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When Rihanna was the musical guest in 2009 and 2010,poor Shy Ronniehad totry to rap twice.
Until this past weekend.
Almost 12 years afterNatalie Portmans first rap, we got Natalies Rap 2.
The difference is, unlike the previous sequels, the guys dont work at the show anymore.
And, as he tells Vulture, it almost didnt happen.
It was hilarious and convincing, so we said,Great!
Her public persona was so squeaky clean that it was fun to rip it apart with her.
What makes Natalie so good at comedy rapping?She commits, hard.
And she actually loves the music.
Can you walk me through what happened once you found out Natalie was hosting again?
We werent sure how to get it done from L.A., plus I was shootingBrooklyn Nine-Nineall week.
But we love Natalie andSNLand wanted to figure it out.
Then we wrote the rest late into the night.
On Friday morning, we FaceTimed with Natalie as she recorded her vocals.
We got through about half before she had to go block sketches.
SNLwas going to have to shoot and edit the video in NYC without us, which was a first.
So we gave them our thoughts and let them run with it.
Saturday morning, we FaceTimed with Natalie again, while she recorded the rest of her parts.
Then Akiva worked like crazy to put the song together.
They sent us a cut in the afternoon and we gave thoughts.
I will say, I wish they had called us on Monday!
There were many things we would have done differently, but thatsSNL.
In the end, it seems like it came out pretty good.
As long as the audience laughs, its a win.
You three are still working on projects together, but how often have you worked on music sincePopstar?
We are always working on music, at least a little bit.
But we love Beck [Bennett] and he killed it.
He has a similar ability to Parnell to play smarmy, but still be funny and likable.
We love them both.
How much was Natalie involved?
Was she telling you about things that happened in her life?Ha, not a ton.
Again, because there wasnt any time, we just went and made a bunch of stuff up.
But she told us a few things she DIDNT want in there after theyd been written.
Which I will not disclose.
I will say, she was in the right for wanting them changed.
But we always have Kool Moe Dee on the brain.
Then we just started laughing about her going cold-blooded about the prequels.
… and that Jar Jar Binks has 17 dicks?That I think we got from George Lucas.
Its canon, right?
Once youre aware of this and go back and watch the prequels, everything makes way more sense.
We HIGHLY recommend people do that.
Rap music has obviously changed since the last one.
And we do love that beat!
Its made by JMIKE, who weve done a few songs with before.
How did it feel to have to get this down for Saturday night?
Did you miss that rush?
We will always venture to be there for the show when we can.
We still have so many friends there and will always love it and watch it.
