Saturday Night Live music: Nicki Minaj performs ‘Chun Li,’ ‘Poke It Out’

Nicki Minaj serves as the musical guest for the final edition of Saturday Night Live this season and when it comes to familiarity with studio 8H, the choice makes sense. Nicki has done well on the show before and NBC likes to book familiar faces for their final episodes — it’s a way to draw in viewers while also making sure that there is no Ashlee Simpson-level disaster out there on the stage.

So what did Nicki choice to do for her first performance? Think in terms of her recent single “Chun Li,” which really just makes us think about Street Fighter. (We have to think that this was the intention here. How could it not be? She was even dressed like her by the end of the performance?)

When it comes to talent, we don’t think there’s any way in which to dispute what Minaj can do on a stage — she brings energy like a musical Energizer Bunny and she knows how to use the tiny SNL stage to the fullest. The lights did get close to seizure territory at times but it didn’t go all the way with it.

Will there be controversy towards this performance? Probably, much like there was controversy regarding the single art that came out for the song recently. Here’s what we will say — how can 1,000 people on Twitter all say the same thing about how they’re the “only person” talking about appropriation? There are already a thousand or so think-pieces about this already and there will probably be many more after this. Clearly, Minaj knew what she was doing whether anyone out there likes it or not — but we should point out that she is of South Asian ancestry. That’s why we’ll just leave this to the commenters to figure out.

Related – Be sure to read our full review for the finale!

Second song – “Poke It Out” was probably a better showcase for Minaj as a rapper, though we are going to say that there was SUCH a long introduction that it wouldn’t been better to trim that down. It felt like Minaj was off-screen for longer than she was actually on-screen during this.

What do you think about this Saturday Night Live performance via Nicki Minaj? Do you think that it is worthy of the final episode of the season? Be sure to share right now in the comments below!

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