James Corden’s “Carpool Karaoke” segment on The Late Late Show has produced some memorable music moments over the years. Perhaps the most beloved among them is when Adele rapped Nicki Minaj’s verse from Kanye West’s “Monster,” a viral moment that helped the Adele “Carpool Karaoke” episode become easily the most-watched video on the Late Late Show YouTube channel, with over 252 million views as of today. Well, Minaj was on Corden last night, and while there, she returned the favor by showing of her impression of Adele.
The two re-watched Adele’s rap and then Minaj offered a reaction, saying, “First of all, It’s Adele. Second of all, it’s ‘Monster.’ You guys made such an amazing freaking tag team, by the way. I never got to tell you that. That made my day, my year. I probably got a thousand phone calls about that one thing.”
Corden then asked Minaj what her Adele impersonation sounds like, and Minaj replied by doing an Adele voice and explaining her thought process behind achieving the nuanced impression:
“Alright, in order for me to channel Adele, I sort of have to think like a Black lady in London, right? Because the thing is, normally, everybody knows, my British accent is sort of like a posh white lady, a rich white lady, right? But with Adele, I sort of have to, like, transform, like she might have used to sell crack. Like maybe she used to be hustling, like nickels and dimes in the hood, and then she got her big break. That’s what I see when I see her, like she’s always… it’s so expressive, right?”
Minaj was all over The Late Late Show last night, so check out the Adele bit above and other clips from the show below.