Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show performance at this year’s Super Bowl was full of messages and commentary about how America oppresses and scrutinizes the Black community.
To begin the performance, Samuel L. Jackson comes into the frame dressed as Uncle Sam and welcomes the audience to the performance. Uncle Sam is a notorious caricature of America used mainly in propaganda during wartime. It’s widely believed that Uncle Sam popped up sometime in the 1830s, although the true origin is unknown. Uncle Sam is not a person but a personification of the country. Many still describe Uncle Sam when talking about America.
Interestingly, instead of welcoming the audience to the Super Bowl halftime show, Uncle Sam welcomes everyone to the “Great American Game.” Perhaps this is a sign of what is to come — a signal that this is not merely a performance but a commentary on the U.S. as a whole.
After a short intro with the unreleased song “Bodies,” Lamar addresses the audience for the first time, saying, “The revolution ‘bout to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guy.’”
This is an obvious statement directed at the Trump presidency, the rollback of DEI policies from mass corporations like Google and Meta, and, broadly, the building oppression occurring in North America. Lamar clarified that although performing at the Superbowl is a relatively “brand-friendly” move, he would not be mincing his words regarding what he stands for.
Once “Squabble Up,” a song from his new album GNX, was performed, Uncle Sam came into the frame for the second time with a different message. Jackson shouts, “No, no, no. Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto. Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!” This points to a significant issue about America’s (also applicable in Canada and other countries) heavy policing of Black artists.
This message from Uncle Sam forces the dancers (who happen to be wearing either red, white, or blue) to form a rectangle around Lamar, resembling an American flag. Instead of the free-flowing, creative movements seen from the dancers up to this point, the dancers are now solemn, almost militant.
As Lamar begins playing one of his most successful (and brand-friendly) songs, “Humble,” his dancers nod in obedience and start marching into a new formation. It is no coincidence that the dancers resemble army-like characters. They are symbolizing the flattening and oppressive nature of white American culture on marginalized communities.
A fantastic article by scholar Rachel E. Sullivan in the Journal of Black Studies highlights that politicians have criticized rap music for decades. Sullivan suggests that “thinly veiled anti-black comments” were misinformed and contributed to the idea that rap music is inherently violent.
Sullivan goes on to describe many ways that Black hip-hop and rap musicians were systematically discriminated against in order to silence their voices. Uncle Sam’s call for Lamar to be less “reckless” is a direct call to these events seen time and time again where Black artists are silenced into pushing non-political, lighter messages.
Lamar went on to perform a couple more songs with arguably fewer political messages until the end of the song “Man in the Garden.” Here, the audience sees Lamar standing in front of a group of his dancers; this time, they’re not wearing the red-white-and-blue they have up until this point; they are now wearing jeans and t-shirts. His dancers sit on the base of a lamppost until suddenly, they run off camera, and Lamar follows them. The audience then watches Uncle Sam enter the frame, almost as if he were chasing off the dancers.
This time, Uncle Sam’s message is clear: “I see you brought your homeboys with you, the ol’ culture cheat code! Scorekeeper, deduct one life.” As content creator Cindy Noir astutely points out in an Instagram Reel, many Black people have been the target of violence after coming together and fighting for their rights. She touches on the idea that Black people coming together and forming a community is seen as a threat. She says, “What do they do whenever we get together in camaraderie and remind ourselves of who we are? They deduct one life.”
Throughout the entire halftime performance, Lamar teases the song “Not Like Us,” a diss track that has garnered him much attention this past year. The song was one of three released to draw attention to fellow artist Drake’s problematic history with young girls. Lamar goes on to call Drake a “colonizer” for profiting off of and acting as though he is gang-affiliated and from a rough neighbourhood even though he grew up in Forest Hill, Toronto — one of the nicest neighbourhoods in the city.
In his performance, Lamar commented that he might get in trouble for playing the song. He referred to the attempted lawsuits Drake has threatened Lamar with for defamation (which has no actual standing in a court of law) and to Lamar’s record label for allowing this to be released.
One of the most impactful things Lamar says in this performance comes when teasing “Not Like Us.” Lamar argues, “It’s a cultural divide; I’m a get it on the floor. 40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.”
The concept of “40 acres and a mule” is a well-known broken promise from the government to African Americans. In 1865, as slavery in America was beginning to end, in consultation with 20 Black community leaders, it was decided that, as writer Shanelle Genai in The Root says, the confederation would give “formerly enslaved freed Black families 40 acres a piece so that they could farm and build a livelihood of their own.”
As hinted at before, this promise was unfortunately never brought to fruition. After Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in April of 1865, the next president, Andrew Johnson, gave the promised acres back to the confederation, and the formerly enslaved people received nothing.
Writer and journalist Rahiem Shabazz wrote on X, “[Lamar’s] statement reminds us that reparations aren’t just a political debate or an abstract concept — they are a moral imperative, a debt owed, and an essential step toward true justice and equality.”
After a tremendous collaborative performance with SZA on two songs, Lamar finally plays the hit song “Not Like Us.” As the first chorus hits, the camera moves and focuses on legendary tennis champion Serena Williams as she crip walks and dances to the camera. While this may seem insignificant, it is yet another message directed at the audience.
Besides the reports that Williams dated Drake on and off for around four years, Williams’ proud crip walking sends a major message. The history of the crip walk is a bit disputed, but dances created by gangs started in the 1960s with the Slauson Village gang dance, “the Slauson shuffle,” as a way for members to dance together. Over the years, it evolved into gangs creating intricate footwork to spell out the name of their gang — as a way to state their territory and their affiliation.
On the podcast Drink Champs, an episode featuring Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre notes that the dance now colloquially called the “crip walk” is actually just a dance that originated on the west coast. It could also be referred to as the “blood walk,” but in media, “crip” make reference to both artist’s ties with the crip gang. The crip walk has transcended into being more of an homage to the west coast, specifically Compton, where both Lamar and Williams are from.
This dance was especially powerful coming from Williams, as just a few years ago, she garnered a lot of controversy by performing the dance as a celebration following her gold medal in the 2012 Olympics. She faced pushback from the media, stating that her dance moves were inappropriate at the event.
A research article cites Fox News’ portrayal of the event: “She was in the city of kings and queens. People were sipping champagne and eating strawberries and cream . . . and there was Serena crip-walking all over the most lily-white place in the world.”
The fact that after all of the criticism, Williams could get up at the Super Bowl and crip walk bigger and harder than she ever has publicly before speaks to her power and bravery. Thankfully, this time, the dance was met with cheers and applause.
Overall, Lamar’s performance couldn’t have come at a better time. The fact that he was able to spread these messages on such a big platform during Black History Month is truly incredible.
Additionally, having this performance be the first-ever since the NFL took down the “end racism” messaging usually printed on either end of the field shows how these voices will not and cannot be silenced. Lamar looked directly into the eyes of American audiences and told them they needed to be better.