Watch Riz Ahmed Take Down James Corden in a Rap Battle

By E.C. Flamming  |  April 18, 2017 | 3:32pm
Photo by Terence Patrick/CBS
Comedy Video Riz Ahmed
Watch Riz Ahmed Take Down James Corden in a Rap Battle
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Last night on the Late Late Show, host James Corden and Riz Ahmed (The Night Of, Rogue One) went head to head in an epic rap battle, and the internet agrees there was a pretty clear winner. Watch the clip above to hear some serious spitfire.

While Corden doesn’t exactly look like it, the talk show host and musical theater star is actually a halfway-decent rapper. However, Ahmed has some hidden talents—if you didn’t know, he’s half of the Swet Shop Boys duo with former Das Racist member Heems. In other words, he actually knows how to rap, making this particular “Drop the Mic” rap battle a pretty fair fight.

Corden knew this, and came prepared. He hit Ahmed with some solid roasts, like, “Am I supposed to be afraid of Riz cuz he raps / His lyrics lack depth, just like when he acts / You might recognize him from some TV shows / Or not at all if you don’t pay for HBO.” A hard hit, but no KO.

Ahmed fired back with references to Jabba the Hut’s dad, Kendall Jenner’s Pepsi commercial and “You look like Matt Damon if he only ate butter” slams. “I speak the truth, you’re a liar / He’s like Sean Spicer mixed with a singing Uber driver / Look at you, I bet you think you’re great / But your chat show’s so late nobody’s awake,” rapped Ahmed. By the end of the segment, the audience made it clear who they thought won the battle.

If you want to hear more excellence from Ahmed, check out the music video below of Swet Shop Boys’ “Zayn Malik.”

 
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