My 2025 Superbowl Halftime Show Analysis
Welcome back to my blog! I ain't forgot about y'all, and I'm still cooking up a deep dive on the Kendrick vs Drake beef (and when I say deep, I mean I'm tryna take it way back to the origin, cause y'all know this shit been simmering in a green cauldron). Anyways, here are my thoughts and ideas (an analysis, if you will) of Kendrick's 2025 Superbowl Halftime Show performance. Note that you have to have seen it in its entirety alteast once in order to take stuff away from this. Let's get this shit!
Bleachers: loading screen going up to 100 like on a video game Stage: Playstation Buttons: Square, X, Triangle, Circle • "The Great American Game" • The Superbowl = biggest American sports event, football being a literal game • The American Game as in chasing The American Dream, the game being rigged; some people have better chances than others, it ain't fair play • Not only the American dream (aka making it big out of nowhere) but just living your life in America can also be seen as "The American Game", especially with games often being connected to pure luck (if you play with dice) as opposed to skill > metaphor for the black experience in the US (ties in to FEAR. (2017) from 17 y/o Kendrick's perspective; I'mma get back to that for the record)
Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam: • SAMUEL L. JACKSON!?!?!?!? • same first name makes it even better • Samuel being one of the biggest Afro-American actors of the century. Our parents grew up watching him, we grew up watching him • usually has roles in movies dealing with racism > "No better than Samuel L on the Django" in i (2014) • previous points make him somewhat of an authority figure in the black media culture (think of Oprah as another e.g.) • Uncle Sam is usually white, a Black version of Uncle Sam is unheard of, because black people don't really represent America "like that"
Lights on bleachers say START, Kendrick starts standing on top of Buick Grand National GNX • Car his Dad drove him home in from the hospital the day he was born > car he started the Great American Game in (game as metaphor for living in America) • Album cover of latest album GNX: Kendrick leaning on the hood of the car; also Grand National Tour starting right about now (National as in USA + 2 Toronto stops, just to claim Drake's city as "part of the Nation") • "all I ever wanted was a black grand national" now he has it > making origins and wished meet your accomplishments
Tiramisu (/Bodies): • GNX album teaser. Kendrick posted that nameless snippet as a teaser for his album on a random Friday morning (morning itself is weird, bc everyone else posts during prime time/at midnight) then half an hour later we got the album. boom. no further roll out, cause he doesn't NEED to do more at that point. But Tiramisu isn't even on the album. We don't know how & when we'll get it, we don't even know what it's called. Some call it Tiramisu, others call it Bodies • Tiramisu started the album roll out > Tiramisu started the halftime show
Hood/Gang: • more people jumping out of the car than fit in it: Back in the day, the homies would just pack into a car and ride around town. No matter where you were going (the hood, the club, some other place), you'd squeeze in all of your friends into that one car > that old 90s cat shit, like when they show you a tape record and ask "whachu kno bout dis, huh?" - cultural/generational differences compared to today's generation > maybe a way of Kendrick connecting to his older audience
Colors: blue, red and white • American flag (stripes n stars) • Gang Symbolism: Bloods (red) vs Crips (blue) • Republicans vs. Democrats (> "Democrips and Rebloodicans/ red state vs. blue state/ which one you governin'?" on Hood Politics (2015) - AND THE COLORS EVEN FUCKING MATCH IN THAT LINE) • bottom line: divide, fight between 2 opposing camps that simply cannot be united (opposing views: politics)/ reconciled (bad blood & pride: gangs) • >some BBC article claimed the stage is a tictactoe field, which yeah, I see why (big field with square-shaped compartments, circles and Xs, if you don't look close enough to notice the triangle and square) = also a game and a game that only two partys can play at that (analogy between red vs blue = x vs. o), as opposed to a playstation that could be a multiplayer game
"The revolution 'bout to be televised, you picked the right time, but the wrong guy" • Drake picked the wrong opponent • Trump was watching > political "revolution", atleast a heavy statement with a clear message: blackness (*I'mma get back to that for the record) • "the right time" as in everybody will see this performance, the whole country is watching The Great American Game right now and every single one will atleast hear about it online/ at work the next day • "the wrong guy" as in Kendrick is not just some Bruno Mars, The Weeknd, Usher type performer. He will try and make a point and not just give us a few hype songs
"No, no, no, no! Too loud, too reckless, too... ghetto! Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!" • first of all props on SLJ for delivery without cussing, because you know he wanted to! And it might've been even more impactful with cussing • "too ghetto": This is a black halftime show. All his people (I'll say his community) jumping out that one car (that has been the dream car of many people in Kendrick's life) and squabble up as a whole have been too ghetto, too black • "do you even know how to play": aka you're doing it wrong! this is not what you should be doing, you shouldn't act this black around here
HUMBLE. & DNA.: • obviously: the American flag, but it's divided. "America tried to make it a house divided" on i (2014) referring to the House Divided Lincoln speech. Paraphrased: "America is a house divided, which cannot continue to stand divided; it will fall. It has to become either this or that in order to be secure." Lincoln meant North vs South in the slavery conflict, Kendrick put his spin on it about the black community in i, meaning the culture itself is divided (through generational trauma, gang culture, internalized racism, etc). Today we can put that extra spin onto America and the 2 parties because the colors fit so well and the last election ain't too long ago. Plus everyone was fucking devastated = divide --- Now, does him standing in the middle mean he knows how to unite them? Or is it him standing in the middle on neutral ground?, like with the gangs? Kendrick himself has ties to certain gangs and friends in gangs (Top Dawg (from his former label TDE) was a blood, but Snoop Dog is associated with the crips), but has never officially claimed to belong to any of the two • divide between gangs: July 2024 pop out concert in LA. Kendrick brought different hoods and gangs onto the stage for that concert. For us it's just westside shenanigans, but people who grew up in that environment and who live in these parts knew exactly: "okay wow, he brought some people unto the stage together who normally cannot be seen in the same hood without shots getting fired". > reincarnated (2024): "I put 100 hoods on one stage/ I'm tryna push peace in LA" This obviously doesn't mean he "solved" gang violence, but for many higher ups in the gangs that was a sign of being able to find a common denominator within hating others (people especially in the hiphop scene who disrespect the westside and Drake and his camp in general). Call it United in Beef instead of United in Grief (2022) (y'all should really pay me at this point for the educomedy I give you For Free? (2015)).
Costumes (HUMBLE.): • Context: 2022 Half Time Show: black suits, blonde hair, "Dre Day"-Sashes. Everyone looked the exact same back then, so Kendrick would stand out more. It's him and then one intelligible mass as background dancers • individuality in unity (at least for the guys): they have different hairstyles (beanies, durags, braids, cornrows, fros, top fades, ...) It's Kendrick as the big star and then it's the culture. Every one of them looks a bit different, but they're unified by their colors and their clothes • female background dancers all look the same (all wear the same wig): I feel like that must've been intentional. Sth sth women being undermined in hiphop/the black community and especially in America rn • Kendrick's outfit: • Gloria on the front of the jacket: closing track on his latest album, tells story of how he fell in love with writing and lyricism > boasting "his pen's name" on his jacket as a way of priding himself with his lyrics and wit and knowing that that is mostly the reason people listen to him. We don't stick to Kendrick because of his fashion, his lifestyle, his instagram or sth like that. We heard of him because of his music and his storytelling and that is what we know and love him for - and he knows that as well • peakaboo (2024) on the sleeve: Song he performed in the x button of the game (I will also get back to that later on) • "Keep them away from me" backprint on his shirt: "don't lay your life in these weird n-words' hands" on tv off (2024): referring to every weird rapper/celeb in the industry right now (there's some other bar on GNX that fits, but I forgot what song it was on - I shall update if I find it) There's a video of Kendrick celebrating after the show in which he's not wearing the blue varsity jacket anymore so you can actually see the words on his back. • not a fan of the 68k Rahmaninov broche on his cap cause it's literally just a wing and you could have spend 68k better, but who am I, the man gives back all the time, let him have his stuff. There's other rappers who spend more on more atrocious shit
HUMBLE. & DNA significance: • Humble (2017) one of his biggest hits that everyone, who has ever heard of Kendrick through the mainstream (pre-May 2024 and not just through their friends), knows • DNA (2017) off the same album, deals with pride, confidence in blackness and upbringing, values: "I got loyalty, got royalty inside my DNA" (music video is Kendrick in cuffs being interrogated by a white officer > implications of racism as always), but in the end there's a beat switch, where he's out on the streets with his posse, so also blackness and hanging around outside type shenanigans can be associated with the song) • both songs are among his most played songs, especially off that album (probably also the most played album because mainstream), so that is his effort to make it more "party anthem"-y like all the other halftime shows. But he did say they chose the wrong guy for this. He won't give us maad city or Alright (again), he won't bust out Backseat Freestyle or N95 just for us to get hype, even if Uncle Sam might've hinted at that being the way to go about the Great American Game
bleachers: Warning Wrong Way • I could see the www alliteration meaning something too, idk • "warning within the game": aka hey, Sam told you not too be loud, reckless and ghetto and you continued with HUMBLE., DNA. and now euphoria - choose sth more... tame? > wrong way to play the game • or "warning outside of the game": keep doing your thing and don't switch it up now (don't become less ghetto because they told you to) wrong way to go about your blackness • or "warning about not starting to mention the beef": you better not play euphoria cause this is the Superbowl, why would you mention beef on here? That's unheard of > wrong way to deal with this platform • or "warning against Drake himself": you woke up the boogeyman and this is your warning to not make it worse than it already is right now. > Wrong way to handle your career (cause you lost the beef) and wrong rapper to challenge (cause kendrick is the boogeyman and you underestimated him)
euphoria: • why exactly that part? hype enough and pg enough probably, but with K.dot there's usually more to it. Making a point of how Drake sucks and in what ways he's different from him ("Oh you thought the money, power, fame would make you go away"-line?) • "have you ever hunt your enemy down with a pokerface": playing into the fact that kendrick never loses face. That man steps into the booth, does his thing, makes us marvel at it and goes home. Stays offline. You can't say shit that will make this guy record an aggravated insta story on the lies you've spread. As opposed to Drake who literally does the exact opposite on every level. And that mischievous smile into the camera in that moment - gold!
man at the garden: • makes me wanna cry • doesn't usually have this acapella theme, so the fact there's multiple male background singers supporting his flow to me is a brotherhood thing again • person chilling on the streetlamp as a call back to the Alright music video (2015) in which he flies through the streets and also chills on top of a streetlamp • vibing with the gang, everyone looks hood: like he's sitting at the corner store with his posse. typical black stereotype: troubled youth on the street who don't know anything but how to linger around • "keep these bums away from me" call back to the print on the back of that shirt he's wearing and the line on tv off I mentioned earlier • "did it with integrity, these boys tryna hate on me" applies to a lot (the beef, being offline all the time/ his long hiatus, the grammys), but lets apply it to the halftime show: critics say it was too black, heavy, symbolic and not party enough. he did it with integrity and now him making a clear and much needed statement isn't good enough for many critics • "I deserve it all, cause it's mine/ tell me why you deserve the greatest of all time, mf" (he said in an interview that that was the song off the album he wanted everyone to hear and really listen to and understand) > he deserves everything the last year has given him - Not Like Us being successful, being hailed as the Drakenslayer, dropping an acclaimed album, winning 5 Grammys and performing at the Superbowl
"Ohh, so you brought your homeboys with you? The old culture cheat code. Score-keeper, deduct one life!" • The "culture cheat code" = against the rules of the Great American Game • hanging around the corner on the street with the homies ("shit I'm with the homies, just riding, just ridin" The Art Of Peer Pressure (2012)) is the wrong way to play it. You should go to school, go home, do the work and be nice, calm and collected aka "white" • the culture cheat code: within the Game, we're aware of the discrepancy between certain, opposing camps. The culture cheatcode would be bringing your friends and unifying people so they stand as one and are ready to battle. If that is not allowed and gets you fined, that means you have to play the game on your own = you play against a bot, an end boss, an AI, whatever: an NPC that is the same for every game (as opposed to multiplayer where you can play against each other). That Game's end boss could be too hard to beat, everytime you try to beat the game (aka in every life you live - "reincarnated" > implying mulitple lifetimes- you lose against the Game's entity, because it's rigged and you're on your own against a boss you can't control or foresee (the industry, society, a construct, the monopoly) • "deducting 1 life" = taking one life? metaphore for gang violence, losing friends on the street just like that, because you played it wrong. Possible call back to FEAR. (2017): "I'll prolly die anonymous, I'll prolly die with promises/ I'll prolly die walkin' back home from the candy house/ I'll prolly die because these colors are standin' out/ I'll prolly die because I ain't know Demarcus was snitchin'/ I'll prolly die at these house parties - / I'll prolly die from witnesses leavin' me false accused/ I'll prolly die from thinkin' that me and your hood was cool/ Or maybe die from pressin' the line, actin' too extra/ Or maybe die because these smokers are more than desperate/ I'll prolly die from one of these bats and blue badges/ Body slammed on black and white paint, my bones snappin'/ Or maybe die from panic or die from bein' too lax/ Or die from waitin' on it, die 'cause I'm movin' too fast/ I'll prolly die tryna buy - at the apartments/ I'll prolly die tryna diffuse two homies arguin'/ I'll prolly die 'cause that's what you do when you're 17/ All worries in a hurry, I wish I controlled things"
>So many ways to die, because you went against the rules (playing the game on the street with your homies /being seen around the wrong people and falsely accused). This has been part of his life forever and part of his music since atleast fucking 2012 >"I done lost too many friends, 16 to be specific" wacced out murals (2024): could be friends in the industry being shady and turning away, or actually him mourning over "the dead homies" (2015)
peakaboo: • Now. Hold my hand cause shit is turbulent, okay? Get your tinheads out, I need you to follow me • 2018, rapper XXXTentacion dies in a shooting. Shooters still haven't been found to this day, although there were suspects. X was beefing with Drake at the time. Just a few months before his passing, X made the Helping Hand Challenge, where he basically told his fans to do something good (spread kindness, yada yada) in their environment and to post it, so he could see and repost it. Iirc, he also mentioned you should do nice things for strangers even if you don't end up posting it. Drake ripped off his challenge for the God's Plan music video (2018) and posted a similar challenge to his followers on Instagram as well, which X saw as a jab at him. The peakaboo sample in the beginning features the words "Helping Hand", which if you listen to the lyrics seems out of place, if you don't pin it to this theory • There are rumors about Drake having sent his shooters after X and basically ordering to kill him ALLEGEDLY. (We don't know shit, but Drake's name did come up in court; allegedly). If you've seen my previous "My Reasons To Hate Drake" post from May 2024 (which: y'all showed me so much love on this, thank you), then you'll know I already hinted at this even back then. (If you haven't seen it, but are interested in the beef: whatchu waiting for, dawg?) I'll spare you more details, because there IS more, but right now it's just important that you know that that's a theory that has been floating around ever since X died at 20 fucking years old. The boy was just as old as me writing this. During the beef it came up again because it's one more reason to hate Drake for and when people heard peakaboo, they spun the theory further. Kendrick had a rapper from the same area as X, Kodak Black, on his 2022 album and he apparently made some subliminal hints on the song Silent Hill. Peakaboo is also big on the whole "i got money and I got friends in the hood who will definitely gang bang and take someone out - so you better watch ya back" energy, which parodies Drake's songs shortly after X's passing, which obviously made people pipe up even more. Kendrick refers to and parodies a bunch of shit Drake said on his tracks in 2018 that can be linked to X • he performs peekaboo in the X button of the game. the X. for XXXTentacion. Shit is always intentional with this man, so for this to be a coincidence... idk man • saying "peekaboo" and him coming into frame from below is fucking hilarious • Kendrick performed the AzChike's verse (the rapper featuring on the song) and not his own, which made the rapper and his crew really happy.
"I wanna perform they favorite song, but you know they love to sue" • Drake has been tryna sue Kendrick over Not Like Us, but he doesn't want that to be the reason he doesn't play it. It's a whole can of worms I'll tackle some other post
SZA on luther and All The Stars • SZA in all red while Kendrick's wearing blue • SZA is going on tour with him, they've collabed since 2017 • SZA used to date Drake in like 2009 • All The Stars is part of the Black Panther soundtrack and one of his most acclaimed songs in the mainstream > that's why we get Uncle Sam's positive reaction • "fuck you and all your expectations/ I don't even want you congratulations. (...) Ion even like you" someone spinned that unto Drake because back when All The Stars came out, Kendrick won an award over Drake and he tried to play it cool and Kendrick was like "ugh wdym, just stfu, don't even act like you care"
"That's what I'm talking about, this is what America wants! Nice and calm. You're almost there! Now don't mess this-" • SZA as the mainstream entry for the halftime show, the things you'd expect/want on there • someone said "Oh yk sza was also there and she looked great, anyways then this happened" and I was like... she LOOKED great...? Have you HEARD her? Are you on drugs? She's out here doing her job, busting out the double string harmonies and you say "she looked pretty"? ugh. men. > That ties into it. They just hear the performance, but don't listen. They watch, but they don't look. That's why Samuel wanted that, because it's nice and calm and not dangerous. It doesn't say anything
Not Like Us edging: • "it's a cultural divide" > back to the divided point I made before • "40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music" ties into the line that comes up again and again on tpab: some civil war shit from 1865 (black history) where some families were freed and allotted 40 acres and a mule, so now it's become a saying for reparations to black people. Kendrick has been playing with this saying since 2015. Now it's bigger than just music. This is a black Superbowl Halftime show, he's making it bigger than just music, he's trying to give back to the community, trying to shed light on the culture that has been dominating the world's trends but is always overlooked, underappreciated and pushed aside in their own country • "they tried to rig the game but you can't fake influence": he's got the influence and he will use it the best he can for the things he finds important, even with someone trying to sue him over a song
NOT LIKE US: • "Say Drake" and smiling into the cam mischeviously • calling out the people (PARTYNEXTDOOR, chubbs, baka, Drake) • If you thought the Grammys "A Minor" was wild, you haven't heard the 5 Pop out concert "A Minors". If you thought those were as big as it gets, you haven't heard the whole Superbowl shout "A MINORRRRRR" yet • Serena Williams, tennis star in all blue (crip affiliations) crip walking on the side as her ex (back in 2011) gets called a pedophile is wild. She once got fined at a tennis match for crip-walking, so her doing it at the superbowl is a power move for her as well • Yes, they did indeed date, and drake started beef with another rapper (Common) over her after they broke up - (drake behavior, just look at him not being able to let go of Rihanna), and apparently talked shit on social media. some say he even stalked her, but that's YouTube comments, I don't have sources yet
TV OFF: MUSTAAAARD: • necklace: capital M for Mustard • but Kendrick's necklace is a lowercase a aka A MINORRRRRR (it's actually his record label's pgLang logo, but still) • and if you put both of their necklaces together it says aM, like A MINORRRRRRRRRR • also Mustard reppin Cali fashion with his baggy jeans (BBC said they're "the baggiest jeans in the world", lol) • mustard yellow accents on his jacket cause it's Mustaaaaard! • why is he here? - giving mustard his flowers: This wouldn't have been possible without him. Mustard has been a renowned LA producer for years, but producers hardly get any recognition for their work (if you aren't Timbaland and have your own studio albums, multiple verses on other people's records you produced, you're bound to fly under the radar. Take MetroBoomin e.g. I've been listening to Metro's beats for years!, but I only found out what he looked like when I saw him live at Rolling Loud, only to forget again, until the beef kicked off last May and I saw more pics of him). Kendrick had Mustard in the Not Like Us music video and on stage for the pop out concert they had in LA in July (they played Not Like Us 5 times back to back, yall dont fucking get it). The Pop Out concert has even bigger implications for LA itself (refer back to "I put 100 hoods on one stage/ I'm tryna push peace in LA" on reincarnated), but just know that Not Like Us and in turn also Mustard who fucking made Not Like Us happen was a big part of that. Kendrick had him come up stage at the Grammys because again: those 5 grammys might've been a few less if it hadn't been for Mustard's typical LA production. This is a Westside anthem, just like TV Off, so of course Mustard must also join at the halftime show. Also aspeaking of the LA, Westside: a lot of lesser known LA rappers featured on gnx, because Kendrick wanted to give them a platform which is really sweet. At this point kendrick could've asked literally anyone for a feature. I'm sure 2Pac would spit some heat over an ouija board if he only could, but kendrick chose to support his people and the brobros from the hood
TURN THIS TV OFF: • smiles into cam, mimics remote and then Game Over flashes on the bleachers - YALL FUCK MAN, I CANT, I LOVE IT because the game is over, we can turn the tv and the playstation off now • What would've happened if we were to turn the TV off at that exact moment? We wouldn't have seen the rest of the game which... it was clear the eagles were gonna win because it was the first time a team had failed to score a single point before halftime (I know that doesn't mean anything, but still). So yeah, we wouldn't have seen the game's end. We wouldn't have seen the following commercials, so our thoughts would've been on the performance still. People usually watch the superbowls together, so turning your tv off could've resulted in some family quality time, best case scenario, we could've discussed the Halftime show more, gotten people's opinions and analysis (from the first watch ofc, thats usually not that deep)
•"Turn the TV off": the game is literally over, turn the TV off, stay away from the media, the destructive culture that has been using and oppressing Black people for ages.
MORE THOUGHTS: • breath control be crazy, HAVE YOU HEARD HIM RAP!? fucking goated. • this was for the culture. I see people not liking it because they don't get the cultural impact behind it, because they don't like heavy statements during their fun and games Halftime show, but this is just what it is: This was for the culture and it was much needed. We're gonna have to look past the "but there was no party anthem in that performance" (you clearly don't know anything about squabble up, HUMBLE., DNA., Not Like Us and TV Off, if you couldn't dance or get hype to that) "You picked the right time, but the wrong guy": he is not gonna put his principles past him and go into a whole different direction just to appeal the masses, just to get hype when that is not what he WANTS to do. • the bad game probably had many fans demotivated already, so the pre-requisits for the halftime show were perhaps a bit different from what they might have been if both team would've scored better
RECORD BREAKING SHIT:
• This Superbowl was the most watched Superbowl of all time
•The Halftime show was the most viewed Halftime show EVER. This also means Kendrick broke THE Michael Jackson's record for performing the most watch halftime show in 1993 and his performance is now the most watched event in US TV history since the fucking MOON LANDING. Do you fucking understand what that means for the country???
• The halftime show had MORE viewers than the fucking game itself, meaning many people ONLY tuned in for Kendrick Lamar and quite literally turned their TVs off after his performance.
•Kendrick was the first rapper to ever perform solo at the Superbowl, the first one to ever play a disstrack at the superbowl (two in actuality), the first rapper to ever win a grammy for a disstrack (5, count 'em!), and the first rapper to ever win 5 grammys for a single song (previously only Up, Up, and Away (1968) by The 5th Dimension won 5, and 3 other songs won 4 grammys, but none of them in the genre of hiphop, because it hasn't been mainstream for "that" long).
•Kendrick broke the record for Monthly Listeners on Spotify for a rap artist. We got 11 more months to go in this year and this year is already insane for him and if you take 2024 into account, shit just gets wilder. I remember saying hiphop is back in May last year and it truly is.
AND WITH THAT I'll let you rewatch this banger of a performance again. Lawd knows I was already on my 6th rewatch in the first 24 hours. Please comment about literally ANYTHING that comes to mind, hit me up about details, ask away if there's more to explain and please also school me if I'm wrong (but be nice about it!).
I love interacting with y'all on here, so yeah: gimme your thoughts, while I hide away after I literally forgot about this blog lmao
