The viewers got here for blood, however Kendrick Lamar made them wait. Along with his Tremendous Bowl LIX halftime efficiency, Kendrick reminded everybody that, regardless of over 50 years of hip-hop historical past, rap nonetheless struggles for widespread recognition as a reliable artwork type. And an vital a part of the style is competitors. His halftime present embraced that motif, framing America, soccer, the Tremendous Bowl, and himself as parts of a bigger machine. The primary face on display? Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam, the present’s narrator and scorekeeper, who declared, “This is the nice American recreation.” Hip-hop is a quintessential All-American sport, too.
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Kendrick opened the efficiency atop a black Buick Grand Nationwide Experimental—the namesake of his 2024 album—carrying flare denims, locked right into a Gremlin stance, and spitting verses mainstream viewers most likely couldn’t even Shazam earlier than launching into GNX’s “Squabble Up.” He closed with a diss monitor that had the Caesars Superdome singing alongside to his pettiest strains, as Serena Williams delivered what needed to be the Tremendous Bowl’s first-ever on-field revenge-Crip Stroll. The diss report symbolizes utter domination in hip-hop. And so goes America and soccer. However what do rap and soccer imply to Kendrick? Drama, sport, spectacle.
Hip-hop has asserted its dominance on the Tremendous Bowl stage since Jay-Z and Roc Nation started dealing with manufacturing with the 2020 present. Final evening, Kendrick stood alone as the primary solo rap headliner, much less as a crucial darling and extra as a standing image of hip-hop’s ascent. Only a week in the past, he gained 5 Grammys, together with Track and File of the 12 months for “Not Like Us,” cementing the Drake diss monitor as a cultural fixture—one thing all of us already knew. However final evening’s halftime present painted Drake as a dispensable henchman and America as the final word adversary. His high-octane GNX tracks made his set really feel extra up to date and fewer like a legacy efficiency, à la Usher or Rihanna’s latest outings. The present was wealthy with subtext and loosely political—Kendrick’s reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” firstly; Jackson’s taunt, “Mr. Lamar, do you actually know tips on how to play the sport?” For “Humble.,” Kendrick and his dancers shaped an American flag with their our bodies. Trying to find that means in Kendrick’s imagery can really feel vexing when the that means is extra symbolic than overt. Possibly it’s about dominance in any respect prices. Possibly it’s all only a sick recreation the place essentially the most Kendrick might do was push the envelope so far as the NFL and the televised broadcast system would enable.
Kendrick additionally appeared to make use of his Tremendous Bowl platform to attempt to dismantle stereotypes about rap (that it’s not a severe style) and himself (that he wasn’t worthy of a halftime set). The present contrasted sharply along with his extra plainly defiant Pop Out live performance, the place he carried out “Not Like Us” 5 instances straight, reveling in all issues group and California. Right here, he toyed with expectations: He ceded the stage to SZA, resplendent in crimson, to sing GNX’s saccharine ballad “Luther” and the Black Panther hit “All of the Stars.” Traces like “I hate people who really feel entitled” hit slightly extra menacingly beneath the Tremendous Bowl lights.