Winning five Grammys over a diss track about Drake and performing a star studding halftime performance at the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans in the same week? No other artist than Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar could pull it off.
The show starts with viewers seeing the stage set up as a Playstation controller. “Salutations!” exclaimed Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam. Fans of Lamar may recognize Uncle Sam as one of the main characters of his 2015 hit album, “To Pimp a Butterfly”.
Lamar, with his bell-bottom jeans, hefty blue jacket, and flashy lowercase “a” chain, already had a message to show. Critics of the show believe that his chain was a dig towards Drake, alluding to “Not Like Us”, which famously calls out the Canadian rapper for being a pedophile.
Dozens of Lamar’s backup dancers exited out of a black Grand National, dressed in either red, white, or blue. A loud scream is heard along with a dramatic backtrack being played. “The revolution about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy,” Lamar exclaims.
This may have been a jab towards the current president, Donald Trump, who was in attendance for Super Bowl LIX.
The dancers then scramble around Lamar, as the performance is started off with “squabble up” off of Lamar’s new album, “GNX”. Jackson interrupted the performance saying it was “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto”.
Lamar then goes on to perform “HUMBLE.”, one of his most popular songs off of his 2017 album “DAMN.”. His dancers are in a formation of the American flag, with Lamar in the middle almost separating the flag. “DNA” is performed next, continuing the trend of his more known songs.
Following next are “euphoria” and “man at the garden”. We see Lamar posted up with some of his buddies, as they all vibe to his performance. Uncle Sam interrupts again, “See you brought your homeboys with you, the old culture cheat code I see, scorekeeper deduct one life.”
The camera then pans to Lamar and his dancers inside the X letter of the stage as “peekaboo” plays. Four ladies in all white then appear. “I wanna perform they favorite song but you know they love to sue,” Lamar says with a smug face. This is a direct jab to Drake attempting to sue Lamar over the song, claiming the statements in the song are false.
The performance then transitions into a calmer state, which brings on guest performer, SZA to perform “luther” and “All the Stars”. Jackson goes on to praise Lamar: “That’s what I’m talking about, that’s what America wants, nice and calm.” Saying that America wants to see his more “pop” hits, rather than his upbeat rap performances.
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This brings some of Lamar’s most important symbolism of the night. “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music”. This is what slaves were promised after being freed. This statement alone set the tone for the whole performance, saying that the feud was so much bigger than the music.
“Not Like Us” is finally performed, which viewers were most excited about, and Lamar did not disappoint. Lamar directly looks at the camera during his “say Drake, I hear you like em’ young”. While viewers understand this song is a direct attack against Drake being a pedophile, Lamar made sure to never actually say pedophile, hoping to avoid a further lawsuit.
Serena Williams, a California native, can be seen c-walking during Lamar’s performance. Williams, a worldwide famous retired tennis star, is also rumored to be Drake’s ex-girlfriend. Drake references Williams in quite a few of his songs, most recently in his 2022 song, “Middle of the Ocean”, where he references Williams’ husband being a groupie.
The performance is ended off with “tv off” where Lamar brings DJ Mustard, who produced the song, along with “Not Like Us’’ Lamar shouts out Mustard during the song by quite literally yelling out “MUSTARDDDD”.
Lamar’s halftime show will go down as not only a performance, but a lesson to America. Storytelling is not new to Lamar, as he is well known for his intricate storytelling within his music, making listeners have to sit down and really think.
