Ready for a showdown! James Corden and Riz Ahmed had an epic rap battle on The Late Late Show on Monday, April 17.
During the “Drop the Mic” segment, the British comedian, 38, went head-to-head with the real-life rapper, 34, who goes by his stage name Riz MC and is part of the rap group Swet Shop Boys. Since the battle went down on Corden’s late-night show, he was up first.
“Am I supposed to be afraid of Riz ‘cause he raps? His lyrics lack depth, just like when he acts,” Corden quipped. “You might recognize him from some TV shows, or not at all if you don’t pay for HBO.”
The Into the Woods actor even snuck in a reference to United Airlines’ fiasco last week, when a man was forcibly removed from an overbooked flight. “This is a blood bath, it’s not a fair fight. It’s like you were overbooked on a United Air flight,” Corden rapped.
Ahmed countered by mentioning his recent guest spot on HBO’s Girls and Kendall Jenner’s controversial Pepsi commercial, in which she ends a protest by offering a police officer a soda. “Yeah, I had Lena’s baby. It was fun. I was on Girls, but you never touched one,” Ahmed sniped. “You’re not an MC, you begged me to let you down gently. I wouldn’t start this war if Kendall Jenner brought out Pepsis.”
Then it was Corden’s turn again, and he poked fun at Ahmed’s recent Coachella performance. “You just played at Coachella, that’s very cool, man. You’ve rapped for teenagers wearing flower headbands,” he said. “He was on Girls to spice up the plot. Now Girls is off air, you connect the dots.”
The Rogue One: A Star Wars Story actor hit back with a major mic-drop moment. “You think you’re clever, but you’re vacant. When you left for the States, we were like, ‘Yo, please take him.’ Your flows are broke. Your jokes on the mic are spent. I saw you at Coachella, you were the big white tent. Right?”
Watch the video to see who won!
