riff

Padilla, a typically staid legislator, then offered a modified riff of a lyric by rapper Ice Cube, who grew up in South Los Angeles.

An early triumph, from 1976, is “Assault on Precinct 13,” a low-budget riff on Howard Hawks’s “Rio Bravo.”

On “Rated OG,” he adds intriguing curlicue accents to a chord progression rendered on vibraphone as a forceful, distorted bass riff chugs along underneath.

On TikTok, people have riffed on and parodied the playful lyrics endlessly.

More than five years after retiring as one of TV’s most recognizable and distinctive personalities, he has transitioned to riffing on weathering the ravages of aging.