By Emily Kalata
Kendrick Lamar’s performance at the Superbowl was a beautiful representation of fighting against the anti-black hate that continues to rise in America after a more conservative government control. Yet many people online are speaking out over Kendrick's performance, calling it ‘boring’ due to its simplicity in its presentation compared to past Superbowl performances.
Say Drake
The main trending topic was his performance of “Not Like Us.” Beforehand, Kendrick teased the song with his background dancers, saying “I want to perform their favorite song but you know that love to sue” slyly alluding to the rumor that Drake is suing Lamar and his record label Universal Music Group for defamation of character. One of the many that he would throw at Drake.
In fact, Lamar looked straight into the camera with a smile while saying the lyrics “say Drake, I hear you like ‘em young” which has been one of the most viral moments of the show due to the amount of publicity about the beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar behind the song itself.
Kendrick also had many guest stars in his halftime show, like SZA and Mustard on some of their collaborated songs. Still, one stand-out guest of the performance was Serena Williams, one of Drake's ex-girlfriends, who was seen crip walking during ‘Not Like Us.’
This is Bigger Than The Music
Kendrick has had a lot of imagery that has seemingly gone over peoples eyes in favor of the topic of Drake Vs Kendrick. There were actually a lot of insightful and thought provoking messages that many people online try to brush over.
One of the main allegories was the recurring character of “Uncle Sam” played by popular actor Samuel L Jackson. “Uncle Sam,” the historic personification of America and its patriotism, would criticize Lamar's performance, calling out his more rap-based songs as “too loud, too reckless, too… Ghetto,” many attacks that black people and artists would be faced with when creating in America. Jackson was also upset after a song with black dancers chilling by a streetlamp, acting normally as in day-to-day life, stating “I see you brought your homeboys with you. The 'ol culture cheat code. Scorekeeper, deduct one life."
Another allegory was the black dancers dressed in red, white, and blue. At one point the dancers arranged together to create an American flag which then split in half, portraying a country divided. At another point in the show, all the dancers in blue and red fell to the ground while the dancers dressed in white circled around Kendrick. This could be interpreted as an allusion to white power in America.
While much of the imagery from the performance was subtle, some were more blatant. Kendrick's line “40 acres and a mule this is bigger than the music” was in reference to the historic promise that black Americans were given after the Civil War to help black Americans be sufficient after years of enslavement. He had also made his first few words of the halftime show “You picked the right time but the wrong guy” a likely diss at the new election in which Donald Trump had been reelected despite many claims of racist backgrounds among other things.
Game Over
One hidden easter egg that may have been more difficult for viewers to see clearly on first watch was the controller stage and “GAME OVER” read in lights at the end of the performance. This could be interpreted in many ways, from Lamar making another claim about his beef with Drake saying that he had clearly won, or another more potent and political meaning about what Kendrick Lamar has written about throughout his entire career, you can try to silence black artist but they will just speak louder and more confidently. Either way, despite the media confusion and criticism over the ‘simplicities’ of the performance, the halftime performance was anything but boring, it was art.
