Kendrick Lamar has become famous for carrying the flame of West Coast hip-hop forward and making it visible to everyone.
Yesterday, he became the first solo rapper to appear on the NFL Super Bowl halftime show.
Lamar performed a mix of songs primarily taken from his most recent album, GNX, in front of the largest captive audience of his career, which consisted of about 65,000 people in the Superdome and millions more at home.
Regardless of how politically incorrect or unpleasant that devotion may be, he has always been adamant about preserving the art form and sport of rap as a respected lyricist.
Lamar played into concerns that he is too dangerous for the nation’s largest platform with sinister pleasure for America’s annual night of God, country, and football. He made it apparent that he would not moderate his disdain or his demeanour for the large crowd.
In his role as a satirical Uncle Sam, actor Samuel L. Jackson introduced the concert by berating Lamar’s every action and cautioning that he should not do anything “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.”
Lamar responded by attacking the competition he had been burying for the past year and portraying himself as a forerunner of the dirty truth of America.
“The revolution ’bout to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guys,” the 37-year-old said. As dozens of dancers poured out from a shiny black Buick GNX, Lamar jumped off the stage to perform “squabble up,” and then segued into his 2017 single, “HUMBLE.” Dancers dressed in red, white and blue marched into a stars-and-stripes-shaped formation, with Lamar positioned as a defiant rip right down the center of the flag.
“Do you really know how to play the game?” Uncle Samuel L. scolded. “Then tighten up!”
Before the much-anticipated concert ever aired, there was already considerable criticism around it.
If Lamar would perform his 2024 hit single “Not Like Us” or not.
Emerging from a battle with superstar singer Drake, the song swiftly became one of Lamar’s hallmark songs, breaking streaming records and earning him the Grammy Awards’ Song of the Year and Record of the Year awards last week.
Accusing Universal Music Group, the parent business of both rappers’ record labels, of distributing and extensively advertising “Not Like Us” to harm the Toronto rhymer’s reputation, Drake’s lawyers launched a defamation case against the firm in January.
Drake is accused of being a paedophile and a “colonizer” of hip-hop culture in the song’s lyrics. Drake claims in his lawsuit that the record label promoted the bogus accusations despite knowing they were untrue.
As Lamar performed other GNX tracks like “man at the garden” and “peekaboo,” he knew the moment everyone was waiting for. He hinted heavily at the controversy a few times throughout his set, smirking when the string instrumental of “Not Like Us” first blared through the superdome. “But you know they love to sue,” he quipped.
The R&B superstar SZA performed her verse on “luther,” their current top 10 hit from GNX, after Lamar pump-faked instead of playing the entire song. The two artists then collaborated on “All the Stars” from Black Panther: The Album, the soundtrack album Lamar executive produced in 2018.
For a little moment, Uncle Samuel appeared to be placated by the dazzling, secure, and upbeat song.
It turned out that the hint before those softer songs was a setup: “They tried to rig the game but you can’t fake influence,” Lamar snarled as he launched into a full performance of “Not Like Us.”
He grinned straight to camera without skipping over Drake’s name or any of the lyrical allegations.
Adding insult to injury, a camera pan revealed tennis champion, Compton native (and Drake’s ex-girlfriend) Serena Williams crip walking to the bop. The production even cut the music for the crowd to sing the song’s most notorious line: “tryin’ to strike a chord and it’s probably A-minor.”
Lamar ended his halftime performance with the words “tv off,” transforming the chorus of the song into an insult directed at the millions of people watching: Lamar was joined at centerfield by his producer, DJ Mustard. This show will not be surpassed, so you might as well switch off your TV now.
