When Super Bowl LIX kicks off on Feb. 9 2025, it’ll be Compton’s Kendrick Lamar taking the stage during the halftime show.
This won’t be Lamar’s first rodeo at America’s biggest sports game, as the rapper performed during Super Bowl LVI alongside Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige. However, this will be the first time in Super Bowl history that a rapper performs at the halftime show as a solo act, a prestigious honor.
The halftime show announcement is just another victory for Lamar in 2024, as the 17-time Grammy Award winner is fresh off his feud with Canadian rapper Drake. The two battled from February to May, with Lamar considered to be the consensus winner after releasing his smash hit “Not Like Us,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
While Lamar was already popular, the feud helped him reach new heights. The rapper reached over 70 million monthly Spotify listeners during the peak of the feud. Despite his conflict with Drake ending months ago, Lamar currently has 67 million monthly listeners, a colossal number.
Despite being the first rapper to perform as a solo act, Lamar has the catalog to back it up. The rapper has smash hits dating all the way back to his 2012 album “good kid mA.A.d city” all the way up to his Billboard No.1 hits this year “Like That” and “Not Like Us.”
We got a taste of some of the potential songs Lamar could perform during “The Pop Out: Ken and Friends” concert this past June. Lamar showed just how impressive his catalog of hits is with his performance of songs such as “HUMBLE,” “Alright” and “Swimming Pools.”
The announcement that Lamar would be headlining did not come without controversy. Many online believed that Lil Wayne should have been the one to perform as the five-time Grammy Award winner is from New Orleans, where Super Bowl LIX will be held.
At the forefront of these criticisms is Nicki Minaj, who started her career at Wayne’s label Young Money Records, believes that Wayne should’ve gotten the call to perform.
“(Wayne) The man that has not only pushed his pen the hardest,” Minaj tweeted. “But gave the game more than 1 hip hop ICON as well on his watch? Represent the RAP game?!?!! The best RAPPER don’t represent the RAP GAME well enough 4u?”
Wayne himself recently went on Instagram Live to convey his frustrations about not being selected for the halftime show.
“It hurt me a lot,” Wayne said. “I thought there was nothing better, that spot, on that stage, on that platform. It broke me, but I’m just trying to put myself back together.”
Many pointed the finger at Jay-Z, who advises the NFL on entertainment matters and co- produces the Super Bowl halftime show. There have been conflicting reports on who makes the decisions when it comes to the halftime show, but according to NPR, it’s a collaborative process.
“The host city brings the short list to the board,” NPR reports. “The board agrees and brings it back to the host city, saying, ‘you know, we select this artist.’”
Despite the backlash, Lamar could bring Wayne out if he wanted to, as the pair have a song titled “Mona Lisa” together off Wayne’s 2018 project “Tha Carter V.”
Lamar’s presence on the big stage underscores his influence on the culture and popularity within the music industry. When it’s all said and done, it’ll be a show to remember.
