Shortly after sweeping the Grammys with the diss track “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar took the stage at the Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans for the most-viewed Super Bowl Halftime Show in history. This wasn’t Lamar’s first time performing at the Super Bowl— he appeared alongside Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem during the 2022 Super Bowl, which marked the first halftime show to focus entirely on hip-hop. With guests including SZA, Mustard, Samuel L. Jackson and Serena Williams, Lamar used his performance to make a statement; against Drake, of course, but also about greater themes of patriotism and political division.
With tracks like “euphoria” and “Not Like Us” featured in the performance, many viewers were amused by the blatant shots at Drake. Part of a crowd favorite moment, memes are now circulating of Lamar’s grin at the camera during the phrase “Hey Drake.” William’s dancing cameo also fed further into this plot, as both she and SZA had been romantically involved with Drake years before the Lamar-Drake beef came to a boiling point. Knowing the background of this performance, we see Lamar’s halftime show as a cultural phenomenon due to the social context that amplified the performance.
However, for those paying attention, the shots at Drake were only one aspect of the show; Lamar had something much deeper to say with his performance.
Jackson, who served as a narrator through the performance, was decked out in a patriotic suit, and personified Uncle Sam. As the Root reported, “Uncle Sam was supposed to represent the ‘sanitized’ America. The America that makes most of the Super Bowl viewers comfortable.”
The show was filled with symbolism, with dancers on the main stage dressed head-to-toe in red, white and blue. During the opening notes of Lamar’s 2017 hit “HUMBLE,” the dancers arranged to form an American flag. The choreography continued, and the flag formation split down the middle, which we see as symbolizing the division within our current political system.
However, the evident cultural nods don’t end there. Lamar opened his show with a legendary monologue, stating, “The revolution about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy.” A quick music break followed before he said, “forty acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.” The first reference brings viewers back to “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” a 1970 spoken-word protest poem by Gil Scott-Heron that declares individuals must participate in the revolution rather than observe. “Forty acres and a mule” refers to a broken promise made to formerly enslaved people. The rescinded agreement attempted to help formerly enslaved people begin farms as a form of reparations. Without a doubt, we feel these impactful cues to historical African American and social justice movements define Lamar’s set as not just entertainment, but art. We feel this is especially the case considering President Donald Trump, the first and only sitting president to have attended the Super Bowl, was present at the performance.
The politically charged performance unsurprisingly garnered widespread criticism from right-wing pundits including Ben Shapiro, Matt Walsh and Benny Johnson, just to name a few. On X , Walsh stated, “Bizarre decision by the NFL to have some guy come out and lethargically mumble a bunch of songs that 90 percent of the NFL audience has never heard.” This was just before he reposted another commentator’s take, which called the performance a “DEI halftime show.” Johnson had a much more inflammatory take on the show, posting, “Hey NFL, Trump won. We no longer let talentless mumbling pagan satanic cultists do halftime shows and pretend people like it.”
While not enjoying the setlist or being unable to make out Lamar’s vocals seem like reasonable criticism, we feel labeling the performance a “DEI halftime show” or calling Lamar a “pagan satanic cultist” is clearly rooted in something far more sinister than a difference of musical opinion– racism. We find it interesting that negative comments seem to be almost exclusively coming from conservatives, and believe that it is important to directly address these racist remarks.
Walsh’s statement about the NFL’s decision to choose Lamar is not only racially charged, but it’s completely baseless and incorrect. Lamar’s “Not Like Us” spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart this past year. In fact, all but one of the songs performed in Lamar’s halftime show have reached the top 10. With these statistics in mind, it is much more likely that 90% of the NFL’s audience has definitely heard at least one of Lamar’s songs.
Johnson referring to Lamar as a “pagan satanic cultist” is also a tired and played-out talking point that conservatives have lobbied against artists they do not like. Self-proclaimed “alpha male” conservative Nick Adams responded to Rihanna’s 2023 Super Bowl Halftime Show by saying, “Something about Rihanna’s performance feels satanic.” We think this sentiment has been overused by the right-wing to attack artists who don’t align with their values.
Despite these absurd critiques, Lamar’s halftime show was everything it needed to be. It was entertaining, culturally relevant and highlighted his discography, while also delivering a deeper message about racism in the United States. Lamar’s performance was fantastic, and the outcry from conservatives across the Country, combined with his fans’ praise, cements the legacy of this iconic performance.
