Lloyd Leonard Ahlquist (born January 18, 1977), better known by his online alias EpicLLOYD, is an American internet personality best known for the

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

video series ''

Epic Rap Battles of History ''Epic Rap Battles of History'' (ERB) is a YouTube web series and music project created by Peter "Nice Peter" Shukoff and Lloyd "EpicLLOYD" Ahlquist. The series pits historical and pop culture figures against one another in a rap battle format. ...

'', along with

Peter Shukoff Peter Alexis Shukoff (born August 15, 1979), best known as his stage name Nice Peter or Bluesocks, is an American musician and Internet personality. A self-described "Comic/Guitar Hero", he is best known for the comedy on his YouTube channel, Ni ...

("Nice Peter"). Ahlquist has performed as an MC, actor, improviser and writer. In addition to the rap battles, Ahlquist, along with Shukoff, appeared in a cameo in '' The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water''.

Comedy and theater

Ahlquist was formerly the General Manager and Artistic Director of M.I.'s Westside Comedy Theater. Ahlquist also studied at

UMass Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, it ...

and later trained in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

(where he met his frequent collaborator

) at

The Second City The Second City is an improvisational comedy enterprise and is the oldest ongoing improvisational theater troupe to be continually based in Chicago, with training programs and live theatres in Toronto and Los Angeles. The Second City Theatre o ...

Improv Olympic iO, or iO Chicago, (formerly known as "ImprovOlympic") is an improv theater and training center in central Chicago, with a former branch in Los Angeles, called iO West and in Raleigh, North Carolina called iO South. The theater taught and hosted ...

and

Annoyance Theatre The Annoyance Theatre, or Annoyance Productions, is a theatre and associated ensemble based in Chicago, Illinois, that deals mainly in absurd and outrageous humor. Many people who have performed with the ensemble have gone on to become successf ...

. Ahlquist was one of the founding members of Mission IMPROVable, and continues to perform with the group weekly in their show "The Grind" while serving on the Board of Directors of M.i. Productions. He founded the comedy troupe after dropping out of the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

with five classmates. In August 2014, Ahqluist hosted YouTube's first live-streamed improv comedy event, "Off the Top." A trailer for "Epic Studios", a show starring Ahlquist, was released in 2015 and the first episodes were posted to his personal YouTube channel in April 2017.

YouTube

Solo channel

Lloyd runs his own YouTube channel that launched on April 20, 2011. Ahlquist has a staple series on his own channel, titled "Dis Raps For Hire", which features Ahlquist taking a user-submitted comment asking Ahlquist to lyrically "destroy" or insult another person that is bullying or harassing the user. To date, 20 "Dis Raps for Hire" have been produced. Season 2 of "Dis Raps for Hire" started on March 11, 2013. On July 17, 2012, Lloyd's channel hit 200,000 subscribers. As a "thank you" gesture, he produced a parody of the

Cinnamon challenge The cinnamon challenge is a viral internet food challenge. Participants film themselves eating a spoonful of ground cinnamon in under 60 seconds without drinking anything, with the video being uploaded to the Internet as evidence. The challenge ...

. In 2016, Lloyd hit 400,000 subscribers. By 2021 he had 495,000 subscribers. Starting in 2017, EpicLLOYD has also run the series Epic Studios, where he portrays a fictional version of himself as he struggles to keep the Canadian music studio he inherited from his father from being turned into condos.

''Epic Rap Battles of History''

In 2010, Ahlquist partnered with singer and rapper

to create ''

'' under

Maker Studios Maker(s) or The Maker(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''The Maker'' (film), a 1997 American drama film *'' Makers: Women Who Make America'', a 2013 American TV documentary, a 2014 TV series, and related media * Maker Studios, now part of ...

sometime after Ahlquist, Shukoff and

Zach Sherwin Zach Sherwin (born July 1, 1980) is an American comedian, rapper, writer, and actor best known for writing for and performing in the ''Epic Rap Battles of History'' YouTube series, as well as writing for ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend'' on The CW. He sp ...

(a guest in the rap battles), were playing Check OneTwo, a

freestyle rap Freestyle is a style of improvisation, with or without instrumental beats (Mystrodamus), in which lyrics are recited with no particular subject or structure and with no prior memorization.Kevin Fitzgerald (director), '' Freestyle: The Art of Rhyme' ...

improv game The theatre games tradition is a method of training actors that was developed in the 20th century by practitioners such as Joan Littlewood, Viola Spolin, Paul Sills, Clive Barker, Keith Johnstone, Jerzy Grotowski and Augusto Boal. Theatre games ...

where they took suggestions from the audience of famous people to

battle rap Battle rap (also known as rap battling)Edwards, Paul, 2009, p. 25. is a type of rapping performed between two or more performers that incorporates boasts, insults and wordplay. Battle rap is often performed or freestyled spontaneously in live ...

off the top of their heads. Ahlquist has played several characters in the successful rap battles, and has specialized in playing villains such as Bill O'Reilly and

Adolf Hitler Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...

. Epic Rap Battles of History received four wins at the 3rd Streamy Awards, with Ahlquist receiving one of the four awards. By October 2014, the rap battles accumulated a total view count of over 1 billion, excluding the hundreds of millions of views earned by the season 1 episodes. As of early 2020, the Epic Rap Battle channel had over 3.4 billion views.

Personal life

Ahlquist grew up in

Exeter, New Hampshire Exeter is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 16,049 at the 2020 census, up from 14,306 at the 2010 census. Exeter was the county seat until 1997, when county offices were moved to neighboring Brentwood. ...

and graduated from Exeter High School. He is married to Dr. Josie Ahlquist, a student affairs educator. They live in Los Angeles.

Discography

Albums

*''Dis Raps for Hire - Season 1'' (2013) *''Here'' EP (2016) *''Dis Raps for Hire - Season 2'' (2018) *''A Bad Name for Rappers'' (2019)

Songs

*Dis Raps For Hire - Charles *Dis Raps For Hire - Southwest High School *Dis Raps For Hire - Christian *Dis Raps For Hire - Jennifer *Dis Raps For Hire - Justin *Dis Raps For Hire - James *Dis Raps For Hire - William, Reshad, and Tyrance *Dis Raps For Hire - Daniel *Dis Raps For Hire - Joan *Gift Raps For Hire - Momma Metcalf *Dis Raps For Hire - Glasscock *Dis Raps For Hire - Jason and Ramone *Dis Raps For Hire - Steven, Lucas, Mark, and Nelson *Dis Raps For Hire - EthanAlways *Dis Raps For Hire - Diamond *Dis Raps For Hire - Jerome *Dis Raps For Hire - Katrina & Cheyenne *Dis Raps For Hire - This Guy *Dis Raps for Hire - Cory *Gift Raps for Hire - Brandon *The L-Verse *Coming Up Short *Pawn *Ninja *Mr. Nothing *I Aint Got No Watch (I Aint Got No Bling) *New Things *Holding The Seams Together *Scars *Cheap Beer *Space *Pops Over the Falls *Goodbye

Filmography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ahlquist, Lloyd

EpicLLOYD Lloyd Leonard Ahlquist (born January 18, 1977), better known by his online alias EpicLLOYD, is an American internet personality best known for the YouTube video series ''Epic Rap Battles of History'', along with Peter Shukoff ("Nice Peter"). Ahlq ...

American comedy musicians Nerdcore artists