Chris Rock Makes Jimmy Fallon List His Top Five Rappers
Chris Rock turned the Top Five tables on Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on The Tonight Show, Monday, challenging the host to list his five favorite rappers of all-time.
Fallon trooped through the exercise, naming the Beastie Boys, Jay Z, Run-D.M.C. and Eminem, all of which garnered approval from Rock. As for Fallon’s fifth? The host went with the notorious “Rappin’ Duke,” referring to a 1983 novelty track by Shawn Brown, who pretends to rap like John Wayne. “Was it between him and [Sir] Mix-a-Lot?” Rock cracks back.
Along with chatting about his new movie, Top Five, Rock also spoke about his long, wide-ranging career, which at one point included a record deal with Atlantic. The comedian mentioned his brief stint as a rapper and DJ in his recent Rolling Stone cover story, and on Tonight he said his demos are probably still lying around somewhere, likely in a storage space alongside the original Louis C.K. cut of Pootie Tang.
After Fallon suggested he team up with the Roots for a project, Rock said that he’d discussed the possibility with drummer Amir “Questlove” Thompson, noting that the bandleader supervised the music for Top Five. “We had to do the whole soundtrack while he was doing a Taco Bell commercial!” Rock joked — and the drummer cheekily confirmed the comedian wasn’t kidding.
Rock also offered Fallon some charming fatherly advice, as the host and his wife had just welcomed their second daughter via surrogate. Specifically, the comedian expounded the benefits of having two kids instead of one: “When you have one, you have to be the show. When you have two, you’re just an usher: ‘Right this way ladies.’ They can play in the park, you read the paper — ‘Hey, hey, get off her hair!’ You go back to reading.”
Top Five, which Rock wrote, directed and stars in, tells the story of a comedian-turned-actor trying to get back in touch with his stand-up roots as he and a reporter (Rosario Dawson) walk around New York City. The film opens this week.