Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime Performance at The Super Bowl
Kendrick Lamar’s Onstage at The Super Bowl Performance
By Giselle Arechiga, February 11th 2025
On Sunday evening, February 10th, Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar took the stage at the Caesars Super dome in New Orleans to headline in the NFL Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Lamar was fresh off the Grammy Stage after back-to-back wins for Best Rap Song of the Year, Best Music Video of the Year, and 3 more.
In his performance, Lamar brought out actor, Samuel's L. Jackson in the common appearance of Uncle Sam, with a star-patterned top hat and introduced the Super Bowl crowd to “The Great American game.”
Lamar, standing atop a car, flipped Gil Scott Heron’s 1971 poem, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” and exclaimed to the crowd rather, “The revolution ‘bout to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.”
Samuel L. Jackson appeared throughout the performance making remarks towards Lamars act with some including “Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto” afterward his performance of “Squabble Up.”
The artist brought out his dancers, dressed in red, white and blue to rap “Humble” while assembled into an American Flag, with him at the center.
Lamar brought out his specials guest, R&B artist SZA to sing” Luther" and “All the stars.” Jackson awarded the rapper after the joining of SZA, exclaiming “That's what America wants! Nice and Calm.”
The artist performed his Grammy Awarded, Best Rap Song of the Year “Not like Us.” The winning diss record was in the mix with the NFL and Lamars agency on whether the rapper should perform the song.
Along with the Actor and Artist that Lamar brought out in his set, retired Tennis Player, Serena Williams made an appearance during, “Not Like Us.”
During Williams surprise appearance, she made a dancing cameo of her crip walking. A cameo that upset many fans, expressing how the dance was inappropriate and glorifies gang violence.
While some are upset at Willams dance, other are coming to her defense Williams by stating how the dance was a homage towards both Willams and Lamars roots to Compton.
The performance also brought up the criticism Williams faced during her celebration dance at the Wimbledon court in London, after securing the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics, calling her tasteless and crass.
One fan who was quick to defend was East’s very own Elyse Arrington, “sure there is a connection to Drake, but at the same time, she has been championing black women maternal care for the last, I don’t know, how many years? And as someone who almost died getting birth, she has made that like her cause, so there's so many different ways you can interpret her presence on the stage then what she’s was doing with her feet, and if that's all people saw, then I think they missed, you know, 95% of what her presence there also symbolized.”
Kendricks's overall performance received a lot of backlash with many NFL fans expressing it to be “the worst Half Time show ever.” But, despite the hate that is being received, many fans have been unpacking different interpretations and theories from the show and showing appreciation towards the piece.
Arrington also went on to add “you don't have to like it because you should respect it, right? That's what I say to folks, especially my father is one of those people whose like, I don't get it. I'm like, you don't have to get it. And thank you for admitting that you don't get it. Because then you're admitting that there's something that you're not seeing instead of saying its bad.”
When asked what her favorite part was from the whole show, Ms. Arrington wasn’t shy to claim how hard it was to pick just on part from the whole performance, “It’s hard to just like single up up one to heart, I love that DNA was there and Humble, I think that is like a reminder that he’s speaking to his people too, and what they have in their DNA and what, you know, they have been through and what they're capable of, they're the perseverance, I don't know, I felt like that was like a little bit of hope there.”
