Kendrick’s half-time not like anything humble!

Kendrick Lamar and Dancers SB59

America’s Game

The whole of America was watching as Kendrick Lamar took the field at halftime. Some people were wondering what songs he would perform. Some people were wondering what he might say about his “beef” with Drake that took the hip-hop world by storm last year. And some other people were also wondering what kind of message that he might try to send. Lamar has been known throughout his entire career to integrate messages into his works whether it be on records like good kid, m.A.A.d city or To Pimp a Butterfly. Lamar brought the same energy for those personal projects to the Super Bowl.

The performance opened with “Uncle Sam,” played by Samuel L. Jackson, welcoming us to the “great American game.” After this introduction, we see the stage light up in each corner, which is supposed to represent a game controller. Uncle Sam wants Lamar to throw his morals and life away to play the game. We then see Lamar squatting on top of a black Buick Grand National, which is a callback to his album that was released in the second half of 2024, GNX. In the first song snippet that he performs for us, he says, “You would not get the picture if I had to sit you for hours in front of the Louvre,” telling us that he does not intend to have a performance that everyone will understand. His quest to have a performance that is for the culture is outlined directly after that snippet with him saying, “The revolution ‘bout to be televised/ You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.” The point of this performance was that it was not supposed to be like every other halftime show. Kendrick wanted to make a statement with the platform that he was given. 

He then transitions into his first true song of the set, “squabble up.” This song is meant to show the culture that Kendrick Lamar wants to proudly represent, the black community that he comes from. All throughout his career Lamar has sought to make the black community feel like we do not have to hide ourselves on the biggest stages. Rather than code-switching or white-washing ourselves, Kendrick embraces all of it. This, however, does not play into the “American game.” Uncle Sam reappears, telling Lamar that he is “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.” Uncle Sam begins to even wonder if Lamar knows how to play the game at all. Kendrick however, is not playing America’s game on purpose, because he is not doing what the system wants him to do. He is not being humble enough for America. He is not allowing himself to be exploited by the system, rather he is going to do what they do not expect him to do. Next Lamar plays his hit song “Humble” where the symbolism in his performance becomes even more apparent.

For “Humble,” Lamar had his backup dancers form a broken American flag on the steps in front of him. It symbolized the current divide that exists in the country drawn on party lines, cultural lines, and other differences that we have made. Every dancer that formed the flag was black, showing that the country was built on the backs of black people. The music was not at the forefront of this halftime show. The culture was. The next couple of songs that Lamar performs in “DNA”, “euphoria”, and “man at the garden”  are to further describe his credentials and what makes him the greatest rapper alive. 

Even this is too much for Uncle Sam. Lamar is still not playing along with what he wants. Uncle Sam wants him to play his biggest hits. He wants to be able to exploit him to the highest degree, but Lamar knowing this after having gone through this early in his career does what Uncle Sam does not want him to do. He stays true to himself rather than conforming. In between songs, Kendrick has an internal dilemma. He wants to perform what the people want to hear, “Not Like Us.” He wants to embarrass Drake on the biggest stage but as he says, “You know they love to sue.” Instead of going straight into “Not Like Us,” he brings out SZA and they perform his other hit song from GNX, “luther.” 

The next songs that he plays are the hits that he has. “luther” and “All the Stars” represent the songs that Uncle Sam wants him to play. They are mind-numbing. They do not push the boundaries of what America is comfortable with. This is further solidified by Uncle Sam after these two songs saying that America wants “nice and calm.” 

Cultural War

Immediately after the end of “All the Stars,” the intro to “Not Like Us” gets teased. Lamar says, “It’s a cultural divide, I’ma get it on the floor, forty acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.” That line is the most important in the entire performance. Over the past year we have seen Kendrick take aim at the hip-hop community and what they deem to be the culture. Kendrick since then has been on a quest to reclaim it from the fakes that he believes are not respecting the greats and the foundations of hip-hop. He immediately took aim at the top with J. Cole and Drake, and everything has fallen into place since then. With the line “forty acres and mule,” Lamar is referring to the initial proposal of how to make former slaves financially stable after the Civil War. It also could be a reference to the production studio 40 Acres that is run by Spike Lee. Both tie into the idea that Lamar believes the issue with our culture goes back to the very moment that we were able to create it.

In “Not Like Us” Lamar takes aim at Drake to get the crowd fully into his performance if they were not already. On national television, the biggest stage that America has to offer, he called out Drake and completed his victory lap. This includes a crip-walking Serena Williams, one of Drake’s exes that is a part of the performance. Lamar then ends the performance with his most recent hit “tv off,” ending it on a high and completely shaking the foundations of the culture once again.