Kendrick Lamar has just had one of, if not the most culturally ubiquitous year any rapper has ever had. He’s capping it off with his Grand National Tour for most of 2025, but before we get there, Lamar had to take a stop in the Big Easy.
For the halftime show of Super Bowl LIX, Lamar earned his own show this time around, despite being on this stage just three years ago with some hip-hop icons. While they all likely cheered him on during his electrifying performance, Lamar clearly had a few things he wanted to express to the American people.
The first thing we see is Uncle Sam, played by Samuel L. Jackson, who introduces Lamar as a part of the “great American game.” Lamar starts his performance by debuting an unreleased song, with themes about being the best, lifting up his city and frustration with the government, all common throughout his musical catalog.
Lamar was sporting a huge chain with just the letter “a” on it. It’s part of the pgLang logo, but it’s also thought to represent the A minor key which he spins to diss Drake in “Not Like Us.”
After the unreleased song, Lamar says, “The revolution ‘bout to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy.” It’s a pretty clear shot not only at President Donald Trump, who was in attendance, but also at himself. Lamar has never been opposed to ruffling feathers from making big political statements in his music, but he’s also acknowledged before that he’s not some venerable political activist. He creates music from his perspective, and that perspective often includes political themes.
Lamar then performed one of his biggest hits off “GNX,” “squabble up” and after, Uncle Sam comes back on. He shouts, “No! Too loud! Too reckless! Too ghetto! Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!” This is another huge political moment of the show. Uncle Sam represents the government and white supremacist America telling Lamar that his music is too brash to reach the people, and they want to shut down his messaging.
Lamar goes straight into “HUMBLE.” one of his biggest breakout hits. His dancers formed the American flag in a form of protest, with many people looking toward the flag as a symbol of patriotism and hope, while others view it as a tool of oppression and colonialism. After “HUMBLE.,” Lamar launched into “DNA.,” then “euphoria.”
The camera shifts to a new scene as Lamar does “man in the garden,” followed by another appearance from Uncle Sam. Jackson said “Deduct one life,”likely referencing the number of black rights activists who have been murdered over the course of the movement.
Another scene switch puts Lamar on the “X” part of the stage where he performed “peekaboo.” After that he teases playing “Not Like Us,” but says how they “love to sue,” another jab at Drake and UMG for suing Kendrick over his newest megahit. Instead, he opts to slow it down.
For “luther” and “All The Stars” Kendrick is joined by SZA. They’re doing the Grand National Tour together and are frequent collaborators, so this appearance made complete sense. SZA’s vocals were otherworldly, making this one of my favorite parts of the show. Uncle Sam even says, “it’s what America wants.”
Lamar teases “Not Like Us” again, this time adding “40 acres and a mule this is bigger than the music.” He references this line in his 2015 song, “Alright” as well. Forty acres and a mule were promised to freed slaves after the Civil War if they wanted to move west and to expand. However, Andrew Johnson, the president after Abaraham Lincoln, reversed this order. Lamar knows that promises made by the government will continue to be revoked until people step up to hold them accountable.
He launches into a fantastic performance of his most famous song, the one that has epitomized his unreal year. He looks directly into the camera with a wide grin when he says. “Say Drake, I hear you like ‘em young.” He wasn’t allowed to explicitly call Drake a pedophile on stage, but he and the whole crowd screamed “A minor” when the respective line came up. He even got former tennis player Serena Williams, who once dated Drake, to crip walk on stage too.
While this set was rife with important political messages, the point of this show was a spectacle just for Drake. I think this is the case because the concert ended with a huge “GAME OVER,” cementing this final nail in the coffin of a historic beef.
