I think it’s safe to say that this year’s Super Bowl halftime show was a bit more exciting than the game itself. Coming as a surprise to nobody, Kendrick Lamar crafted one of the most electrifying Super Bowl halftime shows to cap off the unbelievably successful run he’s been on over the past year.
The show begins, revealing the stage to be one large board game, while playing the haunting vocal sample from the intro to his newest album, “GNX,” from the song “wacced out murals.” Following this, Samuel L. Jackson comes out in a full red, white and blue suit, introducing himself as Uncle Sam, who was a pivotal character/symbol from Lamar’s 2015 album, “To Pimp a Butterfly.” He introduces the show as being “the great American game,” letting us know immediately that this is going to be a commentary involving some of our country’s most significant cultural issues.
At this point, Lamar starts rapping, kicking things off with an unreleased song, to the delight of his fans. As the beat picks up, dancers pile out of the car that Lamar’s standing on, each exclusively wearing red, white or blue. Partway through the verse, somebody yells, “Freeze!” The dancers, backing track, lights and everything else obey, allowing Lamar the opportunity to tell us, “The revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.”
This leads into one of Lamar’s big hits from “GNX,” “squabble up.” Halfway through, the song’s interrupted by Uncle Sam, as he exclaims, “No, no, no, no, no! Too loud! Too reckless! Too… ghetto. Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!”
When we’re brought back to the stage, Lamar’s standing in the middle of his dancers, who’ve arranged themselves to resemble the American flag. The iconic intro starts from his most popular song, “HUMBLE.” After the first verse and chorus, the song is interrupted by the sounds of gunfire, at which the dancers disperse, leading into a snippet of the song, “DNA.”
The song is quickly replaced by the first of his three diss tracks on Drake from last Summer, called “euphoria.” After this, Lamar performs by a street light, where some men sing a cappella backing vocals for his song, “man at the garden,” ending with the question, “Why you think you deserve the greatest of all time?” This line is in direct reference to the Drake and J. Cole song, “Three Person Shooter,” in which they claim to be two of the three greatest of all time, alongside Lamar.
Uncle Sam waltzes back in, telling Lamar, “I see you brought your homeboys with you. The old culture cheat code.” Then, he turns to the camera and says, “Scorekeeper, deduct one life.” At this, the thumping 808s of “peekaboo” kick in, showing his background dancers in a circle around the camera in the “X” that was previously shown on the game board at the beginning.
Partway through, Lamar stops, interacting with a group of ladies, telling them he wants to perform the people’s favorite song, but “you know they love to sue,” clearly building anticipation for what was arguably the song of 2024, “Not Like Us,” even teasing fans by playing a snippet of the beat. However, the target of the diss track, Drake, recently attempted to sue UMG for their distribution and support of the record, so Lamar expresses concern that he may face the same fate for performing the infamous song. In the end, Lamar decides, “You know what? I’ll slow it down.”
From here, Lamar starts into two of his most successful pop crossover records, both featuring SZA, “luther” and “All the Stars.” After, Uncle Sam comes back looking pleased, saying, “That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what America wants. Nice and calm. You’re almost there. Don’t mess this-” but suddenly, he’s cut off by the beginning of the instrumental to “Not Like Us.” The time has finally come. The moment everyone’s been waiting for.
Uncle Sam storms off, looking surprised and frustrated. Lamar tells the ladies, “It’s a cultural divide, Ima get it on the floor,” followed by another callback to “To Pimp a Butterfly,” saying, “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.” After, Lamar says, “They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence,” and the beat finally kicks in with full force. It was as triumphant as anyone would’ve guessed, with Lamar not shying away from the most direct diss lines, even looking directly into the camera and smiling while delivering a line calling Drake out by name. The most devious moment came from the NFL themselves, as they chose to unmute the crowd sounds for the fan-favorite “A-minor” line.
Finally, Lamar ended his set with the song “tv off,” featuring the viral TikTok snippet of Lamar yelling the producer tag, “MUSTARD,” even bringing out DJ Mustard to celebrate with him. As everything goes to black, the show ends by spelling out “GAME OVER” in lights over the crowd, marking the end of one of the most brilliant halftime shows of my lifetime.
Photo courtesy of Chris Graythen.
