Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance Will Go Down in History
Over the past decade, the NFL has become a closely monitored microcosm for the American political landscape. In 2016, we saw Colin Kaepernick protesting black oppression by kneeling during the US national anthem. In 2017 we watched Lady Gaga execute an emotionally charged performance of Born This Way during the halftime show in the wake of President Trump’s first term inauguration.
This year has been particularly tumultuous for politics in the US as the country is just weeks into President Trump’s second term. With the Trump administration immediately making a mockery of DEI and inclusivity in the United States, there was no better time for Kendrick Lamar to follow the artists and activists before him by using the stage as a political platform.
His intentions were clear as soon as Samuel Jackson appeared on screen dressed as Uncle Sam. The Uncle Sam caricature has been central to the American patriotism rhetoric since his debut on a WWII enlistment advertisement. The symbol is always depicted as a white man with a dramatic costume made of America’s star and stripes. Having Samuel Jackson, a black man, perform as this character to narrate Lamar’s performance was an immediate signal of the racial commentary that the audience of approximately 133.5 million viewers was in for.
Rather than starting off with a mainstream song that would excite the audience- fan or not- he started his set with an unreleased track referred to as Bodies. The verse ended with Lamar saying, “The revolution is about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy.” This quote is referencing the sentiment that “the revolution will not be televised,” coined by Gil Scott-Heron. This poem is referring to the fact that the revolution won’t come from the media pushing their narratives on it, it comes from action in the streets. Kendrick’s reference to this poem is saying that his performance is revolutionary as the oppressed demographics are taking over one of the world’s biggest stages with unabridged cultural anecdotes infused throughout. We saw this throughout the set with Serena Williams crip walking, which she was previously disgraced in the tennis world for. Other references came up such as 40 acres and mule, which refers to the unfulfilled promise of reparations for the slaves that were freed in the 19th century.
Another major aspect of the performance was a chance for Lamar to have the last word on the feud between him and Drake. For the past year, the world has watched as Kendrick Lamar and Drake made jabs at each other. Between the Grammys and now, the Super Bowl, it’s hard to deny that Not Like Us has sealed Lamar’s victory in the feud. The song openly labels Drake as a “pedophile”, and the entire stadium sang along to the infamous line, “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-minor” while Lamar sported a chain with a lowercase “a”.
The production of the performance was a masterclass from start to finish. From the setlist, to the costuming, to the choreography, to the stage design, it was perfectly curated to satisfy a certain demographic and rile up another.
