By Ally Uhlendorf
Managing Editor
“The revolution ‘bout to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy,” superstar rapper Kendrick Lamar proclaimed at the beginning of his Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show performance.
For 13 minutes during the Apple Music and Roc Nation Halftime Show, Lamar commanded the field and did not hold back.
Lamar’s performance opened with Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam presenting the “Great American Game,” representing the current state of the country. The camera then panned to Lamar standing on top of a Buick GNX clown car style, rapping an as-of-now-untitled new song that had been teased since his “GNX” album was released.
Lamar is deeply associated with the Black Lives Matter movement of the past decade — and now, at a moment in America when many Black Americans feel their rights being rolled back under President Donald Trump’s orders to pull apart efforts toward diversity, equity and inclusion, this was not only a performance, it was a statement.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning artist then transitioned into his hit song “Squabble Up,” joined by his backup dancers dressed in the country’s colors. Once this song finished up, the attention panned back to Jackson’s Uncle Sam labeling the performance as “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.” He then reminded Lamar to “play the game,” once again making a reference to the current world of politics.
Lamar then moved into the next portion of his performance, featuring two songs from his hit album “DAMN.” Next up on the setlist was one of his greatest songs off the album, “Humble.,” Lamar delivered a cinematic production with his dancers dressed in red, white and blue, ending the song with imitating the sound of a gunshot and the dancers running off center stage.
After wrapping up “DNA.,” the trumpets of one of his most recent singles “Euphoria” brought the audience back into Lamar’s ongoing feud with Drake. He then transitioned into “man at the garden,” soon getting cut off once again by Jackson telling the scorekeeper to “deduct one life.”
The artist moved over to the “X” stage to perform around one minute of “peekaboo,” and then teased the song everyone was anxiously waiting for, “Not Like Us.”
“I wanna play their favorite song but you know they love to sue,” Lamar told the dancers behind him with a cheeky smile on his face, referencing Drake again.
It is difficult to put into words the significance of “Not Like Us,” with its billion-plus streams on Spotify and impact on pop culture over the course of the past few months. As a sort-of finale, for now, to the ongoing Kendrick-Drake feud, the song has also become an anthem representing unity and defiance. Oh, and it won five Grammy Awards this year.
But, instead of going straight into the diss-track, Lamar gave us the gift of bringing out SZA to join him in performing “luther” and “All the Stars.”
SZA and Lamar are frequent collaborators, with seven songs featuring each other throughout their musical careers. The duo will also co-headline a 19-city North American tour this spring and summer.
“That’s what America wants — nice and calm,” Jackson said, referring to the duo’s slow-song performance. “You’re almost there, don’t mess this…” he tells the performer as the introduction beat of “Not Like Us” begins to play before he can finish his sentence.
Lamar pops back on stage with four of his female dancers, announcing “it’s a cultural divide,” and “this is bigger than the music,” before jumping into the track.
Circling back to the Drake dilemma, Lamar got the last word when he rapped the infamous line “Say, Drake,” with the biggest smile on his face right toward the camera — making it known that he is currently winning. As for the song’s arguably most lethal line — “Ain’t you tired? Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A Minor” — the rapper basked in the sound of the entire stadium whole-heartedly shouting it along with him.
The performance also featured a cameo from former American professional tennis player Serena Williams dancing on stage.
Williams’ cameo was remarkable for many reasons. Like Lamar, she grew up in Compton, the California city known for its history of hip-hop. Williams is also not the biggest fan of Drake, to put it simply. The two were rumored to have dated years ago, with Drake referencing Williams in his 2013 song “Worst Behavior” and again in his 2022 song “Middle of the Ocean,” in which he derided her now-husband Alexis Ohanian as a “groupie.”
So, Williams being featured in the performance was iconic, to say the least.
The show ended with Lamar giving his final trademark, reminding the crowd of who he is.
“I go by the name of K-Dot, Kendrick Lamar, Mr. Morale,” Lamar announced. “This is GNX, we came all the way from Compton, California to party with y’all.”
He then leaned into his final song, “tv off.” After bringing DJ and producer Mustard onto stage as the song screamed his name, the song ended abruptly. The lights went dark and the camera cut to a bird’s-eye view. The portions of the audience that were still illuminated in the darkness spelled out two words: “GAME OVER.”
Ladies and gentlemen, that is what we call: a performance.
