Kendrick Lamar performed at this year’s halftime show, and it has everyone talking. But it is not all good. Many people were left questioning why such a well-known artist would choose not to play his most popular songs when given such a big opportunity to perform.
But this year’s halftime show wasn’t about the music.
Instead of using this opportunity to play these popular songs Kendrick instead wanted to speak about something bigger. Social media users have many different interpretations of his performance as a whole but he made it clear his performance had a deeper meaning behind it. Kendrick showed America how he felt about a divided country and dove into his drama with Drake, giving us a performance like no other. He paid no mind if people would interrupt it the way he intended or found it entertaining.
The stadium was set up as “The Great American Game” with the host, Samuel L. Jackson, who was dressed as Uncle Sam, a typically white man who represents patriotism in America.
He opens his act with an unreleased song and the line, “The revolution is about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy.” Some people have theorized that this message was a direct shot at President Donald Trump, who was in attendance at this year’s Super Bowl for the first time, others say it may be about the need to start a movement towards freedom, but no one knows for sure what he meant by this line.
February is Black History Month and Kendrick used this opportunity to tell everyone exactly how he felt about our country without directly saying anything. Kendricks’s act was put together with all black performers coming together to tell a larger story. He opens by rapping to his new unreleased song, which people have since said they did not understand a single word of. The cameras cut to Uncle Sam, saying that it is “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto”. This statement takes a direct shot at stereotypes of black culture in America.
Kendrick continues to give the people what they want and sings one of his most popular songs, “HUMBLE”. As he sings the dancers from an American flag and do a dance where they are bending over. Many people are speculating that this dance is meant to represent the way that America was built on the backs of African-Americans through slavery. Kendrick then comes in to split the flag down the middle representing a divided country.
As the performance continues, Uncle Sam tells Kendrick he “is almost there and better not mess it up,” but Kendrick interrupts Uncle Sam and says this is “bigger than the music.”
Kendrick took a risk that other performers may not have been brave enough to take. He put on a performance to educate and make people aware of what was going on, filled with seemingly endless metaphors. He may not have performed like people were expecting to see, but does that make this the worst halftime show ever or the best?