Kendrick Lamar's fierce Super Bowl halftime show elevates Drake feud, makes history
Rap isn't just a genre, it's a cultural movement.
Kendrick Lamar put an exclamation point on another historic moment in rap's evolution as the Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning rapper took music's biggest stage at Super Bowl 59 for a halftime performance that defied conventions, dazzled with metaphoric wordplay and jabbed the ears of those who scowled at the idea of a rapper headlining solo.
Lamar, 37, is the first solo rap star bestowed with the massive, worldwide spotlight.
He did not shirk his responsibilities.
With Samuel L. Jackson, clad in a full Uncle Sam outfit and top hat, acting as a moderator (or perhaps part of Lamar’s brain), the rapper kicked off his 13-minute performance in front of a Buick GNX on a raised platform, a nod to his current “GNX” album.
“This is a great American game!” Jackson bellowed as Lamar, surrounded by a troop of dancers in red and white marching in formation burst into “Squabble Up.”
In his jeans, backward baseball cap, black gloves and pgLang jacket emblazoned with "Gloria," Lamar was the epitome of unforced swagger, strolling the field and various stages as the dancers, now in a formation like the stripes of the American flag, stood straight around him during “Humble.”
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The crew situated on the 30-yard line for “Peekaboo” on an X-shaped stage before a group of female singers in white pants and crop tops jumped in to help introduce the ballad “Luther,” and with it, Lamar’s special guest SZA.
The California native and St. Louis' SZA were the rare performers at this year's Super Bowl not to hail from Louisiana.
The pair, with SZA dressed in a red ensemble in the middle of a triangular stage, played off Lamar as the two slowly prowled each other.
But the energy was ignited again when the marching troops returned for “All the Stars,” Lamar’s “competition ain’t nothing new to me” line was especially relevant during the biggest sporting event of the year.
Jackson, though, wasn’t done, and appeared once again with a joking warning: “You’re almost there, don’t mess this up.”
This, of course, led to Lamar’s controversial Grammy-winning “Not Like Us” (“you really ‘bout to do this?” the female singers cautioned).
Yes, he was, trolling Drake – the recipient of his ire in the song – as he stepped gleefully across the stage to cheers from the crowd and even brought Drake's ex, tennis legend Serena Williams, on stage to dance. Lamar took the feud to a whole new level with a worldwide audience exposed to the track.
Lamar closed his set with “TV Off” with references to pass interference and New Orleans before grinning and pointing at the camera, strutting off to perhaps gloat.
Kendrick Lamar wants Super Bowl show to make people 'think a little'
A few days before his first headlining presentation – Lamar previously joined the hip-hop team including Dr. Dre and Eminem in 2022 – he talked about the importance of storytelling in his songs.
“My initial process (when writing) is, how can I open them up to the story?” Lamar said during a Super Bowl press conference. “I just want you to feel it. The writing is there, now it’s up to me to perform it so you feel it … I like to carry on that sense of, make people listen, but also see and think a little.”
Lamar brought his provocative lyrical addresses to his 2024 rap battle with Drake, as the two hurled diss tracks at each other through most of the spring. The more than decade-long animosity between them escalated to a public brouhaha as they bickered about height, weight and, more seriously, allegations of sexual abuse and grooming.
Lamar’s performance comes a week after he earned five more Grammy Awards – the most of any artist at the 2025 ceremony – and increased his career tally to 22.
In addition to commandeering the rap categories, Lamar’s “Not Like Us” also bested artists including Taylor Swift and Billie Eilish in the general song and record of the year categories.
Lamar surprise-dropped his sixth album, “GNX,” in November and will embark on the Grand National Tour with SZA kicking off on April 19 in Minneapolis.