Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show wasn’t just about dissing Drake
But somebody gotta do it.
Photo by Jamie Squire/Getty Images.
What a week it’s been for Mr. Lamar. One Sunday he wins 5 Grammys. Next Sunday he performs at the Super Bowl. And what a performance it was. It featured SZA, Samuel L. Jackson, and cameos from Serena Williams and DJ and producer Mustard while Kendrick delivered 11 songs.
It’s understandable that viewers mostly discuss the parts dedicated to dissing Drake—that little tidbit of “I want to play their favourite song but you know they like to sue” is pretty worthy of starting conversation—but there’s more.
There’s the critique of the exploitation of Black culture, portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson in his latest cinematic role as Uncle Sam in this performance (à la Dave Chapelle in the 2018 Grammys). There’s the double (triple?) entendre of a “game”: the Super Bowl, his beef with Drake, and the so-called “great American game”. Lamar drives home this point in everything from the stage design, to the closing “game over” message, to that “rig the game” line in the bonus pre-Not Like Us verse.
Lamar alludes to this in an interview the day before the performance, saying, “My intent was always to keep the nature of it as a sport. (…) I love when artists grit their teeth.” Clearly, because he’s been gritting his teeth for 9 months and counting, taking victory lap after victory lap, and inviting Serena Williams to dance along with him and his 400 performers on Drake’s grave.
This show, just like all of Lamar’s shows, was about storytelling. “I’ve always been very open about storytelling through all my catalogue and my history of music. And I’ve always had a passion about bringing that to whatever stage I’m on. (…) I like to always carry that sense of making people listen but also see and think a little.” Just because his diss track won five Grammys doesn’t mean we should forget his last 15 years of work—or the last 50 years of hip-hop.
“I like to always carry that sense of making people listen but also see and think a little.”
He used the performance to frame the music industry, American culture and politics, himself, and football as cogs in something much larger, as he had a lot of fun in the process. As he should, coming off of a week-old Grammy sweep to now being the first solo rapper to perform in the Super Bowl.
He celebrates this by highlighting his most recent songs (six out of the 11 songs played were from GNX, released in November 2024) rather than performing a career-spanning medley like Rihanna’s record-breaking show in 2023.
This is in line with his value of presence, and respecting the past but not living in it. He tells Apple Music’s Nadeska and Ebro, “I love being present. It’s very hard for me to live in the past. (…) [When I’m making a record] I’m gonna make sure I’m present that particular time in the studio, in the booth, that I feel happy, that I feel energised, that I feel frustrated, you’re gonna feel it. [The role of an artist] is to carry that as an inspiration to people that may not have a voice”.
A peaceful protester lived by those words when he held up a Palestinian and Sudanese flag towards the end of Lamar’s performance. He was raising awareness to the American foreign policy and the suffering of those in Gaza and Sudan. He was tackled and banned for life from all NFL stadiums and events.
Although the protest was unplanned, it fulfilled Lamar’s prophetic claim a few minutes prior that “the revolution is about to be televised”. CAIR (The Council on American-Islamic Relations) took to X to show their support, saying, “We commend the Super Bowl performer who courageously and peacefully raised awareness about ongoing war crimes against the people of Gaza and Sudan.”
“This is me, this is Kendrick Lamar. I’m 37 years old, and I still feel like I’m elevating.”
While this happened, Lamar enjoyed the closing track of the performance before smiling at the camera and declaring “game over”.
The performance was full of little Easter eggs: opening the show the same way as he started the HUMBLE. music video; Serena Williams’s revenge crip walk, the stage layout resembling the Alright music video, the pgLang flags flashing briefly in the background, and much more.
But where the performance truly shines—just like all of Lamar’s performances—is in the love he has for hip-hop. He uses every opportunity he has to celebrate this, and he never believes in being done. “I continue to do what I was doing 10 years ago,” he tells Nadeska and Ebro, “which is bettering myself, bettering the craft, and not looking at these bright lights.”
“This is me, this is Kendrick Lamar. I’m 37 years old, and I still feel like I’m elevating, I’m still on the journey. And I want that energy to ooze out into the television and to the people that are in that building.”
And it did.
