Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show was bona fide political artistry… if you knew what to look for.
Lamar hit the Super Bowl stage totally ready on Feb. 9: ready to perform, ready for the media, and more than anything, ready to speak. Lamar is the first rapper to be invited to perform solo for the Super Bowl, and he took the opportunity in stride, using it to speak on certain parts of the world’s political scene. Contrary to popular belief, it wasn’t just about Drake. This show was an ingenious and smooth way to feed the masses politically “out-there” ideas, and brought a roaring uprise of social media content regarding the United States’ political past, present, and future. People just need to know where to look.
After some visuals to start the show, actor Samuel L. Jackson appeared, dressed as the historical political figure Uncle Sam. He welcomed the audience like a carnival announcer to the “Great American Game.” At first, one might think that the Great American Game was just referring to football. As the show progressed, it became clear that this was about more than just sports.
When Jackson began speaking, a chord rung out that sounded like a choir of angels, but turned slightly sour and dissonant, creating a feeling of unease, uncertainty and unfinishedness, as if the audience was waiting for those few tangy notes to shift a half step and make the chord bright and sure again.
After Uncle Sam’s introduction, a spotlight was shone on Lamar crouching on the hood of a black 1987 Buick GNX, the car his most recent album, “GNX,” is titled after. He was sporting bootcut jeans and a large lowercase ‘a’ chain, paying homage to pgLang, Lamar’s creative company specializing in music and visual media evolution. The crooked ‘a’ is part of their logo.
On the hood of the car he was rapping “Bodies”, a recent release. As the beat began to drop, dancers in red, white, or blue monochrome outfits started to funnel out from the car, followed by a prerecorded “FREEZE!” and after that, another dissonant chord, this time played by synthesizers. As the lights flickered, he recited: “The revolution’s about to be televised; you picked the right time but the wrong guy,” emphasizing those last two words as if they were the only thing the audience needed to hear.
The beginning of this phrase is a direct reference to musician and activist Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” Scott-Heron’s song is saying, the revolution will not be televised because it’s more than anything “We the People” can casually see in the media; there is a disconnect between consumerism celebrated in the general media, and the activism on deeper local levels. Lamar contrasts that concept by essentially saying, the revolution has recently been, and is going to continue to be more televised than ever. The watchers at home are no longer just passive spectators. The country and the world have gotten to a degree where the revolution is now in everything, it’s honestly hard not to televise it.
The continuation of his phrase, “you picked the right time but the wrong guy,” referred to President Trump. Today is the day that people are ready to pick themselves up and fight back, but the administration they’re doing it under remains the problem.
After this segment, the dancers reconfigured and began dancing to another new song. Uncle Sam interrupted the song, disappointedly yelling, “No, no, no, no, no!” and saying the previous acts were “too loud, too reckless, too… ghetto.”
“Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!” He exclaimed angrily. Asking Lamar if he knows how to play “the game” was regarding getting ahead, particularly in the music industry. Does Lamar know what the people want? Why is he not doing more palatable things? A prime example of this is his loss at the 2016 Grammy Awards. His 2015 album “To Pimp A Butterfly” was nominated for Album of the Year and lost to Taylor Swift’s “1989.” Both albums were tasteful and both creatives have talent, but Swift’s music simply tends to be more widely listenable due to its simple nature. Jackson was telling Lamar he does too much; he needs to chill out. He was saying he needs to stop doing what’s true to himself and instead should make things everyone will listen to in order to get ahead in a field that doesn’t automatically have a seat for him.
Immediately after Jackson left the stage, an aerial shot was shown of an American flag woven together by Lamar’s all-Black dance crew with himself in the center. This was a straightforward reference to the foundation of the United States being majorly built upon the enslavement of African people. The dancers surrounded Lamar in their flag formation while the viewer heard the electric guitar intro to “HUMBLE”, the most popular song from his 2017 studio album “DAMN.” This song was almost responding directly to Uncle Sam, telling him that if the hype and upbeat music was too much then too bad, and that he needed to “sit down, be humble.”
After the next few songs, he moved to speak with his trusted counsel of Black women: these are the “K.Dot Angels”. They moved in unison, responding to the things he said. The Angels are heard very consistently in Lamar’s music throughout his career (ex. “King Kunta” and “untitled 03 | 05.28.2013”). He said “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” referring to “Not Like Us”, his diss track against rap artist Drake, and the fact that he was told not to perform it. The Angels respond, “what song?” before a teaser of the song played. However, the teaser actually led into a slower, more R&B based song, “Luther” and “All The Stars” from Marvel’s Black Panther (2018) with SZA. This section of the halftime show featured less significant political references, and yet Uncle Sam made his way back. “Yeah … That’s what America wants! Nice, calm,” Uncle Sam shouted, continuing to tell him not to slip up.
Lamar said, “It’s a cultural divide, I’mma get it on the floor,” reminding the viewers more directly again that he’s bringing attention to the state of politics. He continued with, “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music,” referring to the promise made to enslaved African Americans upon freedom. 40 acres of farmland and a mule were promised to ensure that they’d be able to achieve the same financial and agricultural success as their white counterparts, but the promise wasn’t kept. By saying that “this is bigger than the music” he was saying that this isn’t just about rap beef with Drake anymore. “Not Like Us” is a diss track to the parts of America that call for a halftime show such as his own; the parts that create such tense political scenery that causes protest to make its way into art and media.
After the final song, “TV Off,” the performance ended with an aerial view of the stands, with lights in the audience spelling “GAME OVER”, of the Great American Game. This is a game, and Lamar did what he wanted to, even if it meant losing.
References, metaphors, allusions, oh my! This show was so full to the brim with references that it’s understandable that some people thought it was confusing. To some, this show was simply a bunch of loud music being interrupted by Uncle Sam, whoever the heck that is. But when broken down, there’s so much to train your eyes and ears on at one time that the same clips can be played twice and you’ll see something different. Kendrick Lamar is a living, breathing representation of what R.A.P. stands for: Rhythm And Poetry. This halftime show truly displayed that like no other. Once you know what to look for, it unfolds right in front of you.
