The day 127.7 million Americans came together for Super Bowl parties throughout the nation to show team spirit or simply partake in the tradition of this epic game. Super Bowl LIX not only sparked controversial topics uncovered by rapper Kendrick Lamar but also ended the Kansas City Chiefs’ 3rd victory streak. Kendrick’s halftime show was the most viewed in all of Super Bowl history with 133.5 million viewers.
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl storytelling performance featured a range of subliminal messages pertaining to the current government and racial rights, all the while prioritizing his disdain for Drake. Drake and Kendrick’s rivalry began a while ago; however, due to recent tension, their hatred grew stronger. Lamar’s song “Not Like Us,” a diss track against Drake, received great fame through nominations in five different categories at the 67th Grammy Awards (more Grammys than Drake has earned throughout his whole career).
Kendrick Lamar started off his Super Bowl halftime show debut with his opener Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam, an image of the white American dream. In the show, he served as the voice of the American people who had reminded Lamar what a halftime show performer should be like by telling him not to be “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.” These words describe how rap and hip-hop music are ultimately viewed by society.
Lamar then takes to the stage by introducing his first hidden message, “The revolution is about to be televised; you picked the right time, but the wrong guy.” With this statement, Kendrick Lamar is addressing his audience with the idea that the time has come to stand up and make a difference. Kendrick’s hints that “the wrong guy,” clearly implying that President Trump is incapable of leading this movement in history, who was in attendance at that very moment. Lamar makes several other remarks, calling out the United States government.
During the song “Humble,” Lamar’s backup dancers encircled him with an American flag, symbolizing the labor and sacrifices of African Americans during the era of slavery. Lamar also said, “40 acres and mule, this is bigger than the music,” referring to what slaves were promised.
Lamar’s next pinpoint was at his rival Drake. He starts off by teasing his diss track “Not Like Us” by saying that “[He] wants to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue.” Kendrick refers to the time when Drake filed a lawsuit against his own record label, UMG for releasing “Not Like Us.” Lamar avoids the camera until the very moment he mentions Drake’s name with a smile when he sings the lyric, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young.” He then accuses Drake of “tryna strike a chord, and it’s probably A-minor.” Throughout the show, Kendrick is seen with a chain around his neck with a lowercase ‘A, which fans speculate is a representation of “A-Minor.”
Lamar’s performers also introduced two other special guests: American singer-songwriter SZA and former American tennis player Serena Williams, both being Drake’s ex-lovers. Serena Williams performed a local LA dance called the ‘crip walk’, a move that had gotten her into trouble in her former tennis career, during “Not Like Us.” Their presence at the show solidified the true winner in the rivalry.
While some might think that Lamar’s measures of exposing his ideals to society and his rival Drake were extreme, others truly enjoyed the impactful Points that Lamar explained, and some simply may not have even noticed the hints that he had laid out. As Lamar said, “You would not get the picture if I had to sit you for hours in front of the Louvre.”
