Kendrick Lamar has achieved many accomplishments from 2024-2025, including releasing his album GNX and his single, “Not Like Us,” winning five Grammys. Adding to that list will now be performing at the 59th Super Bowl Halftime Show.
In the past year, Kendrick Lamar has strengthened his reputation as an artist unafraid of calling out the truths of life. This could mean conflicts with other artists or the political and social state of the U.S. Even with a big and diverse audience, Kendrick did not change his style or values during halftime.
Instead, Kendrick took an incredibly powerful stand during his Super Bowl performance, critiquing American culture during one of the most American events. His performance began with an introduction from Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam, who introduced the show as “The Great American Game.” The dancers start jumping out of a Buick GNX in clown car fashion, and what starts as separate groups of red, white, or blue, blend into The American Flag’s formation. Yet even with this visual of Black people being patriotic, “Uncle Sam” still says they are “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” terms often used against African Americans as well as the entire rap genre.
It seems clear that Kendrick is commenting on how many citizens try to enforce this idea of the “perfect” American, including what music they should listen to. However, when a Black person has been the perfect American they’ve still been mistreated for years.
Kendrick Lamar and dancers at 59th Superbowl Halftime show. PHOTO: GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY
“Uncle Sam” continues with, “play the game,” which I interpret as the want for media-trained celebrities who are politically correct, instead of truthful. It could also be the reason for the X, circle, triangle, and square shapes the performers are in, popular game controller icons, representing that they are stuck in the game.
The next scene Kendrick builds is one of a group of Black men hanging out by a streetlight, possibly referencing a common experience in Kendrick’s life. Of course, “Uncle Sam” must make more comments: “Brought your homeboys?” and “Scorekeeper, deduct one life,” which, if correct, could be an emotional call for justice to the innocent black lives that have been lost.
His message continues throughout SZA’s feature as well, performing the songs “Luther” and “All the Stars” to which “Uncle Sam” says, “That’s what America wants – nice and calm,” once again calling America soft and unaccepting of differences. Kendrick Lamar successfully got his point across and used his platform to give Black artists the spotlight and call for justification.
The performance of “Not Like Us” was another powerful decision. It had been up in the air whether Kendrick would perform the song since it is a diss track. Many fans were unsure if Kendrick would still sing it at an event as big as the Super Bowl, especially since Drake sued Universal Music Group for defamation over the song.
In classic Kendrick style, however, he teases the song throughout the performance: “I wanna play their [the audience’s] favorite song, but you know they love to sue.” During the actual song, when saying the lyric, “say, Drake,” Kendrick looks at and holds eye contact with the camera, proving that he is not afraid of calling out what he believes is wrong, no matter how large the audience. When singing the famous line, “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor,” it was shouted by what sounded like the entire stadium.
SZA during her feature at Halftime Show
PHOTO: FOX
However, the audience wasn’t that loud for the entire performance, which is to be expected when performing hip-hop to such a diverse crowd. Hip-hop has been growing in popularity, but it is still spoken poorly about among older generations, much like rock ‘n’ roll first was. Not everyone in the crowd understands or enjoys hip-hop, so it wasn’t as lively as some past halftime shows.
Building on top of this, possibly it was technical issues or TV audio, but personally I thought Kendrick sounded a little quiet in comparison to Kendrick’s past live performances. Unless someone was already a fan, it was difficult to understand what he was saying at times. I believe SZA’s feature did liven up the show and gained some energy from the crowd.
Despite this, the show still had talent, artistry, storytelling, and a message, making it undeniable to me that it was overall great. Last year’s performance from Usher, featuring Alicia Keys, gained a lot of criticism. But this time around, Kendrick Lamar has enabled the halftime show to bounce back. Kendrick Lamar continues to prove his impact on the music industry and the rap genre.
