Not only was the performance a visual treat, but Lamar incorporated so many elements into his show that he basically created pop culture history. Not that he already has not been doing that for the past year. Lamar officially won the beef between him and Drake with this show, as his performance of ‘Not Like Us’ was the cheekiest dressing down we have ever seen. The whole stadium came alive when he sang the chart-topping song, and everyone in the audience knew when to chime in when he sang “Tryna strike a chord, and it’s prolly A minor”!
The beef with Drake has been the topic of discussion in the music world, with both artists dropping diss tracks to one-up each other in the past year, but Lamar scored the winning touchdown with his half-time show. And that was just one part of this jaw-dropping performance. Kendrick sported a classic pair of mom jeans, which just added to his iconic look, and that is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the visual appeal of the highly-streamed show. Lamar chose to portray the colours blue, red, and white in the performance, to represent a divided America, along with the fan favourite Samuel L. Jackson making a cameo as Uncle Sam, creating a powerful reminder for people about the oppression and systematic racism against Black Americans.
There were many ruffled feathers at this performance, and rightfully so, as we got to see a huge star like Kendrick Lamar use his platform to deliver a tongue-in-cheek message about the current state of political affairs in the US. Furthermore, it didn't hurt when Donald Trump left the stadium soon after halftime.
The cherry on top was seeing Serena Williams, Drake’s ex, enjoying and doing the ‘crip walk’ to the diss track during the performance, delivering a proverbial smack in the face moment for Drake, who had publicly insulted Serena and her husband in a previous track in 2022. Furthermore, Williams doing the ‘crip walk’ was a callout to her trolls that harshly criticized her for the same at Wimbledon in 2021. It goes to show that the hate only made her bigger and better, and didn’t pull her down.
Overall, this was by far the best Super Bowl performance ever, as not only did Kendrick awe the fans with his fantastic score, but he gave the imagery some serious consideration and delivered a resounding output that created a lot of food for thought. And hey, who doesn't like being a professional hater?