Natalie's Rap

Album: Incredibad (2006)
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Songfacts®:

  • In this Saturday Night Live skit, the Natalie Portman sits for one of those anodyne celebrity interviews, but gives a surprising answer to the first question: "what it's like to be you?"

    Her answer is in the form of a rap video where she explains how she likes to get high, smack guys around and kill their dogs for fun. Portman, a Harvard graduate who starred as Padmé Amidala in the Star Wars movies, was known for being hyper-talented and focused. She was also the crush of many a fan-boy, especially among the Comic-Con crowd. Here, she proves that she has a sense of humor as well.
  • This was one of the first SNL "Digital Shorts," and the first to feature a celebrity. These Shorts were the work of The Lonely Island, the team of Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer, and Jorma Taccone. All three had recently joined Saturday Night Live, Samberg as a cast member and Schaffer and Taccone as writers. In late 2005, their bit "Lazy Sunday" went viral on the nascent streaming service YouTube, injecting new life into the show. Portman's appearance led the way for more celebrity showings, most famously Justin Timberlake, who starred in "Dick In A Box" the next season.
  • SNL cast member Chris Parnell plays the host who interviews Portman and gets beaten with a chair when he asks one too many questions. Parnell also starred in "Lazy Sunday."
  • "Natalie's Rap" aired on the March 4, 2006 episode of Saturday Night Live. By this time, NBC was making YouTube remove any clips from the show in an effort to direct traffic to nbc.com, where they hosted this and the other Digital Shorts. In 2013, they posted most of these shorts on their own YouTube channel.
  • The Lonely Island included this on their first album, Incredibad, in 2009. They were still working for Saturday Night Live at the time.

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