“The revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guy,” said Kendrick Lamar during his Super Bowl halftime performance.
Lamar performed with SZA as the special guest and Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam. This performance included some of his most popular songs, including “They Not Like Us,” “All the Stars,” and “Luther.” During this complex and unique performance, Lamar used various versions of symbolism through his lyrics, dances, and sets to represent our government and concealed corruption within it.
Lamar’s performance was layered with history and political commentary. This included his stage use, which was a red, white, and blue tic tac-toe game representing the minorities in America struggling to meet ends. Another example is having the dancers in the formation of the American flag split in the middle to represent the division of the country. Lamar demonstrated how the United States of America is increasingly becoming more divided due to politics and money.
Although Lamar faced plenty of criticism for his performance, I found it entertaining and thought-provoking, and I enjoyed the political twist. This show is unlike anything in Super Bowl halftime history. Lamar has an authority-challenging attitude off and on screen, which is what makes his performance unique.
In addition, him performing his popular song during the Super Bowl dissing Drake, “They Not Like Us,”. which has his famous line, “Probably a minor,” that had the entire stadium screaming the lyric. Though this moment outshined a lot of others including the symbolism of the splitting of the American
Overall, Lamar’s production was entertaining and engaging.
Though this was jam-packed with symmetry and political awareness, it was still an entertaining watch.
Lamar has always had unique songs with political insight into what’s happening in the world. This includes the song Freedom released in 2016 that featured Kendrick. “I can’t move Freedom cut me lose.”
This performance was by far one of my favorite halftime shows for the Super Bowl and will definitely be talked about in the years to come.
