At first, Andy Samberg, Jorma Taccone, and Akiva Schaffer created digital shorts featuring parodic musical collective The Lonely Island as a joke, but after three albums and an upcoming movie, it’s obvious that they’re doing something right—or at least something very hilarious that’s sticking. In promotion of Judd Apatow-produced Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Samberg and Schaffer recently appeared on Sway in the Morning for a quick interview.
In discussion of their music—known for its ridiculous lyrics but very catchy beats—Samberg revealed that they once received a beat from RZA: “We once got sent beats from RZA, which was crazy […] They were super, like, experimental. They were very, like, atonal and weird, and we were like, ‘We don’t know how to make this funny, but it’s dope.”
Even more surprising: they received a beat from J Dilla, but realized that it could have been sacrilegious had they used it for a parodic song: “We were like, ‘Oh my God, we can’t ruin a Dilla beat! People will hate us if we do that,” recalled Schaffer.
Their upcoming film will hit theatres June 3. According to The Lonely Island, the soundtrack will feature Seal, Akon, Emma Stone, and others, as well as the Adam Levine-featuring “I’m So Humble,” “Mona Lisa,” and “Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song),” which premiered during this past weekend’s Saturday Night Live season finale.
Watch their full interview with Sway in the Morning above.
