The musical abilities of The Roots are a core component of The Tonight Show and that was on display yesterday, when the show tasked Black Thought (aka Tariq Trotter) to come up with some new rap verses for non-rap songs. Trotter understood the assignment, as the kids say, and came through with some clever lines.
The “Rap Remix” segment started with a gaffe, as Trotter rapped about St. Patrick’s Day, the upcoming holiday most commonly associated with Ireland, over bagpipes, the instrument most commonly associated with Scotland. While uilleann pipes (listen to an example of them being played here) are a type of bagpipe associated with traditional Irish music, the ones heard on Fallon did not sound to be of that variety. Furthermore, the song being played was “Scotland The Brave.”
From there, Trotter rapped over the ’60s Batman theme song before wrapping up the segment with a take on beloved Frozen cut “Do You Want To Build A Snowman?.” The song was remixed into a more hip-hop-appropriate instrumental and Trotter really closed out the verse strong, concluding, “Up in a cyclone, we’ll build him together / Spring is upon us, I’m sweating, so / if he melts, just say, ‘Oh well’ / ’cause look: You gotta let it go.”
Watch the “Rap Remix” segment above.