upload, in which the clip transitions into the Nerd singing "To The Bone" by JT Music (also known as "Welcome to the Underground"), gained over 84,000 views in two years. On May 15th, Hyper the Weirdo then uploaded^[4] the video, with the meme gaining over one million views in two years (shown below).

The video inspired more memes based on the intro, with users replacing Nerd's opening lines with various sound effects, similar to many other 21st-Century Humor memes. For example, on August 7th, 2021, YouTuber^[5] Salty mc salt paired the clip with the sound of a car horn, with the meme earning over 360,000 views in two years (shown below).

The clip maintained popularity in memes on YouTube in the following year, with multiple versions gaining over 100,000 views on the platform by early 2023.