--- title: Samuel L Jackson Fights James Corden in Rap Battle Video description: “No one knows who you are without Adele in a car," said Samuel L Jackson in his rap battle against James Corden on The Late Late Show canonical: https://time.com/4901235/james-corden-samuel-jackson-rap-battle/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-08-15T16:00:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:46:31.621Z og:title: Samuel L. Jackson Obliterates James Corden in Rap Battle og:description: “No one knows who you are without Adele in a car," rapped Jackson og:url: https://time.com/4901235/james-corden-samuel-jackson-rap-battle/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20fad2e6bca5f96d/6988d9c9656a3f4c69bd1481/samueljames.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1372 og:image:height: 772 og:image:alt: samueljames og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Samuel L. Jackson Obliterates James Corden in Rap Battle twitter:description: “No one knows who you are without Adele in a car," rapped Jackson twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt20fad2e6bca5f96d/6988d9c9656a3f4c69bd1481/samueljames.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Samuel L. Jackson Definitely Just Dropped the Mic in This Fiery Rap Battle with James Corden > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=9a8d6642-ff56-4a7a-884d-1f6589b7eba0&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 15, 2017 4:00 PM UTC  by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Aug 15, 2017 4:00 PM UTC James Corden and [Samuel L. Jackson](http://time.com/4696637/samuel-l-jackson-spoof/) stepped in to the rap battle arena to keep audiences entertained while we wait for the next Eminem album (or Eminem’s [movie about rap battles](http://www.nme.com/news/eminem-producing-comedy-movie-rap-battles-2120113)). On Monday night’s episode of _The Late Late Show_, the two stars rained down insults and cash in a memorable edition of Corden’s sketch, “Drop the Mic.” As Corden’s guest, Jackson played nice at first while [Corden](http://time.com/collection/2017-time-100/4736215/james-corden/) spit out a few bars, but when it came to game time, Jackson did not hold back: “I feel bad for you son, ’cause I’m the real star/ No one knows who you are without [Adele](http://time.com/4506470/james-corden-carpool-karaoke-all/) in a car/ It’s amazing you’re anonymous and over-exposed and you look like a Minion in too-tight clothes.” While it was Corden’s audience, they couldn’t help but howl in delight at the lines. [ Corden](http://time.com/4362417/james-corden-carpool-karaoke-most-nervous/) took the diss in stride, and hit back with his own: “Nice verse Sam but now you get torn apart/ Like I’m a velociraptor and this is _Jurassic Park/_ You’ve got fame from _Pulp Fiction_ and other big hits/ But 90 percent of your IMDB page is s–t.” It was a good effort, but as as Omar said in _The Wire_, when you come for the king, you best not miss, and Corden’s verses just stoked Jackson’s fire. He tweaked a line from _Snakes on a Plane_ and earned himself a true mic drop. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4901235/james-corden-samuel-jackson-rap-battle/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4901235/james-corden-samuel-jackson-rap-battle/"},"headline":"Samuel L. 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