This week’s “Saturday Night Live” was a great a reminder that long before his days as a chart-topping rapper, Drake was an actor in the Canadian teen soap, “DeGrassi: The Next Generation.”
The 27-year-old star took the “SNL” reins on Saturday night – acting as both host and musical guest – and the Toronto-native knocked it out of the park with his impressions and comedic timing.
Drake played a steroid-use-denying Alex Rodriguez during the show’s cold open (complete with the obligatory A-Rod lip-licking), then went on to apologize for coining the term YOLO, before poking fun at his bi-racial heritage in a flashback to his Bar Mitzvah.
(The rapper has a white Jewish mom and a black father.)
In the hilarious sketch, a 13-year-old Drake, still going by his birth name, Aubrey Graham, took the Bar Mitzvah stage to perform a rap to the tune of “Hava Nagila” that incorporated stereotypes from both sides of his family.
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“Please don’t forget I’m black, please don’t forget I’m Jewish – I play ball like LeBron and I know what a W-2 is,” he rapped.
“Chillin’ in Boca Raton with my mensch, Lenny Kravitz – the only purple drank we sip is purple Manischewitz,” he continued, referencing the sweet table wine typically served during Jewish holiday celebrations (Lenny has a black mother and Jewish father).
Other highlights of the episode – which marked new cast member Sasheer Zamata’s first time on the show – included Drake’s impression of Jay Z, Katt Williams, and Lil Wayne as Steve Urkel.
For his musical numbers, Drake performed “Started at The Bottom” and “Hold On We’re Going Home,” paired with “From Time” featuring Jhene Aiko.
— Erin O’Sullivan
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