It’s Super Bowl Sunday, I’m sitting with one of my roommates and my best friend and Kendrick Lamar starts to perform the halftime show. My initial thought before it started was, “Gosh, I really hope Kendrick makes this performance so unapologetically Black that it creates some discourse and conversation about what’s happening right now.” And that’s exactly what Kendrick did.
Donald Trump announced how he wanted to be the first sitting president to attend the Superbowl and the irony of Lamar performing out of all artists made me so happy. The performance starts off with none other than Samuel L. Jackson narrates and is dressed as Uncle Sam. The camera then pans to Lamar and his dancers who were all Black and dressed in red, white and blue in the shape of an American flag.
This performance spoke so directly to me as a Black person in America especially right now with this new administration. This became ever so apparent to me when the performance started and my white roommate turned to me and questioned why his dancers were in red and said how they were “copying Rihanna” referring to her performance from 2023. This is the cultural divide Kendrick Lamar was talking about. The reason for the dancers wearing American flag colors just completely went over her head when it’s something I could and did immediately notice and knew the reasoning behind it.
Another part that stuck out to me was later on when Samuel L. Jackson was narrating and said, “Nooooo, Too reckless! Too ghetto!” Calling out the outright racism of the many Americans that call Black people these harmful terms.It also refers to how Kendrick is calling out America during this performance and how it can be perceived as sort of out of line. It genuinely makes me so angry every time I hear a non-Black person use the word ghetto because nine times out of ten they’re using it in place of the word Black. The performance then transitions right into ‘Humble’ which could not have been more perfect.
Lamar also performs “Luther” and “All The Stars” with SZA which are songs that are more mainstream and less likely to cause outrage from critics. Following these two songs, Jackson praises Lamar and says, “That’s what America wants! Nice and calm.”
Before his last song, Lamar also said the line, “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.” This stuck out to myself and most others watching that know the history behind it. As part of reparations following the Civil War, formerly enslaved Black people were promised 40 acres and a mule to sustain themselves and thrive in America. However, this was a broken promise and failed plan to help African-Americans become economically independent. I’m remembering how I had to explain this reference to the friends I was watching it with.
Finally Lamar closes the performance with the one we were all waiting for, “Not Like Us.” This song was released a few months ago and is a direct diss to Drake. The week prior, Lamar won five Grammys for this song. This song includes direct shade to Drake including: calling him a pedophile, a colonizer, a liar, etc.
Even though my friends didn’t get all the references, they still were in agreement with me at the end that Lamar had an impactful, powerful performance. This halftime performance became the most viewed in Superbowl history and for good reason. Kendrick Lamar pushed boundaries and sent a message America and Donald Trump especially needed to hear.
ShoutOut! James Madison University 