Forward of Sunday night time, Kendrick Lamar promised to ship “storytelling” in his Tremendous Bowl Halftime efficiency in New Orleans. And, whereas dropping a career-spanning set over 13 minutes amid dancers clad in crimson, white and blue, the multi-platinum-selling rapper and this yr’s Grammy Awards darling spun a story equally a couple of politically divided America (whereas nonetheless placing a nail within the coffin of his feud with rapper Drake).
Earlier than the lights went up on Lamar as he launched into the efficiency, which marked the Tremendous Bowl’s first-ever solo rap halftime present, the sphere at Caesar’s Superdome was lit into 9 squares with Xs, Os and triangles popping up inside. A well-recognized face appeared on the ground as iconic actor Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as American icon Uncle Sam, welcomed the viewers to “the nice American recreation.” Lights within the stadium crowd spell out: START HERE above a downward pointing arrow squarely on a Lamar, kneeling in entrance of a Buick GNX, an unstated nod to his newest LP, GNX. He wore denim denims and a jacket with “Gloria” emblazoned on the again, a reference to the closing monitor on that album.
With this, Lamar and the present’s artwork director Shelley Rodgers draw a connection between video video games and Lamar’s fashionable American expertise, culturally and politically. The shapes and language displayed in lights pull from the X/O/triangle discovered on a PlayStation distant management; START HERE is a typical gaming instruction. Because the present carried on, it turned clear that the 4 levels used in the course of the efficiency had been formed just like the PlayStation controller. Rodgers defined this in an interview with Wired journal.
“I believe the was symbolic, his strategy to attain younger folks,” Rodgers advised the journal. “Numerous it’s displaying his journey, touring by the American dream.”
Jackson, hamming it up because the personification of America, represented a not-so-subtle stand-in for the American political institution — an concept made clearer when he admonished Lamar after the singer launched into a primary rush of rapping his monitor, “Squabble Up,” from his shock 2024 report.
“Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” Jackson’s Uncle Sam interjected, providing his unrequested critique of the rapper, who has the exceptional distinction of profitable the Pulitzer Prize for DAMN in 2018.
Two favorites from that report got here quickly after, as Lamar rapped the hit single “HUMBLE” and “DNA.” Having tumbled out of the gutted GNX, an unimaginable variety of dancers, all Black women and men wearing crimson, white and blue — or the colours of the American flag — leaned, nodded and moved in tight unison. At a degree, they grouped to type an American flag, their backs turned towards one another with Lamar there within the center. America’s cussed division was mirrored on the nation on the most important stage potential.
Quickly, the lights within the crowd spelled out “WARNING WRONG WAY.” With this, Lamar could also be referencing a directive present in video video games, America beneath the second Trump administration or the truth that a lot of the again half of his set carried on and finally concluded (for now) his beef with Drake, a feud that simply received Lamar 5 Grammys for the rap-war’s end result monitor, “Not Like Us.”
Whether or not Lamar would carry out the controversial tune, which has now spawned a lawsuit filed by Drake in opposition to his and Lamar’s shared distributor, Common Music, over a lyric calling him a pedophile. On Sunday night time, Lamar dropped the pedo line from “Not Like Us,” and whereas winking on the soon-to-come efficiency of the offending hit monitor, stated, “I need to carry out their favourite tune, however they like to sue.”
The pedophile lyric from “Not Like Us” brings a reference to Drake’s 2021 album Licensed Lover Boy; Lamar raps: “Licensed lover boy?/Licensed pedophiles.” On the Superdome, the ultimate phrase was changed with a person yelping. Lamar did, nonetheless, hold within the extra delicate line, “I heard you want ‘em younger.”
Lamar additionally wore a necklace with a lowercase “a” all through Sunday’s rapid-fire set. Some noticed this as a reference to the brand of pgLang, the corporate he based with Dave Free. However others, maybe studying too far into issues (however maybe not), noticed a reference to an iconic lyric from “Not Like Us,” the place Lamar raps about Drake: ”Tryna ring a bell and it’s most likely A Minor.”
Then there’s Lamar’s two feminine company, who appeared on stage with him in the course of the set: SZA, his frequent collaborator, and tennis nice Serena Williams. The previous carried out sections of two of their collaborations, “Luther” and “All of the Stars.” The latter danced solo amid a crowd of backup dancers, giving a significantly better repeat efficiency of the “crip stroll” that acquired her in some sizzling water after she did the transfer on-court following her win at Wimbledon in 2012. The transfer, utilized by Crips at events to show affiliation, includes maneuvering one’s toes to spell C-R-I-P.
Drake dated each ladies prior to now: SZA in 2009 and Williams in 2015. The connection with SZA was revealed in Drake’s monitor, “Mr. Proper Now” as a 2008 affair however she has since corrected him, tweeting it was in 2009 and including that she “didn’t need anyone pondering something underage or creepy was taking place.” Williams, who like Lamar, grew up in Compton, California, is referenced in “Not Like Us” when he warns Drake he “higher not communicate on Serena.”
The twin themes gave audiences loads to unpack and the references talked about right here will not be by any means a definitive or exhaustive checklist of all that was included. Along with his tight and must-be-mentioned brilliantly shot efficiency, Lamar managed to convey twin narratives, one with a broad scope and one other that’s totally idiosyncratic but outlined a big a part of the rap world over the previous yr. And he might have put the Drake beef to mattress for good with the lights within the crowd displaying a remaining message pulled from video video games and despatched to his nemesis: GAME OVER.
