American television audiences had a taste of Singapore rapper Yung Raja‘s music when talk-show host Jimmy Fallon played his song, Mami, on The Tonight Show.
A clip of Fallon talking about the song was posted on The Tonight Show‘s Twitter account on Tuesday (July 13) noon.
It is taken from the show’s recurring Do Not Play comedic segment in which Fallon pokes fun at songs that he advises viewers to avoid.
But did he? Scroll below to find out.
Introducing Yung Raja as “a Singapore rapper”, Fallon held up the cover of Mami, released in March, which features the artiste sitting in a bathtub.
“Maybe he was at, like a spring break, something like that, with a bunch of buddies,” Fallon joked. “Sometimes you go ‘look, you paid 25 bucks, you can sleep in the tub’.”
The show then played a clip from the song that repeated the track’s title.
Fallon did not look impressed, but musician Questlove from the show’s in-house band, Grammy winners The Roots, did a little dance.
Do 🙅♂️ Not 🙅♂️ Play 🙅♂️ “Mami” 🙅♂️ #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/cvC1VElDdx
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) July 13, 2021
Yung Raja, one of the home-grown artistes who sang on the national vaccination programme jingle Let’s Test, Trace And Vaccinate, took the ribbing in his stride, reposting the clip on his Instagram page.
He wrote in the caption: “I think @jimmyfallon isn’t a big fan of mami BUT HELLO WE MADE IT TO THE TONIGHT SHOW”.
He also noted that Questlove, highly regarded within the hip-hop community, was “vibing” to the song.
In an Instagram post on July 14, Raja shared a screenshot of a DM between him and Fallon that showed how the host was a fan of the track after all.
Fallon revealed how The Tonight Show crew “loved that jam!”. He coninued: “Roots and I played it out to break. Congrats on all and I hope you are safe and sound.”
Can we double-tap to that, papi?
This article first appeared in The Straits Times and has been updated