Drake on Saturday Night Live

Ever since 'Marvin's Room' was released back in June we have been excitedly anticipating the return of Drake. JoJo only increased the buzz around his new material when she left behind her teen-pop image for something much harder with her impressive cover. Aubrey Drake Graham (did you know that was his real name?) dropped into Saturday Night Live last weekend to perform his new track 'Make Me Proud' with Nicki Minaj from his sophomore album Take Care. Minaj almost stole the show with her speedy MC-ing and colourful figure-hugging leotard (it was nice to see her with normal hair, too), but Drake also performed 'They Know', complete with snappy lyric projections and great support from the live band. As the celebrity guest, Drake was involved in the infamous SNL skit segment (remember Justin and Beyonce?) and he gave a series of short comedy interviews with Andy Samberg - we enjoyed their matching Coogi sweaters in A Matching Sweaters Interview with Drake (see below). Andy Samberg then attempted 'A Wordless Seduction of Drake' and Drake's facial expressions were pretty funny (FYI: he wasn't seduced).

But it was in his werewolf rap 'Bag Jackin' that he really had us laughing (watch the clip below). From the gyrating leg up on the newsdesk that solicited screams from the audience, to the freaky werewolf faces he was pulling behind his fellow rapper Jay Pharoah, it was pretty hilarious - and the mullet wig weirdly suited him. And all credit to him for going in hard - he'd learnt his words and delivered his lines ("Give me your Reese's Pieces, give me your Hershey Bars. I want your Milky Way. Give me that Snickers bar...") with a very convincing straight face. We don't think there will be quite so much silly humour on his next album - which has been pushed back from the original release date of 24 October (Drake's birthday) - but we still can't wait to hear his new beats, rumoured to feature collaborations with TLC vocalists Tionne 'T-Boz' Watkins and Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas (where have they been hiding?), now due out on 15 November. We hope you have a very happy birthday in the meantime, Drizzy!

Words: Rupert Bickersteth