“Salutations, this is your Uncle Sam, and this is the Great American Game!” exclaims Samuel L. Jackson, complete with a star-spangled red, white, and blue suit, at the beginning of Kendrick Lamar’s superbowl half-time show. Then, the spotlight that had been illuminating him goes dark. Suddenly, it flashes over to a knelt figure. It’s Lamar. He begins to rap a portion of the trailer he released in preparation for his newest album, GNX, which then transitioned into the full song “Bodies”. Finally he calls out “The revolution ‘bout to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy”. This was the beginning to one of the most artistically rich half-time shows in living memory, and also a complex political message.
The performance was packed with symbols which called out the history of the suppression of black voices and culture within the United States, and also some not-so-subtle jabs at Lamar’s current arch nemesis, Drake. The two rappers, often considered at the top of their genre and the music industry as a whole, have been engaged in a historic-level feud. The contention began when fellow rapper J Cole rapped the lyric “We the big three”, in his shared song “First Person Shooter” with Drake. J Cole was referring to himself, Drake, and Kendrick Lamar, but Lamar seemingly didn’t appreciate this comparison. He responded in his verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s song “Like That”, including the lyric “F*** the big three, it’s just big me”. Drake did not respond well to this either, and from that moment on the two artists have been trading diss tracks. Lamar seems to have “won the beef” however, having received 5 Grammys for his diss track “Not Like Us”—the most for any one rap song—and performed the song for the nation’s largest audience on Superbowl Sunday. “Not Like Us” and Lamar’s other tracks aimed at Drake blend accusations of Drake’s sexual misconduct and immorality, with overall criticism of rap, the music industry, and the nation as a whole. His half-time show only emphasized his mission.
The introducing line, “The revolution ‘bout to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy” references the 1971 song by Gil Scott-Heron, “The revolution will not be televised”. In the song, Scott-Heron calls out Americans who are glued to their television and can’t see beyond their capitalist viewpoint to fully understand the nature of activism. By saying the opposite, that the revolution will be televised, Lamar seems to say he is bringing activism and the political “revolution” to his performance. He might be hinting at symbolism yet to come, priming the audience to recognize the inherently political nature of his stylistic choices.
The stage itself was in the form of a cross, a circle, a square, and a triangle: the shapes of the buttons on a video game controller. Throughout the performance, Lamar calls back to Samuel L Jackson’s proclamation at the beginning, as the rapper subverted the expectations of viewers who assumed “the Great American Game” to be football. Instead, he paints the struggle of black artists to be accepted in mainstream culture as this game. Jackson, the “Uncle Sam” character, represents the voice of the dominant white American culture, dressed as the almost mythical personification of the USA—Uncle Sam. Jackson calls out “No, no no, no, no! Too loud, too reckless. Too ghetto!”, after Lamar’s song “Squabble Up”. Lamar seems to highlight the pressure on black artists to not play into the stereotypes pushed on black Americans. Lamar seemed to say that black artists aren’t allowed to hint at violence (like the very title “Squabble Up” does) without facing criticism, yet white artists can.
Then, seemingly ignoring Uncle Sam’s warning, Lamar shifts into his song “HUMBLE”. He performs the song’s refrain “Sit down. Be humble” in the midst of an American flag made out of his dancers, dressed monochromatically in red, white, and blue. This moment seems to be open to two interpretations. On one hand, Lamar might’ve been reciting the expectations pushed on him by America: to be humble, to not draw too much attention to himself, to be smaller. On the other hand, it might’ve been a message to the privileged in America, to those who discount him because of his race. He calls out for them to sit down for once, to be humble. Some have even gone so far as to say that Lamar was speaking directly to President Donald Trump, who was in attendance that night, and who some liberal critics have accused of overstepping certain constitutional limits.
Then suddenly the crowd of dancers scrambles, and the flag dissolves. Lamar leaps into a snippet of his next song, “DNA”, followed by the night’s first mention of Drake, his song “Euphoria”. Euphoria is one of many in a slew of diss tracks aimed at Drake, and throughout the song Lamar accuses the other rapper of pretending to be tough and playing at the hard life experienced by many in impoverished, majority-black neighborhoods. With lyrics like “I hate when a rapper talk about guns, then when somebody die, they turn into nuns”, Lamar both targets Drake and the rap genre as whole, seeming to discredit the romanticization of violence in rap and the fundamental misunderstanding of this violence by rappers who have never truly experienced it.
After “Euphoria” comes “Man at the Garden”. Lamar raps lyrics like, “I did it with integrity, these boys still trying to hate on me, just wait and see”, seeming to call out other rappers who criticize him. One could even conclude that Lamar might be referencing white critics who accuse him of immorality because of many stereotypes associated with rappers, rather than any actual misdeeds on his part. After this song, Uncle Sam emerges again, saying “Score keeper, deduct one life”, presumably in response to Lamar’s refusal to listen to Uncle Sam’s earlier warnings. The deduction seems to represent the setbacks and losses black artists face when they don’t conform to expectations, and the moment called back to the earlier video game motif.
Then the song “Peekaboo” is interrupted by a conversation between Lamar and a group of female singers. Lamar says to them “Ladies, I want to make a move”.
“Fo’ sure” they croon in reply.
“I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue” Lamar says
“What song?”
Then a snippet of the intro to “Not Like Us” begins to play, before stopping again.
“Yeah that song” Lamar replies. “Oh maybe I’ll think about it. Know what, I’ll slow it down” he finishes, before transitioning into his song “Luther”, which features fellow artist SZA, rather than the contentious “Not Like Us”.
The whole moment references the discourse which preceded Lamar’s halftime show: whether or not he would play “Not Like Us”. Some argued that he shouldn’t, saying it was immature to perform a diss track on such a national scale, and others argued that it was perfectly acceptable, “Not Like Us” being one of the most popular and awarded songs of the year. Lamar’s comment “but you know they love to sue” calls out the current lawsuit against his and Lamar’s mutual record label, UGM. Drake is in the process of a defamation suit against UGM—the publishers of the song “Not Like Us” and thus those legally responsible for the truth of the claims made in the song—stating that the song’s accusations are false and constitute libel.
During the performance of “Luther”, Lamar is joined by SZA, the artist popularly known for blending pop, R&B, and soul elements in her unique style. SZA stayed to perform “All the Stars”, another collaboration between the two. After the performance of these two more pop-adjacent songs, Uncle Sam reemerged to say “That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what America wants: nice and calm. You’re almost there.” Uncle Sam rewarding Lamar for shying away from his rap and those songs which are stereotypically associated with black artists, might’ve represented the praise black artists receive from white audiences when they ignore their identity as black Americans. Then, as Uncle Sam started to say “Don’t mess this up”, he is interrupted by the intro of “Not Like Us” playing again. The group of women emerged again, surrounding Lamar.
“Oh no!” they cried.
“It’s a cultural divide, Imma get it on the floor” Lamar starts.
“You really ‘bout to do it?” they asked.
“40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music” Lamar replies.
“You really ‘bout to do it?” they repeat.
“Yeah they tried to rig the game but you can’t fake influence” Lamar finally says, before breaking into “Not Like Us” in earnest.
This interaction presents a thesis for the entire performance with the line “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music”. This line makes reference to a promise made by a Union general to a group of formerly-enslaved people near to the end of the civil war: each would be given a plot of land and a mule to start their new lives with. The promise was later rescinded, leaving almost all freedmen without resources to become functioning members of society. It represented one of the first in many instances where white politicians failed to uphold their promises to black Americans, and was largely the reason why huge numbers of formerly enslaved people fell into share-cropping, an exploitative farming system which left black families in cycles of extreme debt and benefitted wealthy, white farm owners. Sharecropping set the basis for the socio-economic racial divides we still see afflicting the United State today. By referencing this, and saying that the performance was “bigger than the music”, Lamar seems to further highlight his political symbolism and encourage a deeper look at the halftime show. He’s speaking to the nation at large.
While rapping “Not Like Us”, Lamar pulls few punches aimed at Drake. He sings the lines with a gleeful smile, skipping and jumping across the stage, seeming to revel in this assault on Drake’s character. “Say Drake, I hear you like ‘em young” Lamar cried. This was just one of the many jabs at Drake accusing him of sexual misconduct with minors. Later he says, “To any {woman} who talks to him and they in love, just make sure you hide your little sister from him”. Lamar seems convinced that Drake preys upon young girls, and even more determined to convince the world of this.
Another of his most damning lines is delivered with a chorus of shouts from the crowd, as Lamar sings “Tryin’ to strike a chord, and it’s probably A minor”. This line is a play on the musical key A minor, but also the allegation that Drake has abused minors. All the while, Lamar had been wearing a large chain necklace with a lowercase A pendant—the symbol in music notation for the key.
Quickly after this, the camera pans to the third special guest of the night, retired tennis superstar Serena Williams, performing a dance move known as the “Crip Walk”. The inclusion of this moment has multiple layers of symbolism in relation to Lamar’s overall message. Firstly, Serena Williams is rumored to have had a relationship with Drake which she ended, making this just another jab at the Canadian rapper. Further still, Williams was subject of a controversy when she performed the very same move as a celebration after winning the 2012 Wimbledon finals match. Critics accused the move, saying it was disrespectful to the institution of Wimbledon and the sport in general, but others have defended Williams and called out such critics for basing their disapproval on racist stereotypes. It seemed again Lamar was saying that Black individuals are held to a higher standard, and subject to criticism based on unfair stereotypes. The Crip Walk itself is relevant to Lamar’s broader argument, and is so provocative as to create controversy, because it ties back the infamous LA street gang known as the Crips. The dance was first performed by Harlem dance legend Henry Heard, before it was adopted by the gang as a method of communication and identification within the group. The dance has since seeped into popular culture, originally through rappers with ties to the gang. The dance has been a catalyst for broader discussion about cultural appropriation and whether or not something like Crip walking could be separated from its origins. It seems intentional that Lamar was making reference to such a debate, especially as so many of his songs call out performative rap music and the issues with rap culture.
This moment was followed by a fourth guest, Lamar’s producer, Mustard, who came on stage to perform “tv off” with Lamar. “TV off” made for a slightly humorous end to the show, with the line “turn this TV off, turn this TV off” being repeated over and over throughout the song. The dancers’ choreography reached a height of frenzy and crowded movement, the groups of red, white, and blue dressed individuals surging in and out, mixing and then receding, until Lamar called out one last time “Turn this TV off”. Finally, the field went dark.
Sources: https://www.ladbible.com/news/us-news/serena-williams-super-bowl-crip-walk-meaning-212172-20250210
https://www.usatoday.com/story/entertainment/music/2025/02/09/kendrick-lamar-super-bowl-halftime-show-setlist/78291567007/
