Lupita Nyong’o brought out her rapper alter ego during an appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, with a freestyle verse name-dropping Beyoncé and Jay-Z.
The Oscar-winning actor revealed that she raps under the moniker given to her by hip-hop artist Common.
“I was baptised Troublemaker by Common, so I feel like it’s legit,” she said. “And [rapping] is something I do in the car.”
Giving the audience a preview of her rhymes, she freestyled: “Much love to the Carters / Hov and Beyoncé / They always big me up in a big way / I’m a brown skin girl so that means a lot / Hov said we made it, got an Oscar for my props.”
Nyong’o was referenced in Beyoncé’s lyrics for the song, “Brown Skin Girl”, from her The Lion King: The Gift album.
After her rap, Nyong’o joked: “I am a fraud. I feel like in my past I’m supposed to be a rapper, but I’m not. I just do it for fun. I like to play a rapper, but I’m really not one.”
Check out her performance, below.
This is not the first time Nyong’o has unleashed Troublemaker. In 2016, the actor shared an Instagram video of herself rapping over an instrumental of Nas track “N.Y. State of Mind” and in 2018 she posted a car freestyle with her Black Panther co-star Letitia Wright.
Nyong’o can next be seen in the movie Little Monsters, which is expected to premiere in the UK in November.
