![](\"/media/41ab84094ac5f4f2419277d31dc1c87077447ac3_3133172fe958.jpg\")
\n", "thumbnail_url": "https://kontextmaschine.com/media/41ab84094ac5f4f2419277d31dc1c87077447ac3_3133172fe958.jpg", "thumbnail_width": 1125, "thumbnail_height": 1460}This one is pissing me off because there\u2019s cheese in it. I\u2019m not sure there\u2019s a period of Chinese dynastic history wherein the type of dudes likely to be having rap battles would also have been familiar with hard cheese. There\u2019d be political fucking implications to that. Fermented dairy products were often seen as uncivilized foods, and were associated in particular with northern \u201cbarbarian\u201d cuisine (see: <lactose intolerance in Eurasia>), whereas competitive poetry was viewed as a civilized and scholarly pastime appropriate to civil servants and courtiers. Mentioning cheese in a verse which also references the heavens could be seen as an effort to legitimize the presence of these dangerous foreign elements within Chinese society, and, thus, as seditious. If dairy were to become a common theme in rap battles, it might be viewed as a dangerous sign of poor morale and defeatist thinking among the literati. \u201cEmperor, we have got to move the capital to the south. The scholars are rapping about cheese. It\u2019s all falling apart.\u201d