On Sunday, February 9th, Grammy award winning rapper Kendrick Lamar headlined the Super Bowl LIX Halftime show. Each year’s Super Bowl Halftime performance is harder to top than the last, and Lamar showed no intention of breaking that streak with this year’s jam-packed show. The spectacle was highly anticipated following Lamar’s year of chart toppers, diss track battles, a new album release and tour announcement, and five Grammy wins just one week prior to the big game.
With appearances from SZA, Samuel L. Jackson, Mustard, and Serena Williams during the show, performances of his hit songs such as “Humble” and “All the Stars”, and the quickly viral “Hey Drake” moment during his performance of “Not Like Us”, Lamar proved his mastery as an entertainer and put on a show that indicates no signs of leaving America’s minds or screens anytime soon.
Although the star power is easily distracting, one would be remiss not to acknowledge the underlying (and at times, very overt) themes of the weekend’s event. Lamar has never shied away from his attitudes about black America, as was exemplified in his performance.
The first image shown of the Halftime show was the stage, which was crafted to look like a game console. The camera then panned to Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as the American mascot Uncle Sam, crying, “This is the great American game!” Lamar then entered with the almost minacious opening line, “The revolution [is] about to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.”
Some political messages during the show took some deciphering. For example, before performing “Not Like Us,” Lamar referenced 40 acres and a mule, an unfulfilled promise made to formerly enslaved African Americans during the civil war. While other images were more straightforward, such as the American flag made entirely of black dancers during “DNA”, and the message “WARNING WRONG WAY” displayed with lights in the crowd.
Lamar’s performance earned mixed reactions from audiences, with some finding fault with the performance quality over the content, and others criticizing the ‘Drake’ of it all, claiming that Kendrick was dragging out and profiting from the feud unnecessarily. Many praised him however, citing his admirable candor respecting topics that many shy away from.
Nevertheless, amid the chatter about political division, rap feuds, and whether or not the microphone was loud enough, the most talked about subject of the night seemed to be Kendrick’s flare-bottom jeans, which trended on X and TikTok for days after the show.
As one of the most watched events of the past fifty years, Lamar’s performance came during a time of high political tension, and he was praised for effectively using his platform to call attention to a number of prevalent issues.