We all saw the halftime show for the 2025 SuperBowl against the Chiefs and the Eagles, and it was clear that Kendrick Lamar won. While there is often debate over whether the show was “good” or not, this year there seems to be even more debate than usual. If you didn’t catch all the symbolism and double meanings behind Kendrick’s performance, I’m laying them out here now. Full disclosure, some of these easter eggs come from my sister Rose who loves to dive into music whether it be mixing, editing or choreographing.
The Set
First the set. The set itself was simple enough, but the meaning starts here. We open with many people getting out of a car. This is a GNX which is not only an American made car, but is the title of Kendrick’s new album. Next we look at the stage. From the aerial view we can see that it is the symbol of an Xbox controller. Not only is this referring to “The Game” the American government plays with its people, but also Xbox is owned by Sony. Sony is the company that owns Drake’s label.
When the camera pans and we are shown a sort of yard with streetlights. My first thought was that it looked like a prison yard, which would fall in line with the idea of how unfair the system is and how the government treats its people. Others have said it resembled the Squid Games yard which would be a nod towards our capitalistic society and how it’s destroying us.
The performance
We see Samuel L. Jackson dressed in red white and blue playing Uncle Sam. He welcomes us to “The Greatest Game in the World”. While that could mean the Super Bowl, it is clearly an allusion to the government and the games it plays. This is also already a hit to Drake. In Family Matters, a diss track created against Kendrick, Drake sings “Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone come give him a grammy right now. Where is your uncle at? Cuz I wanna talk to the man of the house” (besides the fact that Kendrick did in fact kill it at the grammys) Jackson is playing the “Uncle”, this just adds to the fact that this entire diss performance (whether from a political angle or a dissing Drake angle) Kendrick thoroughly enjoyed himself.
Kendrick, standing on top of the GNX car says, “The revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.” Through this he is saying that this performance is about to be a protest in itself. He is not one to sit back and do nothing. We see a necklace he is wearing is a lowercase ‘a’ . Some people thought that this was to reference the phrase “a minor” which is very funny, however, it more likely represented his company, PGLang.
Kendrick performs the song “Squabble Up”. Rose was very interested in this section because the sample of Squabble Up is the sample to the unreleased song Reincarnated (which is nothing like the song Reincarnated that’s on the album). He reincarnated himself with the Drake diss tracks because he started becoming irrelevant with the younger generations, however, with the Kendrick vs. Drake situation he became relevant to the younger generations, who previous to this were definitely fans of Drake. The steps down the stairs and up the stairs from the ensemble towards the end of Squabble Up represent the fact that some people are moving forward in America and some people are moving backward (a nod to the rampant classism in our country).
“Uncle Sam” comes back to say that Kendrick is not playing The Game right, “Too Loud. Too reckless. Too Ghetto.” Then they begin playing Humble. The choreography is very reminiscent of the original Humble music video including the rhythmic head nods. The backup dancers who are dressed in red, white, and blue sweatsuits (representing Bloods, Crips, and everyone else) face backwards and form the American flag out of their bodies. Representing how America was built off the backs of Black People. They even hold up the Black Lives Matter hand sign to further exemplify that point. While in the American Flag formation, they separate themselves to give Kendrick room to come down the stairs. This represents how the United States is currently divided in many ways, but most importantly, politically.
When the song Euphoria starts playing we see that in the audience there is a sign that reads “Warning Wrong Way” indicating that Kendrick is not following orders given to him by Uncle Sam and is instead choosing to be “loud and reckless”. After the conclusion of this set, Uncle Sam comes back into screen to say “Scorekeeper, deduct one life” showing what happens to those who don’t follow directions and don’t stay in line. Possibly a direct reference to police brutality.
Then we get into the section of the performance that involves SZA. Of course, Kendrick and SZA are going on tour together, (Rose and I have got our tickets!) so it is no surprise that she is here. However, she is also an ex of Drake’s which makes her being there and going on tour with Kendrick kind of iconic.
After the songs with SZA, Uncle Sam comes back and says “That’s what America wants, nice and calm” This is ironic because the songs with SZA really did get the most applause up to this point since those one’s are often more mainstream and well known. Then, interrupting Uncle Sam saying “we’re almost there, don’t mess this up”, we hear the beginning notes of “Not Like Us”. Scoffing, Uncle Sam walks away and Kendrick plays with his audience and Drake over whether or not he is going to do his fan favorite. His backup dancers ask if he is “really ‘bout to do it?” Then he answers by saying “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music” For those who don’t know this is a reference to how black people were treated in America. In 1865 and when the North won, they were going to free the enslaved people. Many were promised up to 40 acres of land and a mule so that they could be self-sufficient. However, this is just another promise the government made that it did not keep and eventually they evicted those who did manage to get land. The backup dancers again say WHAT Kendrick responds again by saying “They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence” a reference to Drake trying to sue over Kendrick’s song becoming increasingly popular and the music industry often not taking rap artists seriously.
They then start the song “They Not Like Us”. When they got to the line “Say Drake, I hear ya like ‘em young” he did his now iconic look directly into the camera with the big smile that’s been trending on social media. He does not actually say the word pedophile, since Drake was threatening to sue him, however, the roar from the crowd during the line “Tryna strike a cord and it’s probably A minor” showed that the damage is basically already done. I would also like to remind everyone that nothing Kendrick does ever has just one meaning. People seem to be forgetting that the “A minor” line is so clever because a large portion of Drake’s songs are in the A minor key. (because Kendrick is a lyrical genius and Drake makes it too easy.)
During this song we also see Serena Williams crip walking staring into the camera with a look that could kill. This was a really bold statement and speaks to black culture erasure. At Wimble, Serena received a lot of backlash for crip walking. Serena is also an Ex of Drake so the fact that she was there was also a two fold move.
One thing that has sparked major debate was the backup dancer seemingly protesting. He ran through holding a Gaza Palestine flag trying to bring attention to the erasure and the ways in which our government is helping (or more accurately not helping) the situation there. While many have talked of his bravery and I obviously have no intimate knowledge of the situation, I would not put it past this performance to have a staged protester be chased down in order to exemplify the invisibility of these issues especially with the erasure of it in the main media outlets. It was interesting that it was not shown on any platform and the only real video evidence is from people in the stands with their phones. I think it would be interesting to find out if this was indeed a real protest and worked as an ironic instance to exemplify what Kendrick was saying, or was this a clever facit of the performance art piece that was already taking place.
Not only was Kendrick’s performance petty, it was poetry. There really is a difference between art and entertainment. Entertainment is to amuse the audience, and art is to inspire. Many people have definitely been inspired by this performance. If nothing more it has certainly added fuel to the fire of recent political discourse, and I’m sure it will continue to do so.