Chance The Rapper’s Saturday Night Live hosting gig was, by most accounts, a resounding success. The Chicagoan activist and multihyphenate entertainer was equal parts charismatic, relatable, and most importantly, funny throughout a night of sketches that saw him skewer Batman’s heavy-handed, borderline racist campaign of terror against Gotham city’s “criminal” underclass, lampoon hockey’s overwhelming whiteness due to Black peoples’ general disinterest, and beg for the return of America’s ex-POTUS, Barack Obama, in a goofy homage to over-the-top, ’90s R&B breakup videos.
Even his opening monologue was great, with Chance staking a claim on the most overlooked holiday in a bid to fund his philanthropic endeavors with a Turkey Day anthem for the ages.
It wasn’t the first time a fish-out-water rapper acquitted himself better than expected. Despite Drake’s prior acting experience, his comedic chops were largely unknown when he accepted a SNL host slot in spring of last year, but his signature wittiness and affable willingness to poke fun at his corniest moments were more than enough to carry the day.
Of course, he made a lot of jokes at the expense of his native Canada as well, but he stayed firmly in the “B. Rabbit from 8 Mile” lane of turning the internet’s meanness about him into audience-pleasing gold.
Drake and Chance’s success makes me wonder: What other rappers should SNL take a look at for a hosting offer? Which rappers out there are just goofy enough, just corny enough, just relatable enough, and have thick enough skin to handle a night of lampooning themselves and pop culture? In short, which rappers are funny enough to host SNL? Only seven rappers have ever even attempted it, so there’s plenty of potential candidates. Let’s see if we can pick the best and most likely rapper who should be given the opportunity
For the sake of keeping this list way down, we’ll keep our pool to rappers who’ve released or plan to release albums in 2017, which removes my dark horse pick, DRAM, as well as the most interesting pick in Kanye West, which is a shame. Also, Nicki Minaj popped up in so many sketches the night she performed, she basically already hosted anyway. With that out of the way, let’s throw some names out there and have some fun.
Nominees: Big Sean, Jaden Smith, ASAP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler The Creator, Amine, Joey Badass, Cardi B, Migos, Vince Staples, 2 Chainz, Logic, Gucci Mane, Jay-Z, 21 Savage, Lil Yachty, and Wale.
First of all, let’s remove some of these names because they just don’t seem all that likely to want to make fun of themselves on live TV. Jay-Z is too fond of his hyper-curated image to ever let himself risk getting clowned for trying his hand at comedy, so he’s gone. 2 Chainz is doing Viceland’s Most Expensivest at the moment, so he’s obviously got at least a little bit of a sense of humor about this stuff, but his laid-back demeanor would come across flat in the sketch comedy format.
Likewise, 21 Savage has all the stage presence of a scarecrow, judging from his Hawks game halftime performance, so he’s out. Something tells me Big Sean and Wale are far too self-serious for a hosting gig, what with all their Blue Steeling in their promo photos and Wale’s explosions at anyone who teases him for any reason.
That leaves us with Jaden Smith, ASAP Rocky, Kendrick Lamar, Tyler The Creator, Amine, Joey Badass, Cardi B, Migos, Vince Staples, Logic, Gucci Mane, and Lil Yachty.
Let’s look at some pros and cons of each.
Tyler is in on the strength of his work with Loiter Squad and The Jellies, but might actually be too busy to actually make time for the rigorous writing process. Weirdly, we have to eliminate Tyler. Amine’s off-the-wall comedic sensibilities seem perfect for SNL, but he’s also got very little experience with that sort of sketch comedy. We’ll give him a shot.
Smith was pretty funny in Karate Kid and has been basically a walking, talking meme machine for the last few years, but is also elusive and seems to take himself completely seriously. He’s out. ASAP Rocky is a funny enough interview subject and great for an outlandish quote or two, but seems to require his Mob around for the best moments and controlling their unique brand of chaos on SNL‘s platform would probably be a nightmare for Lorne Michaels, so he’s gone.
Kendrick Lamar has proven that he’s perfectly willing to take a shot at himself, openly admitting to making “a terrible ass song” and sprinkling his oddball sense of humor throughout much of his catalog. He may come off a little serious at times, but that gap-toothed grin is never far from his face, so he’s in. Likewise, Vince Staples is always ready with a quip and has shown a gift for deadpan humor in his commercials for Sprite, however, he’s also just as quick to clown a whole endeavor as being corny. Surprisingly, Vince Staples is out.
Cardi B has been absolutely hilarious since her Love & Hip-Hop days, which is a huge part of why she became that show’s standout personality and won herself a record contract. She doesn’t have much experience with acting, but there’s no way she’d be embarrassed to bare her flaws for national television as she seems pretty willing to go off-script in the first place. She squeaks in. Her fiancee’s group is another story; while they have campaigned to be a large comedic part of Disney’s The Lion King remake, their prior experience with the rigors of late-night TV have probably soured them on the whole enterprise. Migos are out.
Gucci Mane’s fake financial advisor commercial for Footaction basically is an SNL sketch, so he’s in. Logic has popped up in animated form on Rick And Morty, but seems way too laid back to maintain the goofy energy required for the show’s zanier sketches. Sorry, Logic. Lil Yachty can be pretty goofy at times, as befitting the King Of The Youth, but he too seems way too easygoing to channel the array of characters that three or four sketches would toss his way. Bye, Lil Boat.
Finally, Joey Badass has been a veritable fountain of oddball shenanigans for the last few weeks, however, his whole “I’m going to look at the sun even though literally everyone says not to” shtick implies a reluctance to take direction. He’s out, sadly.
Gucci Mane, Cardi B, Kendrick Lamar, and Amine are left. Let’s say Cardi B and Amine need a little more seasoning before they’re ready for a full-scale live TV hosting gig, which leaves Gucci and Kendrick.
While Kendrick is a pretty funny guy and has shown the kind of vulnerability required for comedy in small doses, he’s never quite leaned into it the way Gucci Mane has. For that reason, and that reason alone, Kendrick Lamar is out of contention.
Saturday Night Live should give Gucci a call — he’s obviously the “Mane” for the job.
I’ll see myself out.
