As soon as the NFL announced that Kendrick Lamar would perform the halftime show for Super Bowl LIX, we knew it would probably be a low point for Drake. The two rappers had been feuding for almost a year at that point, and Drake had gone from being arguably the top rapper in the game to being on the wrong end of the biggest rap beef in recent memory. And then last week, mere days before Kendrick was set to take the stage at the Superdome, “Not Like Us” won five Grammys, continuing a Drake-dismantling run in which Kendrick has accessed unprecedented levels of pettiness and creativity.
And still, after all that, I was not prepared for the level of ass-whooping I saw on Sunday night at the Super Bowl.
Just think about all the different ways Kendrick clapped at Drake during his halftime performance. First, he took the stage with his pgLang lowercase a chain on full display, and even if the crowd couldn’t see it shining on him, they knew what they were supposed to do when he hit that “A MINORRRRR.” Kendrick introduced “Not Like Us” by saying, “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” a cheeky reference to Drake’s defamation lawsuit, which Kendrick clearly isn’t worried about. He had Serena Williams—Drake’s ex—hit the stage to Crip walk in a pair of Chuck Taylors, and he unleashed an absolutely devilish grin at the camera for his “Say, Drake” line. Hell, Kendrick even put the stamp on his performance with the lights in the crowd spelling out “Game Over” to close the set. Kendrick had already won his battle with Drake before Sunday night, but then he took the opportunity to dance on Drake’s grave on the biggest stage possible. That’s just how some folks beef.
The Drake jokes and memes will likely be the most memorable aspect of Kendrick’s performance, but ultimately, his Super Bowl moment was about more than just beating Drake. There’s a Great American Game afoot.
Aside from the collective anticipation surrounding “Not Like Us,” K.Dot’s halftime performance was full of surprises—the first of which was the inclusion of Samuel L. Jackson as “Uncle Sam” as a sort of hybrid emcee and stand-in for America itself. Another surprise was that the set list drew heavily from Kendrick’s most recent album, GNX, rather than relying on more of his older hits from good kid, m.A.A.d city or To Pimp a Butterfly. And, more importantly, Kendrick’s was one of the most electric, subtextually political performances in Super Bowl history, which isn’t a surprise per se but presented a stark contrast to the sanitized and safe halftime shows we’ve come to expect.
It’s telling that Kendrick started his set with an unreleased cut like “Bodies.” After hitting the biggest stage of his career, he used his performance to stay true to where he is currently as an artist. Kendrick’s latest run has been distinctly California-centric, from the sounds of the DJ Mustard–produced “Not Like Us” to the track names on November’s GNX, which tapped into the “hard raps” and “good beats” that Kendrick thrived on as a kid. His Super Bowl set featured five(!) songs from that album, not including “Bodies” or “Euphoria” (yet another Drake diss). Kendrick made sure to throw in cuts from Damn. to help round out the performance, and he brought SZA out for a magical performance of “Luther” and “All the Stars” ahead of their Grand National Tour, but he clearly made a concerted effort not to let his halftime show turn into a “greatest hits” affair.
Instead, Kendrick had a specific intention for this performance—one that was even bigger than bringing his Cali-soaked GNX vibes to NOLA. With President Donald Trump in attendance, Kendrick rapped about race and the cultural divide amid an all-Black collective of dancers decked out in red, white, and blue, an impactful re-creation of the American flag. Though many considered this to be the End of Drake’s Career Party, it was always deeper than rap.
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Cut to Kendrick standing on the hood of a black Grand National with that a chain dangling around his neck. “The revolution ’bout to be televised,” Kendrick said before getting into GNX’s “squabble up,” adding, “You picked the right time but the wrong guy.” Later, Jackson as “Uncle Sam” scolded him, calling the performance “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto” and inquiring about whether Kendrick “really knew how to play the game” before imploring him to “tighten up!” The exchange echoed the hostility that Kendrick and so many other Black artists have experienced in the music industry and in this country more broadly. Lamar then transitioned into “Humble,” the lead single from his triple-platinum-selling, Pulitzer Prize–winning Damn.
Then, it happened: As Uncle Sam started to tell Lamar that he was “almost there” and not to mess things up, the opening notes of “Not Like Us” started to play, and Kendrick dropped the following bars before giving the crowd the release that was included with the purchase of their Super Bowl ticket: “It’s a cultural divide, I’ma get it on the floor / 40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music / They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.” The lines call back to the third verse of “Not Like Us,” when Kendrick proffers a lesson about Atlanta’s history as a “Black Mecca” and the broader system that exploits Black culture. If this feels like a lot to take in during your regularly scheduled Super Bowl halftime show, that’s understood, but if you’ve been bopping to “Not Like Us” for the past nine months, you should have come to realize that Kendrick’s been speaking about the state of the game the entire time.
During an interview with Apple Music days before his Super Bowl LIX performance, Lamar spoke on how he approached the rap game like a sport, studying game tape via Smack’s legendary Ultimate Rap League battles, and referenced luminaries like Murda Mook. But Lamar isn’t going gun bar for gun bar with his opponent; he has bigger obligations—to himself and his community. “This man has morals,” Lamar said of himself in an interview with SZA for Harper’s Bazaar. “He has values, he believes in something, he stands on something.” It’s why Kendrick didn’t fumble when he got this opportunity. He knew that he would have a massive crowd eager to shout “A MINORRRRR” at the Super Bowl; the onus was on him to deliver a message that’s bigger than that. And when he had the eyes and ears of a large chunk of the American population—including the president—Kendrick delivered and hammered one hell of a final nail in Drake’s coffin for good measure.
