Generally, one watches the Super Bowl in support of one team or the other. However, if you were not rooting for either the Kansas City Chiefs or the Philadelphia Eagles Feb. 9, you were likely more interested in Kendrick Lamar screaming “Mustard.” With shots at Drake, themes of the African American experience, and special guest appearances from SZA and Mustard, this halftime show was the most viewed in Super Bowl history. So what did you miss? Are you curious about the themes at play? Didn’t understand that one phrase? Well squabble up — here’s the breakdown of the breakdown.
“Mr. Lamar — do you really know how to play the game?”
Samuel L. Jackson took center stage as Uncle Sam, representing the soul of America and wearing her stars and stripes. And what did he do? He ragged on Kendrick and criticized his music for being “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto!” He represented the criticism of those who don’t understand (and fear) hip-hop, who have misunderstood it as a representation of danger and dissonance. He portrayed the idea that this music by, for and of the Black community of America is fundamentally un-American.
The layout of the halftime show was relatively simple — a floor plan that could be interpreted as a game controller or a street depending on how you viewed it. Considering the themes and messages of the show, this likely represented African Americans playing the rigged game of America. Many easter eggs back up this line of thought, foremost being the American flag made of Black men. African Americans were the backbone of building the country — literally — making it up the same way the performers made up the flag. Another major point is Kendrick’s lyric “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music,” reflecting the promises made and broken to those formerly enslaved.
“Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young.”
Now this is what most of y’all are here for. Kendrick performed “euphoria” and teased “Not Like Us” throughout the night, until finally putting the nail in the coffin by performing the infamous diss track on one of the biggest stages in the world. Just one week after being awarded five Grammys for the song, Kendrick has undoubtedly defeated Drake (and J. Cole?). A few hidden digs came up, such as during the “a-minor” lyric, Kendrick’s backup dancers shifted formation to spell out “PEDO.” While you likely noticed Serena Williams Crip walking, you may not have registered that the dance was something she was previously criticized for and that she dated Drake between the years 2011 and 2015. At this point, the only thing Drake has going for him is his line “Kendrick just opened his mouth, someone go hand him a grammy right now” from “Family Matters.” Scorekeeper! Deduct one life.
“The revolution ‘bout to be televised; you picked the right time but the wrong guy.”
In 1971, Gil Scott-Heron released a song titled “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” which quickly became a battle cry of how social change will not be sensationalized through media but rather operated by people going out and causing it. Kendrick countered by saying it will be televised; we live in a time of decentralized media control where we produce messages freely, therefore it is the right time. And the wrong guy? Probably the top dog in the audience that we Americans picked: President Donald Trump.
Not all the political messaging was up front and obvious, so, in case you missed it, Kendrick has a lot to say about modern society. After performing “DNA.,” the back half of the stadium lit up saying “WARNING WRONG WAY,” reflecting America moving backward, presumably with recent events in mind. While performing “HUMBLE.,” he stood in the middle of the American flag of performers, notably split down the middle. During “Not Like Us,” everybody fell down during one verse, and the only people left standing were all dressed in white. I’ll leave whether or not that’s a stretch up to you.
“MUSTARD!!!”
A fair amount of easter eggs were hidden about the show, many with more straightforward meanings than the game controller theme reflecting the game of America. The show started with Kendrick standing on top of a 1987 Buick GNX, which his most recent album is named for. The dancers throughout the show were dressed in patriotic colors, but also represented the Crips and Blood gangs, especially when examining the streetwear style of their costumes. Kendrick himself wore a lowercase “a” on his chain, part of the pgLang logo (a creative company Kendrick co-founded), and his jacket said “Gloria” on it — a reference to a song, but also translating to “glory” in Spanish. Kendrick made a conscious effort to recognize the Spanish influence in Los Angeles, using multiple samples in his recent GNX album. There are a few more references just niche enough to possibly be a stretch, but, if we know anything about Kendrick, it’s that he loves his symbolism. A reference was made at the beginning of the show where the stage “controller buttons” lit up in a specific sequence, translating to the cheat code for body armor in GTA V. In the opening track of GNX, “wacced out murals,” a line goes “I done lost plenty friends, 16 to be specific.” Lo and behold, Uncle Sam is wearing 16 stars on his jacket, literally pinning them on Uncle Sam. In an unscripted moment ironically reflecting the “right time/wrong guy” lyric, one of the backup dancers hoisted a flag in support of Sudan and Gaza, before quickly being taken away by security.
“It’s a cultural divide ‘ima get it on the floor”
There’s a cultural divide, and Kendrick certainly tried to get it across on the stadium floor; whether or not the message was received is in the eyes of the beholder. America’s misunderstanding of his culture and music reflects the overall treatment of African Americans and the backward movement of modern society, which is at the right time with the wrong guy. After “man at the garden,” Uncle Sam said “the old culture cheat code,” reflecting another American sentiment that Black people use the term “culture” to validate acting “ghetto” (which is only one of many interpretations). Uncle Sam made it plenty clear that America is not the place for this expression of the lives and experiences of African Americans. America wants clean, beautiful singing — as long as you conform, we’ll accept you. America is a game; you can’t cheat by calling yourself culture, even though the game is rigged against you. While we’ve come a long way with civil rights, now we’re going the wrong way, and it’s time for revolution — but we picked the wrong guy. Oh yeah, and then there’s Drake. And his ghostwriters.
Game Over.
