Shannon’s Soapbox: Let’s Unpack that Halftime Show
“Forty acres & a mule, This is bigger than the music.” -Kendrick Lamar
Now that this year’s Super Bowl game is over with the Eagles taking home the win, the internet has been buzzing about that halftime show, but the message seemed to have gone over many people’s heads.
Kendrick Lamar, whether you’re a fan or not, made history as the first ever solo rapper and hip-hop artist to perform at the Super Bowl. The half-time show was also the most-watched in history, raking in more than 133 million viewers. So why are many people so up in arms about his performance?
Well, Lamar chose storytelling, symbolism, and head-on controversy-that’s why. Intertwined within his musical performance was a message, challenging the people of America to think critically or miss the nuance, which many did. Lamar used themes of power, injustice, identity and resistance. And Samuel L. Jackson as “Uncle Sam” was just icing on the cake.
The stage was set up as a Sony PlayStation video game controller with all black background dancers clothed in red, white and blue in separate sections of the grid. Lamar opened with the statement, “The revolution about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy.” This was a jab at President Donald Trump, who was in the audience, meaning that 2025 is the right time, but Trump is the wrong guy.
Jackson makes a reference to “playing the great American game” which many took to mean the Super Bowl, but the video game controller set up spoke levels of sarcasm meaning that every American is just a pawn in the actual game of “surviving America.”
Jackson played a house servant in the movie Django Unchained and his intermingled monologue in Lamar’s set represented how Black artists are expected to conform. Jackson even told Lamar to “slow things down” and not be “too ghetto” as a metaphor for how White America has pressured black artists to “stay in line.”
Then there’s the ongoing battle between Drake and Lamar where the two have been going back and forth insulting one another in tracks to the point where Lamar’s song “Not Like Us” called Drake out for liking underage girls, ended in a lawsuit Drake lost. The song won Lamar multiple Grammy’s, but left many wondering if he would perform it at the Super Bowl due to the ongoing controversy.
He did....and had fun with it.
“I want to play their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” quipped Lamar right before going viciously full force into the song. Lamar smiling directly at the camera as he said Drake’s name was literally the “chef’s kiss” to top it all off, showing that Lamar could care less about being sued and was thoroughly enjoying the televized diss at Drake.
Lamar used his platform to celebrate black culture, to point out the divide in American people right now, and whether you like him or not, Lamar is a powerful storyteller-the only rapper to have ever received the coveted Pulitzer Prize Award.
There are many different interpretations of the performance, but, like all good storytelling-it sparks conversation, provokes critical thinking and most importantly it makes the listener feel something-even if that emotion is anger or outrage.
One thing Lamar has done with his performance is make people question the deeper meanings of his lyrics, and thinking more deeply about societal issues can only help to enhance our own understanding of the struggles others face.
And to those using the tired excuse of “I couldn’t understand a word he was saying,” I suggest you open both your eyes AND your ears and learn a thing or two about different types of music-you might enlighten yourself. This performance was both art and entertainment and for those of you that missed the point, I’m honestly sorry at the lack of ability to understand the poetic justice Lamar just served. What I really think is that those of you claiming to not understand the meaning, understood just enough to pi** you off.
Who knows? Maybe next year you’ll get someone more catered to your intelligence like Carrie Underwood or Kid Rock.
