On “Saturday Night Live,” Dua Lipa delves into the searing rap conflict between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.
In the latest episode, Lipa joins fellow morning talk show hosts Mikey Day, Heidi Gardner and Devon Walker in trying to explain to viewers the past few years. The diss track that took the music world by storm.
Lipa plays a cultural critic who has been locked up “for the last 48 hours” trying to piece it all together. She appears on a whiteboard with portraits of two rappers taped to it, as well as sticky notes connected with yarn to phrases like “shoe size,” “feet” and “OVO.”
Drake and Lamar’s back-and-forth of diss songs have been dominating social media, especially in the past 36 hours, with Lamar releasing three songs aimed at Drake . Things got personal as the two talked to each other about their families and personal lives. However, Lamar seemed to have the upper hand and had the final say with his particularly searing lyrics about Drake allegedly hiding a secret daughter from the public.
Lipa explains how some of Drake’s Canadian slang and Tupac Shakur’s legacy are involved in the rap beef. Gardner and Day’s characters showed cutouts of Drake and Lamar’s faces, but before things could fall apart further, their morning show cut to commercial.
Lipa will appear on SNL for the third time, following musical guests Natalie Portman in 2018 and Kristen Wiig in 2020. Following “Bad Bunny” in the second episode, this is the second time this season that a performer is pulling double duty as host and musical guest.
Lipa made her acting debut in last year’s blockbuster “Barbie,” starring opposite stars like Margot Robbie, America Ferrera, and “Saturday Night Live” star Kate McKinnon. The singer guest-starred as mermaid Barbie, wearing a brightly colored wig and a mermaid tail in a sea of plastic. This year, she follows up with Matthew Vaughn’s spy thriller Argyll, about a novelist who becomes embroiled in a James Bond-esque adventure. Lipa is Lagrange, a fictional character who engages in a steamy dance with Henry Cavill’s literary spy protagonist.
On Friday, Lipa released “Radical Optimism,” her third studio album, following her Grammy-winning 2021 album “Future Nostalgia.” She won Best Pop Vocal Album for her second album, and she recently received two Grammy nominations for “Dance Night” from Barbie. She has received a total of 10 Grammy nominations and 3 wins during her career, including Best New Artist in 2019.
Next Saturday, alum Maya Rudolph will host the season finale of SNL with musical guest Vampire Weekend, followed by Jake Gyllenhaal and Sab Season 49 ends with Sabrina Carpenter.
