Drake Killed It On 'Saturday Night Live' Last Night

By Meghan O'Keefe

January 19, 2014 / 11:47 AM

drake snl

Drake is no stranger to taking the Saturday Night Live stage, but last night the rapper and singer pulled double duty as host and musical guest. Drake not only killed it with soulful, stripped-down and rearranged versions of "Started From The Bottom," "Trophies," "Hold On We're Going Home," and "From Time," but he also managed to fit right in with the Saturday Night Live cast.

For his first performance, Drake sang an emotional version of "Started From The Bottom" that morphed into "Trophies." Both of Drake's musical performances played with light design. The band and background were blacked out and Drake was lit in red for his first performance and blue for the second.

Drake may not have carved out as enduring a character as Justin Timberlake's "Homelessville" mascot, but he wowed in a different way. The former actor completely integrated himself into the cast. He appeared as A. Rod in the Cold Open, fully committed to any scene or situation thrown at him and was a class act in the closing credits to highly publicized newbie Sasheer Zamata.

Drake also used his position as host to call attention to up-and-comer Jhené Aiko. The rapper brought her out during his second musical performance of the night, which was a hybrid of "Hold On We're Going Home" and "From Time." Towards the end of the song, he improvised new lyrics that said to "tell Lorne to cut to commercial break, Love./So that we can make love," that left Aiko blushing.

Saturday Night Live returns next week with host Jonah Hill and musical guest Bastille.

[Photo Credit: NBC]