Rap battles are a place for weak knees, sweaty palms and, um, mom’s spaghetti? Anyway, the concept of the rap battle, at least the stylized, for public consumption version of the rap battle, are cutthroat events that take place in dingy, graffiti-tagged locations full of rap fanatics. A rap battle is not a place for the faint of heart. It is also not a place for one’s stereotypical, suburban white dad, which seems to be the primary joke of this Maya & Marty sketch featuring Nick Jonas.
Maya & Marty is, of course, NBC’s new variety show starring Maya Rudolph and Martin Short. This means there is room for plenty of sketches and guest appearances. Jonas is still in the process of promoting his recently released album, Last Year Was Complicated, and so he appeared on the show and took part in this sketch, wherein he plays a white rapper, in the mode of Eminem, who is engaged in a rap battle with Kenan Thompson, who plays a guy who raps pretty slowly.
The comedic twist arrives when Short, as Jonas’ father, appears with his video camera and with bottled water to offer up to some potentially thirsty rap battlers. Eventually, the father ends up roped into the rap battle and, well, you can watch the sketch for yourself if you want to know how it turns out. Just know mics are dropped.
