Deciphering That Kendrick Lamar Halftime Show

As much of a football fan as I am, I know that not all of the 100+ million people watching are watching for the game. They want to see the halftime show, listen to the music, and talk about the costumes and choreography. Well, last night, Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance did not disappoint.

It was essentially a 13-minute art piece filled with hidden messages and homages that I was excited to learn about this morning.

Let’s take a look at Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance and try to uncover the hidden meanings and Easter eggs hidden inside it.

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Since the NFL owns the copyright on the video of Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance, we can’t embed it here. But, go watch it on YouTube, and follow along as we unpack this thing.

Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam (and Uncle Tom)

Let’s start with Samuel L. Jackson, who introduced Kendrick while dressed like Uncle Sam, the antagonist of the performance who kept telling Lamar how to act in order to “play the game.” He played a literal government figurehead there to “try” to stop Kendrick from spreading his messages, warning Kendrick about being “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.”

This is a major hallmark of classic Uncle Tom tropes in literature. In fact, it’s reminiscent of the character Stephen in Django Unchained, another role in which Jackson famously depicts an Uncle Tom character.

“The Revolution’s About to Be Televised”

So, right at the top, Lamar confronted America and told them it didn’t matter what they thought of him or his performance—he was there to televise the revolution, saying, “The revolution’s about to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guy.”

That line was in reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” which is about how individuals are responsible for the change they want to see in the world because the media will always ignore racism.

However, what Lamar seems to be saying here is that the revolution is happening right now…on the Super Bowl halftime stage…and it’s being televised.

All the “Game” Motifs

Now, there were so many little callbacks to “games” and “rules.”

First of all, Lamar was performing at one of the biggest games of the year. Second, the stages on which he performed were shaped and arranged like the buttons on a Playstation controller. At the end of the performance, Kendrick ended with the words “Game Over.”

What does all that mean? Well, ask Shelley Rodgers, the halftime show’s art director, who worked alongside Lamar to create his vision for the entire performance. Rodgers told Wired, “I think the was symbolic, his way to reach young people. A lot of it is showing his journey, traveling through the American dream.”

American Flag

Lamar’s all-Black dancers wore red, white, and blue costumes to form an American flag with a split down the middle.

To me, this was about the absolute divisiveness going on in America right now, with political lines being drawn.

But I know some people also argue it’s about how America was built on the back of slavery, which I think is also an accurate reading. Especially after he rapped “40 acres and mule, this is bigger than the music,” a reference to Union General William T. Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15 that gave newly freed slaves confiscated Confederate land in the South.

The Costuming

What about Kendrick Lamar’s outfit?

Well, he was in a jacket that read “GLORIA,” which is a reference to his song with SZA. He also sported a chain featuring a lowercase “a”, which could not only be a reference to the “A-minor” line from “Not Like Us” but also to his company, pgLang.

Another idea I read about and liked was from Newsbreak, which said the outfits of the dancers signified gangs in America. We saw red as The Bloods, then blue as The Crips, and white as The KKK.

The Duets

Lamar performed “luther” and “All the Stars” with SZA, which marked a huge shift in tone from energetic and in-your-face to subdued and sexy. And it’s exactly what Uncle Sam says America wants from him—something “nice and calm.”

It’s funny because the opinion is quite split on Lamar’s halftime show: some say it was boring, while others say it was one of the greatest of all time.

But that’s kind of the point he’s making here. His performance wasn’t your typical Super Bowl spectacle with big surprise guests and fireworks. It was poetic, artistic, and deep. It was controversial and outspoken. It was something that made people have to think.

The Circle Stage

One really interesting visual message that I noticed during “All the Lights” was how the circular stage was built: a staircase that lead to a slope that brought the dancers all the way back to where they started from—the bottom.

Now, that stage could’ve just been a flat circle, right? I’m thinking it was built like that for a reason. Maybe it’s trying to communicate how marginalized groups, or even just the majority of the middle and low class in America, feel like they’re working hard to make their lives better, all the while slowly descending back to where they started from.

‘Round and ’round they go, the same efforts with the same results.

Drake Beef

This part of the performance was no doubt going to be the most popular since it centered on his beef with Drake and the most famous song of the year, “They Not Like Us.”

Lamar teases the intro of the song by saying, “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” in reference to Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group for promoting the “They Not Like Us.”

Also, Serena Williams made a cameo. Not only is she from Compton, like him, but she also used to date Drake, so it was another layer of a diss.

But here’s probably the most badass thing Lamar did, though. Fans were wondering if he would call out Drake as hard as he did in the song, and while some of the language had to be toned down for the performance, Lamar looked right into the camera, smiled, and said that line: “Hey Drake, I hear you like ’em young.” Dang.

Summing Up Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime Show

I thought that was an intense and fun halftime show. It was great seeing Kendrick Lamar be the artist he always has been, one who believes in things, stands for things, and preaches things that pick apart American culture.

I know everyone will be talking about that Drake beef, but I encourage you to look into the deeper meanings of the performance: the cultural unrest, the racial and political tension, and racial injustice.

After all, this wasn’t just a Super Bowl halftime performance. It was art.

Did you enjoy the performance? Have any other secret layers I missed?

Let me know what you think in the comments.