These Impressionist Diss Tracks From Jay Pharoah Might Start Another Slew of Rap Beefs
Now that the dust is finally starting to settle on Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s massively publicized and chart-topping feud, Saturday Night Live veteran Jay Pharoah is fixing to launch another war of words between Shannon Sharpe and the cast of Inside the NBA.
As the last month-or-so has demonstrated, there is nothing that both the general public or the Billboard Hot 100 love more than a Grade-A rap beef between two titans. In that time, Drake and Lamar both released song after song airing each other’s dirty laundry and creating the catchiest singles of the year so far in the process. Lamar’s last Drake-centric song, “Not Like Us,” shot up to #1 on the charts shortly after its release earlier this month and will probably still be heard blaring from rolled-down car windows across California by the end of the summer.
The attention and streaming numbers that this feud has brought to both camps involved cannot be understated, but its lasting effect may end up being the other beefs that are slowly cooking now that America’s hunger for feuds has been so well-established.
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According to Pharoah, the newest rap battle brewing is between rapper and NBA Hall of Famer Shaquille O’Neal and NFL legend/shit-talk-show host Shannon Sharpe, with Charles Barkley, Stephen A. Smith, 50 Cent and, of course, Katt Williams getting in early shots at one another:
Between 2010 and 2016, Pharoah was famous for being arguably the best impressionist on Saturday Night Live at the time, regularly wowing with pitch-perfect impersonations of Barack Obama, Chris Rock, both Jay-Z and Kanye West, and many, many more celebrities in addition to the ones he showcased on The Tonight Show yesterday evening. However, as good as Pharoah was with celebrity voices, he's even better with celebrity flows — the compilation diss track he and The Roots just dropped is better than anything Shaq’s recorded on any of his four studio albums.
He also absolutely nailed both the tone and the substance of his bar as Jimmy Fallon — it’s just like the Tonight Show host to add nothing to an incredible work of comedic art besides noise.