Taraji P. Henson kills it in her ‘SNL’ opening monologue. Seriously, check it out.

We have been SO PUMPED about Taraji P. Henson being the host of Saturday Night Live. She’s hilarious and talented. And seriously—Cookie from Empire? Um, perfection.

Another thing that makes Taraji so fab: girl can SING. And she totally proved it in her opening monologue last night. As the 10th black woman to have ever hosted SNL (what’s up with that SNL?), she took the opportunity to blast stereotypical casting issues and to call out the industry in the most excellent way possible.

 “[Hosting SNL] proves that after 20 years in show business, white people finally know who I am!” she said. “I’ve been around for a while, but a lot of you are just getting to know me as Cookie on Empire. . . this role changed my life. I mean, I spend so many years hustling in this business, and now, I’m here. So, I guess you can say I made it. Hallelujah!”

And then, she wowed us all with her totally gorg singing chops. “Don’t worry about where you are / be grateful that you’ve come this far,” she crooned. “You may not always come in first / Just remember that it could be worse.” Actually, seriously inspirational stuff that we all could learn from. Leave it to Taraji to make her bit hilarious AND a life lesson.

Then, out came a gorgeously amazing gospel choir. And while the song started out slow, it picked up super quick as Taraji belted out all of the things she “could” be doing right now. Our fave? “Coulda passed out samples in a grocery store / On Law and Order I could have played a corpse.”

“Now listen. Instead of worrying where we want to be, how about we try to be thankful for where we’re not,” Taraji told the roaring crowd. “Think of all the things we could be doing right now. We’re blessed. Somebody better testify.”

And then, the best thing ever happened: we discover the gospel choir was filled with some of our fave people, who all highlighted what they *could* be doing. . . including Kenan Thompson, who said that he “could have been the oldest cast member on Goodburger 7.” THROWBACK.

Overall, we totally LOVED Taraji’s fabulous monologue that included her humble character, her hilarity, charm, gorgeous singing, and overall amazingness. Check out the full vid here: false