After a sweep of his classes throughout final week’s Grammy Awards, Kendrick Lamar introduced his 2024 anthem “Not Like Us” to the 2025 Tremendous Bowl halftime present.
The GNX rapper carried out “squabble up,” “Humble,” “DNA,” “euphoria,” “man on the backyard” and “peakboo” earlier than teasing that he needs to “play their favourite music however you realize they like to sue” — a reference to the Drake diss monitor “Not Like Us” and the present lawsuits surrounding the music. He determined towards it, as a substitute slowing it down, going into “luther” and “All of the Stars” with Grammy Award-winning singer SZA.
Followers have been speculating whether or not or not Lamar would carry out the diss monitor through the NFL’s largest stage. The 37-year-old rapper wasn’t too forthcoming about efficiency specifics forward of the sport at a pre-Tremendous Bowl press convention on Thursday, however he did inform followers to anticipate a efficiency with “storytelling.” The Compton native had Samuel L. Jackson introduce the efficiency and introduced out his producer Mustard to carry out. It was beforehand confirmed that SZA could be becoming a member of in through the efficiency.
Lastly, Lamar went into the chart-topping “Not Like Us.” The critically acclaimed music, launched amid an ongoing feud with rapper Drake, is one in all a number of diss tracks the rapper launched towards the Licensed Lover Boy artist, together with “euphoria,” which he additionally carried out.
Sticking to the music’s unique lyrics within the second, Lamar known as out Drake by title. He noticeably left out the usage of “pedophiles” within the music however had the whole stadium screaming at full quantity “Tryna ring a bell and it’s most likely A minor.” Tennis celebrity Serena Williams was additionally proven dancing within the efficiency. “I didn’t crip stroll like that at Wimbledon,” the sports activities icon stated in a video posted to X. “I’d’ve been fined. It was all love.”
“Not Like Us” was one in all 2024’s largest hits, spending two weeks atop the Billboard Scorching 100 and 20 weeks at No. 1 on the Scorching Rap Songs chart. The music gained all 5 of the Grammy Awards it was nominated for, together with music and document of the yr, transcending a easy diss monitor and turning into a world and cultural anthem. As The Hollywood Reporter’s Janeé Bolden put it, the current achievement is “newest FAFO second for the monitor’s meant goal.” The music additionally lately crossed over a billion streams on Spotify and was inducted into the streamer’s Billions Membership.
“Not Like Us” is on the heart of a defamation swimsuit from Drake towards Common Music Group, the dad or mum document label to which he and Lamar are each signed. The brand new lawsuit claimed UMG “authorized, printed and launched a marketing campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap monitor” that was “meant to convey the precise, unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a felony pedophile, and to counsel that the general public ought to resort to vigilante justice in response.”
In November, Drake’s Frozen Moments firm filed a petition in a New York court docket alleging that UMG “launched a marketing campaign to control and saturate the streaming providers and airwaves with a music, ‘Not Like Us,’ so as to make that music go viral, together with by utilizing ‘bots’ and pay-to-play agreements.” Each Spotify and UMG refuted the claims, with the document label saying the allegations had been “offensive and unfaithful.”
“UMG and Spotify have by no means had any association through which UMG charged Spotify licensing charges 30 % decrease than its typical licensing charges for ‘Not Like Us’ in trade for Spotify affirmatively recommending [‘Not Like Us’], together with ‘to customers who’re looking for different songs and artists,’” the streamer stated in an announcement following the petition.
Lamar made his Tremendous Bowl debut through the 2022 halftime present when he joined rap legend Dr. Dre and different titans of the rap and R&B world, together with Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige.
The Philadelphia Eagles defeated the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs 40-22 to win Tremendous Bowl LIX.
