Watch: Stephen Colbert raps with Alicia Keys on 'Empire State of Mind'

Get ready for the 'gated community' remix

By Katie Hasty Wednesday, Dec 16, 2009 3:58 PM

Alicia Keys performs with Stephen Colbert

Credit: Comedy Central

Who else but Stephen Colbert could fill the shoes of Jay-Z?

Alicia Keys can be seen everywhere right now as she busily promotes her "Element of Freedom," out this week, but few other appearances can boast such a surprising outcome as her performance on "The Colbert Report" last night (Dec. 15).

Keys began "Empire State of Mind (Part II) Broken Down" and around the 1:40 mark, Colbert trots in with his hood up and chops to rap. He spouted some excellent lyrics about the white-rich-guy life in a gated community and "clean suburban air/much better for my asthma." No joke, this was pretty slick.

You can also check out Colbert's interview with Keys here.

It's a banner music week on "Colbert," as the talking head-parodying host had Snoop Dogg on on Monday. His Snoopness just released "Malice N Wonderland."

"Empire State of Mind," the first version of the song featured on Jay-Z album, may continue its reign at the top of the Hot 100 as the new chart is released tomorrow. "(Part II)" is on "Element of Freedom."

Check out the lyrics to Colbert's raps via Daily Swarm.

Katie Hasty
Managing Editor

After five years as a columnist and editor at Billboard, Katie Hasty joined HitFix in 2009 for music and film reporting out of New York. The Midwest native has worked as a writer, music promoter and in A&R since 1999 and performs with her band Numbers And Letters.