April 17, 2023
A Philly rapper will soon "rock" their way onto the "Saturday Night Live" stage for the first time next month.
Lil Uzi Vert will debut as the SNL musical guest on May 6, the same episode that will be hosted by former cast member Pete Davidson. Lil Uzi's appearance was announced during Saturday night's show, which was hosted by Oscar-nominated actress Ana de Armas and featured musical performances by Karol G.
Lil Uzi, who's birth name is Symere Bysil Woods, is from the Francisville neighborhood in North Philly. The 27-year-old singer and rapper, who uses they/them pronouns, had a breakout hit in 2016 with the single "Money Longer," before going on to release a string of records and mixtapes and being featured on Migos' "Bad and Boujee." Sports fans also would likely recognize the rapper's latest hit, "Just Wanna Rock," thanks to its becoming the unofficial hype song for the Philadelphia Eagles' Super Bowl run last season.
Lil Uzi actually led the team onto the field during the NFC Championship Game against the San Francisco 49ers, wearing a personalized Eagles jersey. During that win, Eagles' center Jason Kelce — who appeared on SNL earlier this season when his brother, the Chiefs' Travis Kelce, hosted — went viral for a clip in which he and running back Miles Sanders celebrated a Sanders touchdown by dancing like Vert in "Just Wanna Rock" video.
Then in the Super Bowl against the against the Kansas City Chiefs, "Just Wanna Rock" was playing as the Birds ran onto the field from the locker room, a move that drew comparisons to 2018 when the team took the field to Meek Mill's "Dreams and Nightmares," a song that has been the team's unofficial anthem ever since. In the run up to the Super Bowl, record exec DJ Drama proclaimed "Just Want to Rock" had supplanted Meek's "Dreams" as the Eagles' unofficial song, a comment that Lil Uzi downplayed.
.@JasonKelce, shake what Donna gave ya
— NFL (@NFL) January 29, 2023
📺: #SFvsPHI on FOX
📱: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/FKUP5TdmfQ pic.twitter.com/BxeWsNH9MB
Lil Uzi Vert's "Saturday Night Live" appearance comes just over a month after "Abbott Elementary" creator and West Philly-native Quinta Brunson, hosted the show.
Some have pointed out the coincidence of Vert joining the episode hosted by Davidson. Lil Uzi appears to be close with Kayne West — they got matching tattoos last August that read "We here forever technically." West's ex-wife is Kim Kardashian, who dated Davidson beginning in October 2021, when she hosted SNL and appeared in skits with Davidson, who was a cast member at the time. Their relationship drew the ire of West, much of which he expressed publicly on social media. Kardashian and Davidson dated for about nine months and reportedly broke up in early August.
Next show!!! pic.twitter.com/AMdCeLXGOk
— Saturday Night Live - SNL (@nbcsnl) April 16, 2023
Then again, Lil Uzi is known for subverting expectations. Along with eccentric fashion choices and unique musical flair, the rapper once embeded a $24-million, pink diamond in their forehead. Vert also recently debuted alter-ego, "Leslie."
Fans can check out Lil Uzi Vert's SNL performances on Saturday, May 6, at 11:30 p.m. on NBC, or by streaming via Peacock.
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