Except if you live in a cave, you could not have missed the annual U.S. Superbowl game, which took place in New Orleans (Louisiana) on February 9th this year. Again, except if you had been hiding yourself under a massive rock last week, you could not have missed reactions and videos taken from the most important part of the game, the halftime show.
This year, the halftime show was performed by the renowned and, in my opinion, one of the best rap and hip-hop artists of our generation, Kendrick Lamar. His performance has been described as the “best halftime show ever…” by Ben Stiller and was met with many other reactions on X such as “Just who else can do this?” from Taylor Swift, “This looks insane for everyone witnessing it in real life” from Eminem, “Definitely the right guy for the job.” from Jay-Z, “everything I needed and MORE” from Rihanna.
But what was so special about this performance? And how did Kendrick turn one of the most watched/televised shows in the United States into a political and cultural statement? And also why? Towards who? To all these questions, I will try to bring answers. Now let’s deconstruct the performance…
What is the Super Bowl?
At the end of the NFL season is the Super Bowl. The NFL’s 32 teams are split into two conferences, the AFC and NFC, each with four divisions: West, North, East, and South. Top teams from each division, plus a few wild cards, make the playoffs to compete for the conference title. The winners face off in the Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl is known to be THE major event of the year in the U.S., for sports but also entertainment. Some of the biggest-selling performers in history have performed on the field during the renowned halftime show, such as Michael Jackson, the Weeknd, Lady Gaga, Beyoncé, Rihanna, and many others. The Super Bowl is also known as a grand spectacle of commerce and cash flow.
Numbers
This year, Super Bowl 59 broke the audience record with over 127.7 million American viewers. That’s ⅓ of the US population… For the halftime show alone, there was an average of 133.5 million viewers across TV and digital. The video of the show now accounts for 74 million views on YouTube.
As this game is also a major outlet to “make money”, advertisers spent 8 million $ each to appear on the biggest live audience on TV. 800$ Million is the total amount FOX generated in ad revenue for the “Big Game”. As stated by Lachlan Murdoch, executive chair and CEO of Fox Corp. “The clear winners Sunday night were the Eagles, the NFL and Fox.”
Regarding these numbers, you may think that the halftime headliner must be paid a fairly good amount of money. Maybe 1 or 2 Million? Maybe 5? Or 10?
Zero. Super Bowl headliners are not paid a cent as the organizers of the Big Game believe that the performance itself represents sufficient advertisement for the artists. This makes sense when you know that in 2023, Rihanna saw a 1,140 percent increase in music streams during Super Bowl weekend.
The Great American Game
However, apart from the numbers and logistics of the game, this halftime show is considered to be more than just a performance. Kendrick turned this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity into a political and cultural manifesto. The many symbols and significances brought into the show were incredibly well played and audacious, especially in the current social and political context in the United States.
The first image of the performance already showcases the tone and aim of the whole spectacle: we see the stage depicting video gameplay, reminding us of what could be a PlayStation controller. For the next 13 minutes, Mr. Lamar will be the main actor of the Great American Game, showcasing the gamification of the American Dream.
Uncle Sam as a depiction of the federal government and White-Conservative America
The first character to give us a hint of this “game” is Uncle Sam, portrayed by Samuel L. Jackson. As he’s the first one we see, he introduces the show with: “It’s your uncle, Sam, and this, is the Great, American Game”. Fans notably drew comparisons between Jackson’s roleplay and his famous role in Django Unchained where he played a slave loyal to a white master.
Throughout the whole performance, Samuel L. Jackson gives hints of what “America wants”, criticizing the show. The role he plays is clear. First, a black Uncle Sam is a direct satire of “what America wants” and represents, especially since the start of Trump’s administration. In ‘Today’s America,’ Uncle Sam guides Mr.Lamar through the expectations of the American public, saying it’s “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto”, and how “this is not what America wants”, but rather something “nice and calm”. By these words, he directly targets afro-american culture and black people in America, showing their systematic marginalization and discrimination in society.
Still, there is the most resonant image of the performance. After hearing Uncle Sam say “M.Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!”, we witness a living and animated U.S. flag embodied by Black dancers in red, white, and blue, with Kendrick in the center, performing one of his most popular tracks, Humble. This stage play serves as a reminder of the backs that built the country of the United States against their will, and still keep being told to be “nice and calm” and never fully incorporated and acknowledged in American Society. The flag then follows by splitting in half, as a portrayal of what freedom looks like, through the lens of bold and unapologetic Blackness, and another representation of the country’s deep division.
Crip Walking
Among the guests on Mr. Lamar’s show, Serena Williams came as one of the major ones. If you follow the beef between Kendrick and Drake, most people say Kendrick invited her only as she is Drake’s ex-girlfriend. However, this might only be one of the reasons, as Mrs. Williams is also a fervent representative of the black community, and is, just like Kendrick, from Compton in L.A., California.
Most significantly, during Lamar’s famous song Not Like Us, Serena Williams performed Crip Walking, also known as the C-Walk. From a personal viewpoint, this was a way for her to celebrate Compton, and take vengeance on the racist commentary made by FOX (also the organizer of this very SuperBowl) back in 2012 during the London Olympics when she won the gold medal and celebrated her victory by Crip Walking.
The Crip Walk is a dance move that was created in the 1970s by first-generation Crip members as a method of expression and communication and has since spread worldwide without its linguistic aspects. Crip Walking is also present during the whole performance as another reminder of the importance and significance of Compton culture.
“The revolution is about to be televised”
In the early stages of the show, Mr. Lamar said this: “The revolution is about to be televised, you picked the right time but the wrong guy”. This phrase is a direct reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” written to highlight the disconnect between the consumerism celebrated on TV with the protests happening in the U.S.. Some also heard this phrase as a direct message to Trump who, in this case, would be the “wrong guy” (and also present during the Super Bowl). This message resonates perfectly with the rest of the performance where other hints from Kendrick aspire to a similar message.
“Forty acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music”, said before singing Not Like Us, was a direct reference to Special Field Order No.15, which was a promise to allocate 400.000 acres of land to former black slaves, broken and overturned in 1865 by Andrew Johnson (Lincoln successor). The song Not Like Us itself was not just about Drake anymore, but a sign of this revolution, breaking the fourth wall and speaking directly to the public, as a rallying anthem to unity in the context of a divided America. This is even more visible when we know that the following and last song, tv off, was also a direct call to all spectators that the tools for resistance and revolution are in our hands at our disposal, just like the game controller is.
More than a performance, a message
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show wasn’t just a performance—it was a statement. Through powerful imagery, symbolic choreography, and sharp cultural references, he turned America’s biggest entertainment event into a thought-provoking critique of racial injustice, identity, and systemic oppression. From Uncle Sam’s commentary to the Crip Walk and the split American flag, Kendrick beautifully used the stage to challenge the audience’s perception of the “Great American Game.” More than just music, his show was a revolution in real-time—a reminder that art can disrupt, question, and inspire. And with millions watching, he ensured the message was impossible to ignore.
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