'SNL' Sketch on Hip-Hop 50th Goes Off the Rails

Saturday Night Live marked the 50th anniversary of hip hop with a sketch about a rapper with questionable skills, who gets called out by industry heavyweights.

Wonka star Timothée Chalamet — who hosted this weekend’s episode — played rapper SmokeCheddaDaAssGetta, a character he originated on SNL when he hosted in 2020.

This time, Smokechedda has a new single with a “trillion” streams online.

Thanks to his massive online success, the fictitious rapper scores an invite to a music panel with “queen of hip-hop soul” Mary J. Blige (played by SNL comedian Punkie Johnson); Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin (James Austin Johnson); culture expert and political analyst Dr. Cornel West (Kenan Thompson); and host Nuna Buziness (Ego Nwodim).

Asked why hip hop remains popular after five decades, Johnson tells the panel, “Hip Hop is more than music. We spin our pain into poetry.”

SmokeChedda agrees and says, “I feel that. My dad made me get braces when I wanted Invisalign.”

The panel is confused by his answer, but the conversation continues with a debate about the GOAT.

The panelists name LL Cool J, Jay-Z, Andre 3000, Tupac Shakur, Rakim, and Notorious B.I.G. as the greatest of all time.

But SmokeChedda questions Biggie’s success. “I don’t even know who that is,” he says.

Instead, he lists himself, pop star Jason Derulo, and the woman from the Nationwide insurance commercials who sings “nationwide is on your side” — as the greatest rappers of all time.

The panel pushes back and reminds him Biggie sold 20 million records.

SmokeChedda calls the late rapper “a flop” and tells the panel, “My new joint has sold a trillion streams in two days on SoundCloud.”

Thompson is impressed until SmokeCheddaDaAssGetta decides to perform his new joint.

His rapping is so awful, Thompson yells: “No! No! No!” and spanks him.

“You see, spank your kids everybody,” Ego Nwodim tells the audience. You can watch the full SNL sketch here.

The music world has been celebrating the rise of hip-hop music, which started in New York City in the early 1970s, according to the Grammys history of rap music.

While there’s debate over the actual year that the genre was created, DJ Kool Herc of The Bronx is credited as the father of hip hop, and for inspiring DJs, break dancers, and chart-topping MCs.

As rap music caught on, the Sugarhill Gang’s 1979 single “Rapper’s Delight” became a massive hit. Other groundbreaking MCs include Run-D.M.C., Whodini, Kurtis Blow, the Fat Boys, and Newcleus.