Watch YG & Jimmy Kimmel Translate YG’s Song “Loko” For Old People
YG, the great California rap hardhead, has released three albums. Two of them are absolute unimpeachable monsters. One of them is spottier, but it still has bangers. And now YG is getting ready to release an as-yet-untitled new album. He’s shared the single “Stop Snitchin,” which takes aim at Tekashi 6ix9ine and has a truly intense video. And he’s also shared “Loko,” which features a whole lot of flamenco guitar and a lot of references to YG’s friends in the Latinx community. The track features Tyga and the Puerto Rican rapper Jon Z. (It came out on Friday, and we didn’t post it. It’s not great.) In the video, YG wears a sombrero leads a horse down a Los Angeles street. “Loko” is fundamentally a sex song, and that gave Jimmy Kimmel plenty of options to make jokes about it when YG was on the show last night.
YG was the musical guest on last night’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where he performed “Loko” with Tyga and Jon Z. That video isn’t online yet. But Kimmel has shared a comedy bit he did with YG. In the “New Lyrics For Old People” bit, YG recites some of his lyrics from “Loko,” and then Kimmel stiffly explains what they mean. Or, per Kimmel, “It’s a beautiful song about life and love and relationships, but if you’re of an older generation, it might be hard to follow.” (Kimmel did a similar thing with Iggy Azalea a few years ago.) The central joke is some pretty standard rap-is-silly stuff, but this one works pretty well because of YG’s reactions.
YG, looking drunk or high or both, gives his “Loko” lyrics, and then he stops to listen to all of Kimmel’s explanations. And he really thinks about them. Sometimes, he clearly and visibly does not like whatever joke Kimmel just made. And sometimes he reacts with something like delight. I especially liked this exchange:
YG: “She told me handcuff her to the bed, give her no escape.”
Kimmel: “They’re sexually adventurous.”
YG: [Stops to think for a moment.] “Yeah. Very. Very very very.”
Here’s the video:
And here’s the “Loko” video:
YG’s new album was supposed to be out on Friday, but it’s not out, so who knows.