Kendrick Lamar KOs Drake in blistering Tremendous Bowl halftime present – The Unbiased

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Grammy-winning rapper took goal at Drake on the world stage as Taylor Swift supported her devastated boyfriend Travis Kelce
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Kendrick Lamar placed on a blistering Super Bowl halftime show, as he introduced out shock friends Samuel L Jackson and Serena Williams in addition to his longtime collaborator SZA on the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.
The Grammy-winning hip-hop star headlined the 59th Super Bowl with a jaw-dropping medley of a few of his greatest hits, together with diss observe “Not Like Us”, which takes goal at his Canadian rival, Drake.
Lamar, 37, self-censored the controversial lyric through which he branded the “One Dance” singer a “licensed pedophile”, a line that prompted Drake to sue his (and Lamar’s) record label Common Music Group final month. He alluded to the lawsuit whereas teasing the observe’s intro all through his set, quipping: “I wish to carry out their favourite music, however you recognize they like to sue.”
UMG denied Drake’s allegations of defamation, sharing an announcement with The Unbiased that mentioned: “Not solely are these claims unfaithful, however the notion that we’d search to hurt the popularity of any artist—not to mention Drake—is illogical.”
The halftime present was preceded by pre-game performances from Lauren Daigle and Trombone Shorty, who dueted on “America the Lovely”, and Jon Batiste, who sang the nationwide anthem. Lamar adopted within the footsteps of earlier headliners together with Rihanna, who topped the invoice with a headline-making being pregnant reveal in 2023, and Usher, who carried out eventually yr’s Tremendous Bowl in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Lamar’s present was watched by plenty of superstar friends together with Sir Paul McCartney, Bradley Cooper and Taylor Swift, who turned as much as cheer on her boyfriend, Kansas Metropolis Chiefs tight finish Travis Kelce, because the workforce took a battering from the Philadelphia Eagles.
Dressed as “Uncle Sam”, Hollywood actor Jackson launched Lamar whereas additionally recurrently interrupting him, at one level yelling: “Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto. Mr Lamar, do you actually know how one can play the sport?”
In the meantime, tennis megastar Serena Williams made a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo the place she was seen dancing below a streetlight, as rapper Mustard additionally turned as much as help Lamar. Dancers wearing crimson, white and blue flanked the rapper to type an American flag.
Additionally on Lamar’s setlist was a rendition of “Squabble Up” from his newest album GNX, which he carried out whereas on prime of the Buick mannequin. From there, he dived into “Humble” from his 2017 album DAMN together with “DNA”, earlier than his 2024 Drake diss observe “Euphoria” and GNX’s “Man on the Backyard”.
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Joined by SZA, he carried out “Luther” – additionally from GNX – and the lead single from his Black Panther soundtrack, “All of the Stars”, earlier than lastly delivering his chart-topping 2024 hit “Not Like Us”, which acquired an approving roar from the gang. The observe gained each Track of the 12 months and Report of the 12 months on the Grammys final week.
Drake was conveniently on the other side of the world because the efficiency acquired underway, as he continued his Anita Max Win tour in Melbourne, Australia. He has but to deal with his rival’s victory on the Grammys – or certainly his Tremendous Bowl efficiency – however assured followers he was “very a lot alive” at a current present.
On social media, many followers appeared delighted by the 12-minute set, whereas others complained that Lamar had did not carry out something from his earlier albums, resembling his Grammy-winning 2015 document, To Pimp a Butterfly, or 2012’s Good Child, M.A.A.D Metropolis.
For Kansas Metropolis Chiefs followers, although, the halftime present spectacle was a short lived respite from the battering their workforce acquired from the Eagles, with Swift wanting grim-faced as she was joined by superstar buddies resembling rapper Ice Spice and the Haim sisters.
After the “Karma” singer was proven on the jumbotron, the crowd erupted in boos, which she appeared to answer as she gave the digital camera a fast side-eye. Nevertheless, Williams ended up defending the singer on social media as she instructed her to ignore the adverse crowd power: “I really like you @taylorswift 13 do not take heed to these boos!!!” she wrote in a publish on X.
Swift’s longtime friends Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds were conspicuously absent amid their Justin Baldoni drama; the Gossip Lady star attended final yr’s championship recreation with Swift and Ice Spice and has attended plenty of different Chiefs video games with the pop megastar.
Nevertheless, she and her husband, Deadpool star Reynolds, appeared to skip this yr’s remaining as a New York judge threatened to move up Lively and her former It Ends With Us co-star and director Baldoni’s March 2026 trial date, should their lawyers continue their war of words in the press.
Decide Lewis Liman mentioned each side have “given the general public loads to feast upon”.
In the meantime, Swift’s boyfriend Kelce, 35, appeared downcast as he sat on the sidelines in the course of the third quarter because the rating learn Chiefs 6, Eagles 34. The sport completed 22-40 for the Eagles.
Followers had been hoping that Swift would possibly both be a part of Lamar on stage (they collaborated on her 2014 remix of “Unhealthy Blood”), or announce her newest re-recorded album. But Swift appeared decided to easily present her help for Kelce, with uncommon digital camera pictures displaying her centered on the pitch.
Reviewing for The Unbiased, critic Mark Beaumont wrote that Lamar’s set would “undoubtedly go down as one of the vital vital half-time exhibits within the historical past of the occasion, if not probably the most vital mass-televised rap efficiency of all time.
“The Drake baiting was a smokescreen; what actually occurred was a righteous nation confirmed up and bared its enamel,” he wrote. The good American recreation has solely simply begun.”
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