Kendrick Lamar broke the internet with this year’s Super Bowl appearance, the 59th Super Bowl to date, joined by consistent feature artist SZA. The Super Bowl has traditionally been the largest streamed American event, garnering the attention of millions of people as the biggest sporting event of the year. At this year’s Apple Music Half-Time Show, the recent five-time GRAMMY winner, Lamar, stormed the stage with the show of a lifetime as he told his story of political discourse through music.
the Full Set List
Lamar’s set list was highly anticipated following his announcement to bring SZA onstage during the performance. In an earlier interview, Lamar promised a story during his show. He delivered a 13-minute-long performance showcasing many different, much deeper elements of the rap industry and the surrounding world.
Introduced by surprise guest Samuel L. Jackson, Lamar showcased his art alongside a group of dancers dressed in red, white, and blue. The kicker? Jackson was present as Lamar’s own Uncle Sam, consistently calling out Lamar and his dancers as “too ghetto” and “too much,” encouraging them to perform “slower” and softer music throughout the show.
We were all shaking as Lamar began his show rapping the lyrics to an unreleased song along to the background music of one of his recently released GNX songs, “wacced out murals,” following that song with the hit from his most recent album, “squabble up.” Amidst the rapping, Jackson interrupted to remind Kendrick to play fair, scolding the artist’s music choices before he went into “HUMBLE.,” “DNA,” “euphoria,” “man at the garden,” and “peekaboo.”
One of the most exciting moments of the performance was Lamar’s teaser towards his top song, “Not Like Us.” If you’re not familiar with the song, it recently won five GRAMMYs at last week’s award show, and it has stayed popular throughout the infamous rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and his recent rival Drake. Many have speculated that the song would be avoided due to its controversial nature, however it did eventually make an appearance later in the show.
SZA showed up following Lamar’s teaser, where they sang “luther” and “All the Stars” together as the dancers continued circling the stage. Jackson made another appearance, praising the softness of the songs sung after Lamar’s rapping, continuing his storytelling of the drift between rap culture and the societal expectations of the outside world.
Right before Lamar launched into his long-awaited diss track, Jackson warned him to keep up his charade, but the artist disregarded his narration as he jumped into the slam on Drake. Throughout the performance, tennis icon Serena Williams was seen dancing on stage while the crowd was heard chanting the famous “A-minor” line.
To close his performance, Lamar rapped to “tv off,” another song from GNX that hasn’t got half of the energy that “Not Like Us” has but holds strong as one of his recent lyrical masterpieces while Mustard joined him.
Easter Eggs You May Have Missed
Lamar’s performance gave us everything we wanted and more. Here are a few of the easter eggs you might’ve missed during the chaos of the performance!
Lamar’s outfit boasted a few different easter eggs, including the name “gloria” plastered across the front of his jacket, referencing his recent GNX song with stage partner SZA. Another mind-blowing addition to Lamar’s getup was the lowercase “a” chain that he wore around his neck, allegedly a tribute to the “a-minor” line in his GRAMMY-winning song “Not Like Us.”
In another jab at Drake, Kendrick invited not one but two of Drake’s former relationships. SZA was rumored to have a relationship with Drake in the early 2000s, back when the two were younger, but a more surprising guest star was tennis legend Serena Williams, seen dancing on stage to “Not Like Us,” another now ex of Drake.
A favorite moment of the Super Bowl Show was Kendrick’s toothy grin during the introduction of his diss track as he directly addressed Drake!
This show was more than expected for most Kendrick Lamar fans, featuring many surprising guests and song features. After Rihanna’s pregnancy announcement last year, a performance of a lifetime was expected to reach the levels of the queen herself, but somehow Kendrick managed to live up to her hype this year as he worked to create a story during his time onstage. #GAMEOVER!
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