斗牛棋牌

On February 9, 2025, rapper Kendrick Lamar headlined the 59th Super Bowl halftime show, delivering the performance in history. Lamar is a decorated artist, having earned and Hip-Hop (BET) awards throughout his time as an artist, as well as a for his 2017 album DAMN. As someone who was raised in Compton, California, Lamar is an active member of his community, dedicated to giving back to it. Throughout his career he has donated portions of his earnings to the and the . In addition to this, he is a vocal activist beyond his own community using his platform to call for racial equality on a nationwide scale. His dedication to using his art as a tool of activism can be seen throughout his Super Bowl performance.

His performance opened with Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam, welcoming viewers by declaring “Salutations, it’s your Uncle, Sam, and this is the great American game!” Uncle Sam is a representing American patriotism. First appearing in 1816, Uncle Sam has since been coined as a personification of the United States. Having Samuel L. Jackson, a Black man, costumed as Uncle Sam, the physical representation of the American government, is significant because his racial identity acted to unify the legacy of Black activism and the continued fight for civil rights within America. The juxtaposition between Samuel L. Jackson’s Black identity and the historically white institution of the U.S. acts to comment on the importance that Black Americans have had in the building of America. Choosing Samuel L. Jackson to play this character is also significant because, in his youth, he was a part of the Black Panther Party and served as an usher at Martin Luther King Jr.’s funeral. The phrase “great American game” refers to both the literal Super Bowl but also the game of American politics. We see this demonstrated through the use of video game imagery throughout the opening shots of Lamar’s performance. The visual imagery of the phrase “start here” displayed in the crowd lights, the symbols on the stage that resembled a Playstation game controller, mixed with the American symbolism of Uncle Sam and the use of red, white and blue dress for both Lamar and the backup dancers combined to demonstrate the deeper meaning of the usage of the word “game.” The grandeur of Samuel L. Jackson’s Uncle Sam, with his highly energetic announcing and patriotic symbolism, also acted as a representation for the audience’s expectation for a halftime show: an enthusiastic, all-American performance. Lamar subverted these expectations by beginning with a performance of an unreleased song snippet that was a teaser for his latest album, GNX, instead of one of his more well-known or popular songs.

He began in a quieter tone, a stark contrast to the standard atmosphere of a halftime performance. The line, “Twenty years in, still got that pen dedicated to bare hard truth” sets a precedent for the performance’s underlying political themes and Lamar’s dedication to using the opportunity of halftime as a display of activism. After finishing this segment, he says, “The revolution ‘bout to be televised / you picked the right time but the wrong guy.” This statement is in reference to the 1971 song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron. By changing the line from “the revolution will not be televised” to “the revolution‘bout to be televised,” Lamar is making a statement about the current state of activism. The thesis of the original song is that one needs to take action and be involved in meaningful resistance because the revolution will not be found through TV consumption. By altering the lyrics, Lamar states that in the current political climate, the revolution is happening through the media and one needs to pay attention. The second line, stating, “you picked the right time, but the wrong guy” is in reference to the current presidency. He states this moment in American history is the right time for a social revolution, but our elected president Donald Trump, is not a person who will lead out or support the change. It’s important to note that President Trump, who was in the audience that night for the Super Bowl, was reportedly seen leaving his box during Lamar’s performance.

Lamar moved from this into performing his song “squabble up,” a more recognizable, high-energy song that relates back to his Californian roots. As the song came to a close, Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam reappeared to chastise Lamar by stating that he was being “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” before continuing to ask, “Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!” Once again, the character of Uncle Sam repeated the idea of “the game.” In this context, it was used in reference to the social game that Black Americans need to play to meet white American standards, highlighted by Uncle Sam’s wording of “too ghetto,” a phrase often used to put down Black Americans for behavior that white Americans deem inappropriate. In response, Lamar moved into performing his tracks “Humble” and “DNA,” arguably two of his most recognizable songs. This demonstrated Lamar’s conformity to “the game” by catering to the audience's expectation that he will play popular songs. Although he was conforming to these standards, Lamar’s choice of songs displays his ability to “play the game” and his ingenuity in playing along while still making a statement. “Humble” and “DNA” are both featured on his 2017 album DAMN for which he was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his political lyricism and creative storytelling. While catering to the audience, Lamar was still making sure that his voice is heard. He further demonstrated this through the visuals displayed by his backup dancers. During his performance of “Humble,” Lamar stood in the center of a divided American flag made of his all-Black ensemble of dancers. This imagery symbolized the division present with America, especially in regards to politics. Having the flag made out of Black dancers also stood to represent how America was built off the backs of Black Americans, as America’s early economic infrastructure was built on enslavement and the goods produced through it.

Lamar then moved from “DNA” to his newer track “euphoria,” another widely recognizable song known for its part in the culturally popular feud between Lamar and rapper Drake. As with his other songs from the back-and-forth “diss-tracks” between himself and Drake, Lamar pointed towards larger socio-political themes beyond just the dispute. One of Lamar’s main criticisms of Drake is how he profits by pretending to be part of a gang culture that he has never experienced. He argues that Drake plays into white America’s categorization of Black Americans, further perpetuating their stereotypes. In the line, “Have you ever walked your enemy down with a poker face?” Lamar is asking if Drake has ever actively participated in the gang culture he often alludes to.

After “euphoria” he moved into a performance of “man at the garden” where his dancers performed casually in streetwear while Lamar rapped without a backing instrumental, emulating 1990s-era hip-hop. Once the song concluded, Uncle Sam came back to mockingly state, “You brought your homeboys with you, the culture cheat code.” Using the term “cheat code” once again referenced the imagery of “the game” and pointed out the hypocrisy of white America. Jackson’s critical use of the term “homeboys” alluded to how white Americans like the performance of Black culture but not the actuality of Black culture. They like the display when it can be seen as entertainment that meets their idealized standards. This was further solidified by the 1990s imagery, calling back to when white rappers like Vanilla Ice, Eminem and the Beastie Boys entered the hip-hop genre, capitalizing off of Black American culture. Uncle Sam then continued with “Scorekeeper, deduct one life,” again referring back to “the game” imagery but also demonstrating how white America, despite liking performative Black culture, does not enjoy actual displays of culture and instead punishes displays of Black culture through police brutality, hate crimes and political violence.

Lamar continued his performance with his song “luther” bringing out the singer SZA to perform this duet with him. One of his slower songs, it served to return the performance to a calm atmosphere. The song’s lyrics are a stark contrast to Lamar’s earlier themes about racial injustice and systemic oppression. Instead, in this song Lamar envisions a world where pain and conflict are eradicated. This is displayed through the lyrics, “I'd take away the pain, I'd give you everything. I just wanna see you win.” Although these lyrics are romantic in nature within the context of the song, given the overlying themes of this performance, they can also be seen as indicative of the world that Lamar aims to bring about through his activism. SZA and Lamar continued with their song “All The Stars,” the lead single from the 2018 movie Black Panther. The song is featured during the film’s main end credits and summarises its main themes of anticolonialism, anti-white supremacy and the celebration of African and African-American culture. 

After finishing “All The Stars,” Uncle Sam came back to comment in approval: “That's what I'm talking about, that’s what America wants, nice and calm.” As Uncle Sam continued, warning Lamar, “Don’t mess this up!” he was interrupted by the opening chords of Lamar’s most anticipated song of the night, the quintuple Grammy-award-winning track “Not Like Us.” Lamar’s interruption and rejection of Uncle Sam’s continued insistence on compliance with audience expectations reinforced his commitment to subverting stereotypes as an act of resistance. Lamar transitioned from Uncle Sam’s dialogue by stating, “The cultural divide, Imma get it on the floor. 40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.” Here, Lamar tries to make sure that the audience understood that while this song was released as part of his feud with Drake, there are more important layers to it. The line, “the cultural divide, Imma get it on the floor” is stating that Lamar aimed to address the current political climate “on the floor” or directly. “40 acres and a mule” refers to Special Field Order No. 15, a government policy that intended to distribute reparations promised to emancipated Black Americans post-slavery. The policy promised to give each family 40 acres of land and a mule, but this policy was later overturned after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. By bringing this event back into the conversation, Lamar highlighted the legacy of systemic inequality and the ongoing racial injustice present in America. By ending with “this is bigger than the music” before beginning the song, Lamar instructed the audience not to focus on the comparatively trivial rap rivalry aspect of the song but instead to take note of the political themes being presented.

As with his earlier song “euphoria,” “Not Like Us” aims to critique Drake’s inauthentic performance of an aspect of Black culture that he is not a part of. This ties into the earlier point of white America’s acceptance of performative Black culture but not the actual aspects of that culture. It was during this song, that Serena Williams made a cameo and acted to further demonstrate Lamar’s point by “crip walking,” a dance popularized in the 1970s by first-generation Crip members. Serena Williams did the same dance to celebrate her victories in the 2012 Olympics and Wimbledon tournament leading to waves of criticism that her celebrations were “glorifying gang violence.” This is an example of white America’s reaction when presented with demonstrations of culture in areas they don’t expect.

Lamar ended his show by performing his song “TV Off,” a politically-charged song that continued on the themes of white America’s treatment of hip-hop culture to perpetuate stereotypes of Black Americans, as well as commenting on Black artists who intentionally cater to those norms for success presented previously in “Not Like Us.” The final song also makes several references to the aforementioned Gil Scott-Heron song, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” By ending his performance with an appeal to the audience to “turn this TV off,” a deviation from the original lyric “turn his TV off,” Lamar implored audiences to turn their attention away from the Super Bowl and onto more important political events. Lamar alluded to the themes presented in “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” informing audiences that change will not come through complacency. This is the essence of Lamar’s performance, as shown by his consistent deviation from Uncle Sam’s directions. Lamar told the audience to do the same—to break away from the “great American game.”