Season four of The Masked Singer finally premiered, and we already have our first reveal! Dragon, who gave an impressive performance rapping onstage, was nonetheless the first to go home. During his unmasking, Dragon was revealed to be 12-time Grammy nominee Busta Rhymes.
The fourth season of The Masked Singer looks a little different than prior installments of the popular singing competition show. While the series still follows the regular format of celebrities putting on performances while in masks and giving the audience clues as to their identity, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic forced a few changes to keep the judges and performers safe. Rather than a large audience in the studio, the show features just a small collection of in-studio viewers. In addition, the series will rely heavily on the at-home audience, as well as virtual reality effects. Thankfully, the fact that all performers are already masked ticks one big box on the COVID-19 safety list.
The evening started with a performance from Sun, and quickly moved through the list of performers until Dragon took the stage. The performer rapped to LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out.” Unfortunately, his voice was rather recognizable, and one of the judges immediately called him out as Busta Rhymes. His clues included a stopwatch, a dog bone, weights, the Statue of Liberty, and many trophies. He also said, “As you can see, dressing up in funky outrageous costumes isn’t new to me.” Unfortunately, the judges weren’t impressed with his performance and chose him as the weakest performer of the night, forcing him to remove his mask. When he whipped off the Dragon head, he was revealed to be rapper Busta Rhymes.
According to EW, Busta Rhymes wanted to make an appearance on the show for many reasons, not the least of which being that he is a fan. He said, “Well, I wanted to get on the show because everything made sense, as far as the way the opportunity was presented — the professionalism of the production and the network, the incredible accommodations that they extended to us so that we can feel above and beyond comfortable in the process of the whole experience.” He continued, “And last, but not least, I’m a fan of the show. My kids, my peers, I literally have been talking about this show with [them]…It’s just a thing that is really resonating well with the people.”
While Dragon is already out of the competition, plenty of talented performers remain. Sun, Popcorn, Giraffe, and Snow Owls all gave stellar performances tonight and will be continuing on in the competition. Stay tuned to find out who’s underneath all those masks!
The Masked Singer airs Wednesdays at 8 pm ET on FOX.
