It was all things New York, New York onThe Masked Singeron Wednesday evening.
And, turns out, that person was right.
When it came time for the first vote, Polar Bear was sent back to the North Pole.
Polar Bear on ‘The Masked Singer’.Michael Becker/FOX
His identity gave most of the judges some paws, though.
Jeong thought he was P Diddy, McCarthy-Wahlberg guessed Flava Flav, and Thicke opted for LL Cool J.
But it was Scherzinger who called it from the beginning.
Grandmaster Flash.Jon Kopaloff/WireImage
In a shocking twist, Medusa was picked to go home over the sushi singers.
In the nick of time, Scherzinger rung the bell and Medusa was allowed to keep it on.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What convinced you to do the show?
Innocent children dying for no reason.
The economy’s on whack.
I’m traveling to other countries.
I’m doing lecturing.
And I can remember my friends and family saying we watch this show calledThe Masked Singer.
So I went on the internet to watch some of the past shows.
And then ironically, a couple of weeks later, an email comes in to the office.
And it says that we would like Grandmaster Flash to be one of the people on the show.
My “adult” kicks in, and I’m like, “Hell no, no way.”
And they said, “Here’s a few choices of what we’d like you to do.”
And I look at a few of them.And I’m saying, “I’m not sure.”
And they say, “This polar bear guy would really be perfect for you.”
Alright, so they said, “Let’s get back to you.”
A day later they come back.
Polar Bear now has a gold chain around his neck.
Polar Bear then has his hat backwards.
But, my “kid” thing kicks in.
And I gotta tell you, how I relieve my stress, is playing with children.
You know, they help me to forget about where the world is.
Was the process similar to being part of theGrammys' 50th anniversarycelebration of hip-hop?
Because I imagine that had to be kept top secret, too.
[For the Grammys] they pretty much just said, “Don’t post.”
We wanted the world to see it once it is all glued together.
And it had multiple rehearsals.
I couldn’t talk to people.
I was going to singing rehearsal, and I’m not a singer!
And being asked to sing the song over and over and over again.
You take this extremely seriously.
You cannot tell anybody."
So I didn’t tell anybody.
Not even my significant other.
I just said it was pretty interesting.
So I didn’t tell anybody.
You’re considered a founding father of hip-hop.
What artists are you most excited about today?
Any that you feel are game-changers?
Like I couldn’t tell you.
I’ve seen so much.
You know, it’s…
I don’t know.
I can’t even find the words.
I can’t answer that because I’ve seen it all.
I’ve seen it all.
I’ve seen songs that will probably never be heard in America, and artists and DJs and beatboxers.
You seemed to react pretty strongly to some of those guesses onThe Masked Singer.
What was really going through your mind?
I was like, really?
Jazzy Jeff, P Diddy.
But when it came to that Nicole, whoo.
She was like, “Hmmm.
First hip-hop artist to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
She was kind of just out loud telling us her thoughts.
And she says, “Under that costume, I think it’s Grandmaster Flash.”
And make them think second of their correct guess.
[Laughs] So when she figured it out I just stayed still.
And then I thought maybe the head would come off then.
We do this thing called Take it Off."
I’m like, “What isthat?!”
“This is when the crowd tells us when to take it off.”
I’m like, “Oh, okay.
So I guess I’ll wait to take it off.”
It was such an adventure.
It was a learning experience.
And healing.That’s what it was to me.
I’ve got the pictures to look at and just laugh at myself.
It was pretty cool.
