The Obvious and The Nuanced
Decoding Kendrick Lamars Super Bowl Half Time Performance
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- Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance was an unapologetically real and politically charged spectacle, outshining any other rapper who could have taken the stage.
- Samuel L. Jackson’s Uncle Sam satire highlighted white America's desire to sanitize black culture, while Kendrick asserted its unfiltered presence.
- Lamar’s wardrobe, including a jacket labeled "Gloria" and a PGLang chain, symbolized his reverence for his craft and roots.
- The stage’s PlayStation-inspired design critiqued the gamification of the American Dream, culminating in a defiant “Game Over” message.
- Serena Williams’ presence and Lamar’s choreography challenged racial narratives while throwing unholy shade at
Drake, while the dance crew’s shifting formations disrupted the illusion of U.S. unity.
Lil Wayne was disappointed he didn't get the solo spot on the Caesar's Superdome stage, but there's no other rapper that could've done the slot justice the way Kendrick Lamar did. Netizens raving about the performance think the only other black figure that could've pulled off a similar effect was Tupac. The best word I can use to describe the most watched U.S. televised broadcast since the lunar moon landing is: real.
Lamar wasted no time getting into personal squabbles with Drake which served his recent hits. But shade was also thrown as a critical analysis of the socioeconomic tensions in the U.S. And it would be a crime on civil rights to not reflect on them.
I.
Samuel L. Jackson opens the show clad in an Uncle Sam costume accusing Lamar of being too ghetto. First, it's incredibly hilarious that Jackson is depicting the U.S.'s mascot given that he was on the FBI watchlist for civil rights activism. Uncle Sam would more likely lock up the Mace Windu impersonator than allow him to dress like his peer.
He also satirized and prophesied the white critics when he called Kendrick "too ghetto" and later welcomed smoother moments of Lamar's music saying "that's what America wants! Nice, and calm!" Somehow the white supremacy of the United States completely missed the obvious rhetoric pointing at them. While the hegemony of the country calls for the sanitization and defanging of black culture, Kendrick assures us that sometimes, "you gotta pop out and show a n****!"
II.
Lamar sports a street fit that could make a fashion designer blush. But I'm not talking about his $1,200 bell bottom jeans. His jacket labeled "Gloria" is a reference to his pen. Gloria is spanish for Glory, and it's a word Kendrick uses to describe not just his pen, but the power of his writing. It's a personification of Lamar's prowess over limericks. And his wardrobe honored the glory of his career in more ways than one.
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The ice around his neck studded in gems featured the letter a in Times New Roman typeface. The fandom mistakenly made the assumption this was a reference to his lyrics "A minor" in Not Like Us. But that's not the case. Instead the lower-case a is the logo of his music production company PGLang which he founded with longtime collaborator Dave Free. Kendrick has notably never lost track of his roots, and consistently honors the path that led him to the top.
III.
The stage's decor was inspired by Sony Playstation aesthetics. Triangle, circle, square key elements adorned the all white stage which does more than be inclusive to Lamar's younger audience. It points to the gamification of the American Dream. Maybe even indicating that the game is possibly rigged. The entire premise of video games is that they have guardrails designed by the developers who ensure that no matter how the user plays the game the outcomes are still limited by the writers who determine how the story goes and what is possible.
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Lamar's choreography ends with the words "Game Over" brilliantly lit from the bleachers. An indication that Kendrick, and folks like him, are done playing. It's not a game to them. Fuck the predetermined guardrails of your games. We're doing things differently now. Maybe ghettoer even. White critics seem to validate Lamar's artistic expressions with their angry complaints because they're mocking cultural work that doesn't cater to them. Almost as though white critics have been incorporated as a performance art into the halftime show itself. And the fact the Game Over sign comes from the stands implies collective resistance. He's not alone in this.
IV.
Serena Williams was iconic during Kendrick's performance of Not Like Us. Not just because she briefly dated Drake sometime between 2011 to 2015 which neither party confirmed nor denied, which serves as a hilarious cherry on top of Lamar's audacity sundae. It's also a tip of the hat to the historicity of black culture. Her crip walk was something she celebrated when she won the gold at the 2012 London Olympics. A moment marked by harsh criticism for honoring gang culture. However, the crip walk has been claimed by the black community at large and is no longer a symbol of merely the gang itself. Too ghetto? Maybe they'd like something nice, and calm! Maybe they're not like us.
But the relationship between Drake and Serena isn't something that should be glazed over too quickly. After their breakup Drake wouldn't let go of those wounds for years. He'd go as far as to mock William's marriage calling her husband a groupie in Middle Of The Ocean where his rap included disses like:
“Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie, he claim we don’t got a problem but no, boo, it’s like you comin’ for sushi. We might pop up on’em at will like Suzuki.”
Which prompted Lamar to clap back in defense of the treasured black woman. In Not Like Us Kendrick came to Serena's defense slipping in violent limericks like:
“From Alondra down to Central, n*gga better not speak on Serena.”
After warning Drake to keep the gold-medalist's name out of his mouth, Kendrick and Williams shared a glorious moment on the biggest stage in the U.S.
V.
Even the supporting dance crew had a role in shaping the symbolism behind Lamar's performance. Dressed in red, white, and blue the crew comes together to form a patriotic symbolism of the U.S. Except they don't stay perfectly arranged in flag formation. They start taking more staggered positions until it doesn't resemble the imperialist flag anymore. And subsequent shapes they begin to make become more obscure and difficult to read. Some netizens anticipate that one obscure shape the dancers made was the word "PEDO" in mockery of Drake. But the greater symbolism of continued disorientation from the genocidal flag is an acknowledgement of the deep racial and political divide in the U.S. Which challenges the myth of a harmonious "American Dream." The chaos lends itself to the point.
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And it's complimentary to lines he slipped into the halftime show that weren't song lyrics. Like Kendrick hitting us with "40 acres and a mule" before performing Not Like Us. Also pointing to the unfulfilled white promises that fed the deep divide that the U.S. is sitting in today. This coming just after SZA joined the stage for luther, which Samuel L. Jackson's Uncle Sam commented was "what America wants! Nice, and calm!" Just to be followed by something that sounds like the hardest protest song since Uprising by Muse. Unapologetically black, the chorus swings into the racial divide by celebrating a section of the culture war that the ancestors of white critics used to have enslaved. They didn't like that. But the intention of conveying these messages to the white-supremacy of the U.S. wasn't for them to like it, was it?
Feel free to mention in the comments what forms of symbolism you appreciated the most. Especially if it's something I didn't mention in the article. Want me to make a more in depth analysis? Let me know. Want me to give a critique to another work of art? I'm dying to know what you want to read about!
