Kendrick Lamar showcased his talent at the Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. His 13-minute production broke the record for the most viewed halftime performance.
Michael Jackson’s halftime show back in 1993 at Super Bowl XXVII was the last record holder. Lamar just beat the record by 100,000 more viewers. Yet, his performance is being labeled as “The Worst Halftime Show Ever” because Lamar didn’t go the usual route and just rap his songs. He decided to have his production filled with many references to how American society treats African Americans. Lamar has always been an activist before he was a performer. His halftime show was supposed to make certain audience members uncomfortable. These audience members don’t have to worry about the struggles that many African Americans deal with daily. So having to think and realize there’s a problem makes them dislike the performance.
The Stage
The stage layout is very different from other halftime performances. The stage is a big rectangle and shapes lay at each corner. These shapes represent PlayStation controller symbols (square, triangle, circle and an x), referencing Lamar’s life as a video game. Lamar is playing the game of life as an African American man, but if he makes one wrong move, then it’s game over. In the middle of the rectangle was a long white walkway, lit up with multiple street lamps on the side. The white walkway was a recreation of a prison yard, highlighting that there’s a higher rate of mass incarceration happening to Black Americans than to white Americans.
Uncle Sam
Once the show begins, we are introduced to our first cameo of the night with Samuel L. Jackson dressed up as the patriotic character, Uncle Sam. He addresses the camera by saying, “Salutations, it’s your Uncle Sam and this is “The Great American Game”. This was a powerful move that Lamar pulled off. Samuel L. Jackson played a similar character in Django Uncharted by Quentin Tarantino. In the film, Stephen, the character Jackson plays, sees white Americans, particularly men, at the top of the pyramid. Both Stephen & Samuel L. Jackson’s verses of Uncle Sam work against their own races to be able to succeed in America. Uncle Sam represents how the American system tries to control Black culture & artists. He does this by interpreting Lamar’s performance to give his opinion on the songs he uses in the setlist. “No, No, No, No, Noooo! Too loud. Too Reckless. Too Ghetto. Mr. Lamar, do you know how to play the game? Then Tighten up.” Uncle Sam is upset about what Lamar is doing. He wants him to be a nice, docile, and quiet man, like America has tried to condition many African Americans to be. After Lamar performs “Euphoria” on the X stage with his backup dancers. Uncle Sam interprets to say, “OHHH! I see you brought out your homeboys with you. The old culture cheat code, scorekeeper deduct one life.” “The old culture cheat code” means when African American people are together they are unified as one, which was seen as cheating in the American Game that is being played. So for cheating, one of your lives is gone.
American Flag
Lamar took the square stage to rap his infamous song “Humble”. While his all-Black backup dancers wore red, white & blue sweat suits to form the American Flag with their bodies. The dancers were unified together, bending down & having their arms touch each other’s backs. Once the song “Humble” began, they slowly pulled away from each other and stood up to have a clear split in the middle of the flag where Lamar was rapping. This signified the political and racial divide happening in the United States. Also, his choice of having all Black dancers stand up wasn’t just a coincidence, it was a message saying that America was built on the labor of African Americans.
Drake References
Kendrick Lamar and Drake had a serious feud in late spring of 2024. Multiple diss tracks were written about each other to antagonize the other person. After a month of going back and forth, the media eventually let it rest. Until, Lamar went to perform at the Super Bowl. Lamar’s outfit had one feature that stood out the most – which was his big sparkly chain around his neck that was lowercase “a.”
This was the first attack on Drake, the lowercase “a” is a reference to the chord A minor. Which is a lyric from Lamar’s last diss track on Drake, “Not Like Us.” The lyrics go “trying to strike a chord and it’s probably A minor”.
The Exes: Two cameos appeared during the 13-minute production. The first one was SZA.
She was a guest performer at the Super Bowl Halftime show – yet, she is one of Drake’s exes. They dated between 2008 and 2009. The second one was Serena Williams, appearing right next to a light pole, crip walking during the song “Not Like Us”. It was rumored that Drake & Williams dated back in 2011 and 2015.
“Not Like Us:” During Lamar’s whole Super Bowl set, he kept edging the song “Not Like Us.” There were many rumors that Drake did not want this song to be on the setlist. One was when Lamar was surrounded by a group of African American women, who had the same sweats & hairstyle. He told them, “Ladies I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue.” Back in 2024, Drake sued Universal Music Group (UMG) over the song “Not Like Us” for harassment and defamation. Eventually, after starting the song and stopping numerous times, he finally let it play. He was able to rap the song but had to censor a couple of words to fit the television guidelines. “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young” was Lamar’s final attack on Drake. When Lamar said this line, he looked right into the camera lens & smiled. He knew he won the rap feud.