Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Performance: Easter Eggs

“Gloria” And That Chain

Kendrick Lamar‘s jacket and chain are both Easter eggs for those super invested in their favorite artist’s lore. Fans of Lamar will recognize the “Gloria” branded jacket as a nod to the last track on GNX. The song is a conceit, a literary love letter to K. Dot’s pen and his ability to turn words into imagery, breathing life into his 16s. “Gloria” covers his conflicting and tense relationship with his art, and the emcee shows love to his pen, immortalizing it on his jacket.

As for the chain, folks have assumed that the lowercase “a” pendant swinging heavily around the rapper’s neck was a tongue-in-cheek nod to his “A-Minorrrrrrrrrrr” line in “Not Like Us.” And while that could be the case, it’s more than likely a pendant representing his and Dave Free’s brand, pgLang. What is their company symbol you ask? A lowercase “a” is pictured below. So, Dot was most likely repping Lang gang and less likely rocking a shimmery “A-Minorrrrrrrrr” chain. Though, the two children (minors) being placed beneath the letter “a” does make you think…

Uncle Sam

With most things in K. Dot’s discography, the Uncle Sam character is loaded. First and foremost, the storied symbol began as a nationalist recruiting tool for America to try and get more people to join the Army in 1916. America’s unc debuted as a white man with a scowled look and a pointed finger demanding his hypothetical nephews enlist for the military as soon as possible. For African Americans, though, the symbol has often been associated with trickery, greed, deception, and, most of all, oppression.

And while some fans feel like K. Dot had forgotten about his past eras, Kendrick Lamar‘s connection to the nationalistic icon was actually explored on his critically acclaimed album, To Pimp A Butterfly. “Wesley’s Theory” served as the LP’s intro, with Black America’s (not so) favorite uncle spitting a verse of his own in conversation with a young, hungry Kendrick Lamar who is about to, essentially, sell his soul to America. Then, in the “For Free” video, K. Dot himself becomes the morally grey figure as he terrorizes a woman throughout her house.

And those through-lines are carried straight to New Orleans, with Samuel L. Jackson starring as what appears to be a version of Uncle Sam from Dot’s TPAB era—wearing a similarly adorned costume, colors, and everything.

So, while Uncle Sam is a direct nod to America’s uneasy history with Black people, the character also serves as a nod to his past work.

PlayStation

Fitting with the “Great American Game,” Kendrick Lamar transformed Caesar’s Superdome into a PlayStation-inspired stage. Close-ups show the buttons from the Sony-owned controllers serving as various platforms on which K. Dot and the performers occupied. According to WIRED, Shelley Rodgers, the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show’s art director, spoke about Dot’s video game vision, saying, “I think the was symbolic, his way to reach young people. A lot of it is showing his journey, traveling through the American dream.”

“Revolution Will Be Televised…”

Right after Kendrick Lamar opened the show with an extended version of the unreleased cut, “Bodies,” the Compton native evoked the spirit of Gil Scott Heron and The Last Poets.

TLP was a poetry collective out of East Harlem that released several poignant recordings, with one of their most notable being “When The Revolution Comes.” That track found the men pondering what would happen when the revolution hit the streets. The Last Poets hypothesized that “When the revolution comes, some of us will probably catch it on TV with chicken hanging from our mouths, you’ll know it’s revolution because there won’t be no commercials.” Gil Scott-Heron responded to their claims in a track of his own in 1971’s “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” where the musician and jazz poet asserted that “You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out, you will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip out for beer during commercials, because the revolution will not be televised.”

Kendrick Lamar would take this heady activism to New Orleans, where he protested America through his Halftime Show. Dot blended both sides of the revolutionary argument from TLP and Scott-Heron and incorporated his own conclusive twist, rapping, “The revolution bouta be televised, you picked the right time, but the wrong guy.”

The pgLang artist’s fusion of the historic sentiments and then performing it on the most commercial and capitalistic stage in America creates an artistic tension that Lamar navigated well throughout the night. And with Donald Trump in attendance and opting to leave around the same time at the start of Lamar’s Halftime Show, it made all the sense for Dot to get this bar off.

Spike Lee’s ‘Chi-Raq’ & 40 Acres

Samuel L. Jackson‘s Uncle Sam character was based on America’s favorite folk hero and influenced by Black America’s actual heroes. After the Super Bowl, Spike Lee took to Instagram to voice his opinion on K. Dot’s record-breaking Halftime Show, showing love to Lamar’s reference to 40 Acres And A Mule. The acclaimed director revealed that Jackson’s character was not only the American symbol, but also his bombastic character Dolmedes, a narrator of sorts in the 2015 film, Chi-Raq.

“I Want To Thank My Brother Kendrick For The 40 Acres And A Mule Shoutout Which Has Been The Name Of My Production Company Since NYU Grad Film School. And I Want To Send A Special Shoutout To My Morehouse Brother Samuel Jackson Who Started This Super Bowl Halftime Extravaganza As Uncle Sam, And You Might’ve Seen Him As Dolmedes In CHI-RAQ,” the 67-year-old typed. “The Term 40 Acres And A Mule Was A Proposal For Reparations To Former Enslaved African-Americans In The Aftermath Of The Civil War. The Proposal Was Intended To Provide Land And Resources to Help Free People Achieve Economic Independence. This Promise Was Ultimately Broken. HAPPY BLACK HIS-HERSTORY.”

Serena Williams’ C-Walk

Kendrick Lamar is a Gemini, so it shouldn’t be much of a shock that his performance had a duality to it. On one hand, K. Dot’s message of inspiring a revolution against the white supremacy of America’s Trump regime was baked into his subversive show. And on the other hand, Dot wanted to end the battle against Drake for good. Enter Serena Williams.

The Compton native appeared on stage wearing a navy blue tennis outfit with matching blue Chuck Taylors and hit the cleanest C-Walk since, well, her previous C-Walk at Wimbledon. That’s right, Williams’ appearance was not only a “F**k You” to Drake for his unnecessary shots at her over the years, but also a nod to the 2012 controversy that involved the trailblazing athlete.  

If you don’t know, Williams scored a big win at Wimbledon over a decade ago, and she celebrated by hitting a C-Walk on the green. The reactions were swift and very expected: Black Americans across the country and specifically in Los Angeles rejoiced with pride at their champion’s unabashed joy, while white America pushed back, claiming her dance was “offensive to tennis,” as per The Guardian.

So, consider Serena’s involvement as a chance for her to reclaim her power and for Black people to see themselves in her shameless joy.

“Built On The Backs Of Blacks”

The phrase “built on the backs of Blacks” came alive as Lamar performed surrounded by male dancers donning the patriotic colors of the American flag during “Humble.” As the song progresses, various shots show the human flag becoming disjointed before it splits down the middle, and the men face away from each other. The performance art directly references Kendrick Lamar‘s proclamation during the show when he raps, “It’s a cultural divide, I’m a get it on the floor” before the “40 acres and a mule line.” Lamar intentionally enlists Black men to be dancers in the flag formation, noting that much like the dance number, the very core of what America represents or symbolizes was made possible by way of Black people or on “the backs of Blacks” who were enslaved and forced to do manual labor for a country that didn’t view them as human.

Great American Games

And here’s the whole thematic backdrop for the Halftime Show: The Great American Game.

In the context of Lamar’s view of the Black experience, not to be confused with baseball, the Great American Game offers a statement on what it means to be Black in America. It shouldn’t be lost on viewers that Lamar’s hope to spark change through his performance being platformed during capitalism’s biggest night creates an inner turmoil, tense with unresolved feelings: how can I remain myself, fight for change without sacrificing myself to the established powers that be? Well, we explore this contradiction through this “game,” with Uncle Samuel L. Jackson serving as white America’s perceived voice of control, making sure that Kendrick gives America exactly what they want and nothing more.

“Salutations! It’s your uncle, Sam. And this is the great, American game,” Jackson opens up the show. After a series of songs that go against what Middle America expected from an artist, let alone a Black artist, at the Halftime Show, Jackson reprimands Lamar for straying too far away from the white gaze. “Too loud, too reckless, too… ghetto. Mr Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!” he yells at his most prized player, echoing the lights in the crowd that read “Warning: Wrong Way.”

Things turn dark after Kendrick performs alongside some homies from Compton underneath a street light, showing the beauty of unashamedly Black joy. Jackson mocks the Grammy award-winning emcee and makes a nod to the game motif with his next statement. The acclaimed actor also tips his Uncle Sam cap to white America’s systemically oppressive actions, declaring that the “scorekeeper” takes away a life in response to Lamar’s rebellious nature. “Ah, see you brought your homeboys with you? You cultured cheat code. Scorekeeper, deduct one life.”

Lamar and SZA get back on track with America’s demands as they perform rap pop hits like “All the Stars” and “Luther.” Uncle Sam vocally approves of the new mainstream-friendly direction, saying, “Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about. That’s what America wants, nice and calm. You’re almost there. Don’t mess this—.” But Jackson is cut off just as Lamar gets right into “Not Like Us.”

K. Dot ends the performance with “TV Off” as the rapper makes a remote-like gesture to the screen. The camera then pans to the crowd with the message, “Game over,” spelled out in lights. With the gesture, Lamar asserts that he’s slamming Drake’s casket shut, unplugging from the capitalist machine, and pleading with Black Americans to do the same under Donald Trump’s fascistic regime.

So, why would Kendrick Lamar choose a setlist that consciously avoids Super Bowl-friendly tracks? Because this wasn’t a celebration. Dot told y’all he wanted to “watch the party die” (see “Wacced Out Murals” & “Watch The Party Die“); this was a funeral, and his call to start the revolution at the repass.

“Game over.”