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SNL's "Back Home Ballers" Is Still THE Thanksgiving Banger
Saturday Night Live's Lil' Baby Aidy brought serious swag to visiting fam in this holiday rap classic.
There's a cornucopia of Christmas songs, but when it comes to original Thanksgiving tunes...not so much.
Luckily, one of the few Thanksgiving songs is an absolute classic: "Back Home Ballers" from Saturday Night Live — still a banger of an earworm, a decade after "YRGIRLS" originally rolled up to their parents' house.
For many Americans, one of the best perks of going home for the holidays is being treated like a queen. And "Back Home Ballers" demonstrates the highs and lows of staying with Mom and Dad as a full-grown adult.
Want to revisit some more of your favorite Thanksgiving sketches — and see a few you might've missed?
Watch the 2024 A Saturday Night Live Thanksgiving Special on Wednesday, November 22, from 9 -11 p.m. on NBC and next day on Peacock.
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"Back Home Ballers" stars Cameron Diaz and the queens of SNL's Season 40 cast
The faux music video premiered on SNL's November 22, 2014 episode. It stars Season 40 cast members Kate McKinnon, Cecily Strong, Sasheer Zamata, Vanessa Bayer, “Lil’ Baby” Aidy Bryant, and Leslie Jones, along with Host Cameron Diaz. "Back Home Ballers" was written by Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider (who later created the series The Other Two) with Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant.
The seven-woman girl group raps about their life as daughters returning home, ready to rule the roost — all while kickin' back on the couch. Heaven!
The video opens on a van — sporting the vanity license plate "YRGIRLS" — as it pulls up in front of a suburban house. The "Back Room Ballers" gang step out with some serious swagger as they introduce themselves, ready for their royal welcome.
"We’re home for Thanksgiving y’all," says McKinnon, with Strong adding, "And our parents are real happy to see us."
"So, they’re gonna treat us like queens," Bayer chimes in as the song begins.
The song glorifies all the perks of being home with their adoring parents — like having a fully stocked fridge, using the washing machine for a single sock, and not having to clean your dirty dishes.
The "Back Home Baller" lyrics praise the best parts of visiting home
"Walk in the door hand my bag to the valet / In case your wondering, it's my dad-day," McKinnon raps in the first verse. "Head straight to the fridge like a boss, yo / Hell yeah! My mom went to Costco."
The women join together to sing the catchy chorus: "'Cuz I'm a back home baller/ If I want something I just holler/ I do what I want and I get what I want 'cause my parents miss their daughter."
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"This whole d--- house is a shrine to me / Cause everybody here is obsessed with me! My second grade drawings are framed like Picassos / If I say, "Mom, tacos!" My mom will make tacos," Lil Baby Aidy raps.
Now, it's not all naps and snacks for the "Back Home Ballers": there are some downsides to staying in your childhood home. You have to talk to your parents' neighbors, and if you want use the Wi-Fi, you need to enter the extremely long and complicated password full of random letters and numbers that for some reason was never changed since it was originally installed.
Bowls, bowls, all type of bowls
But Leslie Jones' Missy Elliott homage may be the best part of the song, when the visuals transform into a Dave Meyers-style Missy music video as Jones dedicates a verse to her mom's abundance of bowls around the house — bowls for everything from potpourri and seashells to candy and keys.
"Bowls, bowls, all type of bowls/ Chips and mints and seashell bowls," Jones raps, "Work It"-style.
The Back Home Ballers' parents won't have to wait too long for another reunion: "See you in a month for Christmas," says Bryant, as the turkey track comes to an end. "We doing this all again."
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Watch "Back Home Ballers" from Season 40, Episode 7 above, and stream every episode of Saturday Night Live on Peacock anytime.
