Last night, Kendrick Lamar took to the Super Bowl halftime show to perform an assortment of hits (and public shots at Drake).
As to be expected from the Pulitzer winner, there were a ton of hidden meanings within his performance. So, here’s what you might have missed:
1.
The first shot of the performance is a number of symbols being lit up. It’s the square, triangle, cross, and circle found on a PlayStation controller.
2.
We then see Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam. Now, Uncle Sam is a character who Kendrick has rapped about before. Notably, in his album To Pimp A Butterfly, Uncle Sam is an ominous figure who exploits Black people through capitalism.
3.
With this context in mind, Samuel’s initial words tell us that the show is about to be about a lot more than football: “It’s your Uncle, Sam. And this is the great American game!” His outfit is custom Bode and inspired by 19th-century illustrations of Uncle Sam.
4.
We then cut to Kendrick on a car — but not just any car, a 1987 Buick GNX (a type of Buick Regal). Notably, it’s the year Kendrick was born, as well as a reference to his latest album titled GNX. As well as owning one of the cars himself, Kendrick has long rapped admiration for the car, as he was driven home by his father in a Buick Regal after being born.
5.
So, what about Kendrick’s outfit? His jacket reads “Gloria,” a nod to the closing track of GNX. As for his necklace, it’s a lowercase “a” — potentially a reference to the line in “Not Like Us” where he says of Drake, “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.” It might also be the pgLang logo, which is the company named on his back.
6.
After rapping lines from an unreleased track — which included the lyrics “Twenty years in, still got that pen dedicated to bare hard truth” — Kendrick told the audience, “The revolution ’bout to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy.” It’s entirely possible that this is a reference to the Trump administration, as Donald Trump himself attended this year’s Super Bowl.
7.
Following “Squabble Up,” Uncle Sam then tells Kendrick, “Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto. Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!” It feels pretty evident here that Kendrick anticipated the white conservative backlash that would follow his performance.
8.
In case the theme of what constitutes America wasn’t clear enough, there’s then Kendrick rapping in the middle of an American flag split in half:
9.
The stage then turns into an lengthy street, which evokes the music video for his 2015 track “Alright.” Furthermore, in said video, Kendrick stands on a streetlight before being shot by police.
10.
Uncle Sam then interrupts to say of the game, “Oh, you brought your homeboys with you, the old culture cheat code. Scorekeeper, deduct one life.” The following song, “Peekaboo,” is then played within the red cross button.
11.
Teasing “Not Like Us,” Kendrick then says, “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue” — likely a reference to Drake suing his own label over the popularity of the diss track.
12.
Enter SZA! Kendrick’s tour partner wore a jacket decorated with the word “Crybaby,” a reference to her song of the same name. Her necklace says “Lana,” a reference to the deluxe version of SOS and her name, Solána.
13.
It’s their Black Panther soundtrack duet, “All the Stars,” that Uncle Sam praises: “That’s what America wants. Nice, calm. You’re almost there, don’t mess this up.” However, Kendrick goes forward with playing “Not Like Us” anyway.
14.
In the ensuing interlude, Kendrick evokes his song “Wesley’s Theory” by rapping, “Forty acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.” It’s what was promised to freed enslaved people following the Civil War — a promise that was then broken.
15.
His next line further speaks to institutional racism in the US: “They try to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.”
16.
“Not Like Us” then features a cameo from Serena Williams, who was rumored to date Drake in the early ’10s (he later insulted her husband in a 2022 rap). The dance Serena is doing is the “crip walk,” a move that she was heavily criticized for doing at Wimbledon. Indeed, it feels hugely relevant to one of the messages of the show: The question of how Black people are expected to perform in public.
17.
There’s one final cameo: The “Not Like Us” producer and man shouted out on the song “TV Off,” MUSTAAAAARD. Kendrick did change some of the lyrics to the song, rapping, “Super Bowl made the feat, you’re diabetic.” Game over.
Well, that’s what I spotted! Was there anything that you got that I missed? LMK in the comments!
