Kendrick Lamar Continues Assault On Drake At Halftime Show
By the time the Halftime Show started at Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans, the Kansas City Chiefs were looking pretty beat up, as they were down 24-0. But after watching the beating that Kendrick Lamar gave Drake, they may not feel so bad.
In a performance narrated by Samuel L. Jackson (dressed like Uncle Sam), Kendrick Lamar performed some of his biggest songs from his catalog, including “All The Stars” (with SZA), “HUMBLE.” and “DNA.” as well as a number of songs from his latest album, GNX, including “squabble up,” “man at the garden,” “peekaboo” and “luther” (also with SZA), as well as “tv off”; he was joined on the latter by Mustard when he yelled “MUSTAAAAAARRRRDDD!” (Heinz must have been thrilled by that moment, as they just announced a collaboration with the producer.)
But the moment that got everyone talking was the performance of the song that won an armful of Grammy Awards last week: “Not Like Us.” The song, as most everyone knows, was part of Lamar’s high profile battle with Drake, and was largely regarded as the final knockout punch. In fact, there was some speculation that Lamar wouldn’t play the song, as Drake is pursuing legal action against Univeral Music Group (the label that distributes both Lamar’s music and Drake’s) over “Not Like Us.”
Some of the promos teasing Lamar’s performance used the music from “Not Like Us” but it still wasn’t clear that he’d perform the song. He eventually did. In fact, Lamar made fun of Drake’s legal threats, saying, “I wanna make a move; I wanna perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue.” After the distinctive riff from “Not Like Us” plays, he said, “Yeah, that song.”
Adding to the attack, during the song, tennis legend Serena Williams – who, like Lamar is from Compton, and who was romantically linked with Drake in the early 2010s – was dancing on the stage. (SZA also dated Drake, so two of his high profile exes joined forces with Lamar for the performance.)
Another brutal moment came when Kendrick looked at the camera and rapped the lyric, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young/You better not ever go to cell block one!” Later he rapped a censored version of the lyric, “Certified lover boy? Certified pedophile!” with the word “pedophile” omiitted. And then: “Tryin’ to strike a chord and it’s probably A minor,” a double entendre that further suggests that Drake is a pedophile. Much of the audience seemed to sing along with that part of the song. “A minor” was trending on X (formerly Twitter) right after the Halftime show.
Former NFL player turned sports analyst Emmanuelo Acho summed it up with one tweet, saying, “What did we just witness… Kendrick just murdered Drake in front of 120 MILLION PEOPLE!!!!!”
