Since Kendrick Lamar was introduced because the Tremendous Bowl LIX Halftime Present’s headliner final September, music followers have been abuzz with pleasure, questioning how the Pulitzer-Prize winner would deal with the historic gig — the primary for a solo rapper.
Recent off a summer-long beef with Drake that birthed the Grammy-winning diss observe “Not Like Us,” Lamar had the chance to placed on the pettiest Halftime Present within the telecast’s historical past. By January, he had additionally been caught up in a defamation lawsuit over “Not Like Us,” making it unclear whether or not he’d even be capable to carry out the tune. (He did.) There was additionally the massive query that looms over any televised Lamar efficiency: what’s going to the socially-conscious rapper should say, if something, in regards to the present political local weather?
Previously, Lamar has taken alternatives on massive levels to handle hot-button points and telegraph his personal political anxieties. He’s invoked police brutality on the BET Awards, and mass incarceration — to not point out his normal disillusionment with America — on the Grammys. Out of all of the hip-hop acts that would have graced the Halftime Present stage, it appeared like Lamar had been chosen for his mixture of showmanship and talent to generate dialog. That mentioned, Donald Trump’s latest re-election — and surprising attendance on the Tremendous Bowl; a primary for a sitting president — appeared like the best backdrop for Lamar’s signature provocative imagery and the political facet of his catalog, like his 2015 tune “Alright,” which was an anthem of the Black Lives Matter motion. And but, Lamar had a distinct goal for the evening.
After the opening tune, “GNX (Teaser),” Lamar gave the viewers a frank memo of what not to anticipate over the subsequent 12 minutes. “The revolution ‘bout to be televised,” Lamar mentioned whereas the music reduce out. “You picked the best time however the flawed man.”
It’s not precisely a brand new sentiment when you’ve been being attentive to Lamar’s more moderen musical output. On his fifth album, Mr. Morale and The Huge Steppers, launched in 2022, Lamar tackled society’s ills and his personal place as a socially acutely aware rapper, however had extra questions and contradictions than solutions. In the meantime, it was arduous to seek out the identical political angst that drove 2015’s To Pimp A Butterfly on his newest album, GNX, a radio-friendly victory lap following his extremely publicized beef with Drake. On the 2021 Child Keem tune, “Household Ties,” he made his reservations about being seen as a political image clear. “I been ducking the social gimmicks,” he rapped. “I been ducking the in a single day activists / I’m not a trending subject.”
Likewise, throughout Tremendous Bowl LIX, Lamar averted songs like “Alright” and “The Blacker The Berry.” He skipped the kind of anti-establishment messaging that acquired him lambasted by Fox Information anchors previously. As a substitute, he opted principally for songs off of GNX, which he’ll tour across the nation in April, together with “squabble up,” “peekaboo,” “television off,” and “luther,” that includes his future tourmate SZA. The pair additionally carried out their 2018 collaboration “All of the Stars” from the Black Panther soundtrack. Inevitably, he carried out each of his hottest diss tracks from final summer time, “euphoria” and, after a lot teasing, “Not Like Us.” The group sang alongside as he got here to the tune’s most well-known and quotable line — “tryna ring a bell and it’s in all probability a minorrrr.” Lamar additionally sported a really seen lower-cased “a” necklace. And Serena Williams, the topic of many a Drake lyric, danced on the sector in the course of the efficiency. In brief, the night’s largest act of daring was geared toward Drake’s legal professionals, not some bigger injustice.
Nonetheless, the Halftime Present did gesture in direction of politics. In the course of the opening quantity, quite a few backup dancers emerged from a Buick GNX carrying stable pink, white and blue hoodies. The present featured actor Samuel L. Jackson dressed as “Uncle Sam” in a patriotic swimsuit and prime hat. Nevertheless, it didn’t seem to be Lamar was making an attempt to articulate a rebuke of our present authorities and even any kind of message in regards to the local weather. Fairly, we watched the rapper play, as Jackson referred to as it, “the American recreation.” As Lamar maneuvered across the stage, designed as a recreation of tic-tac-toe, it felt like watching him navigate the social duty positioned upon him as a Black entertainer and his personal needs to promote out a bit bit.
He additionally demonstrated what occurs when somebody in his place falls outdoors of the strains of respectability and is seen by the flawed viewers. Likewise, Jackson confirmed up a number of instances all through the medley, appearing as each an emcee and Lamar’s company conscience. The songs he performed, whereas much less explicitly political than some in his repertoire, weren’t precisely community television-friendly or, higher but, match for an NFL viewers. After Lamar completed performing “squabble up,” Jackson derided the tune as “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.”
“Mr. Lamar, do you actually know tips on how to play the sport?” Jackson requested. “Then you’ve got to tighten up!” Lamar then moved right into a efficiency of “HUMBLE,” his first radio hit following the To Pimp A Butterfly. His dancers, shifting like robots, rapidly assembled to create an American flag.
The web rapidly underscored Lamar’s dilemma. Regardless of the comparatively muted political commentary, right-wing pundits, like Eric Daughtery of Florida’s Voice and former consultant Matt Gaetz, ran to X to decry the efficiency as containing some kind of extremist, pro-Black agenda. Alt-right commentator Jack Posobiec referred to as Lamar’s efficiency the “DEI Halftime Present.” Presumably, extra offensive soundbites and feedback from offended, white MAGA dudes will roll in all through the week.
Lamar’s Halftime Present might not have been the direct center finger to Trump that his followers might have anticipated or wished, however he did supply one thing different artists of his caliber would possibly chorus from doing on such a mainstream stage — look at his personal place in American tradition. Lamar proved that he can nonetheless be an agitator with out standing on a cop automotive or performing in chains. Even at his most palatable, his artwork will in the end by no means be protected.
