Six years after Adele delighted the internet by crushing Nicki Minaj’s verse on Kanye West’s “Monster”, Minaj has returned the favor — and gone her one better.
Late Late Show host James Corden took Minaj for a ride for the latest episode of Carpool Karaoke, and for some reason, Minaj conducted half the segment in a rough approximation of a broad London accent. “You know you just sound like Adele,” said Corden, prompting Nicki to go into an extended impression of the singer courtside at a basketball game.
Corden asked whether she’d seen Adele’s Nicki impression during the British singer’s own appearance in 2016, to which the answer was a resounding yes.
“I just loved it, she made me so so happy,” Minaj said. “She embodied Nicki Minaj!” Cue Minaj’s own Adele cover, and a “Monster” repeat performance, mashed up with Adele’s own, that allows us to briefly pretend that Corden wasn’t even there at all.
In between Minaj also tried to help Corden deal with his “opps” (enemies) — although he wasn’t wild about her suggestion that he “pull up on” his neighbors Graham and Brenda and “blick blick” their noisy dog — and gamely tooted on a clarinet Corden pulled from the backseat, in tribute to her humble musical beginnings. Turns out the loop from “Chun Li” sounds a lot like the Jaws theme — who knew?
