“I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue” – From a Rap Beef Against Drake to a Super Bowl LIX Halftime Performance

What started as just two rappers throwing shots towards one another turned into a full-fledged rap beef that had everyone talking. One rapper would end up winning five GRAMMYs for a diss track that proved he must not be messed with and performing at the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, while the other rapper filed a federal lawsuit against his record label, UMG.

The run that Kendrick Lamar has been on within the last year has been crazy, impressive, and has further solidified him as an artist and influential figure in rap.

From dropping diss tracks “Euphoria”, “6:16 in LA”, “Meet the Grahams,” and the iconic “Not Like Us,” to his Juneteenth “Pop Out” show to releasing his latest album “GNX”, Lamar performing during the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show this past Sunday was heavily anticipated, considering the various reactions of him being announced as the halftime performer before the performance.

The halftime show begins with a game board of sorts, reminiscent of the Netflix series “Squid Game,” and features four buttons commonly found on a PlayStation controller.

“Salutations!” says well-renowned actor Samuel L. Jackson, who is portraying Uncle Sam throughout the halftime performance. “It’s your Uncle Sam, and this is the Great American Game.”

Then comes in Lamar, kneeling on top of a 1987 Buick GNX, the famous car that is on Lamar’s “GNX” album cover, rapping lyrics to “GNX (Teaser).”

As dancers dressed in red, white, and blue, the symbolic colors of the American flag, emerged, Lamar then performs “squabble up.” He dominates the stage, lyrics flowing out of his mouth effortlessly.

Suddenly, Uncle Sam (portrayed by Jackson), exclaims, “No! No! No! Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto. Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!”

The camera pans to Lamar, standing in the middle of the dancers, who are grouped to resemble the American flag. Lamar performs “HUMBLE.” from his “DAMN.” album as the dancers separate, showing Lamar in the center, which I interpreted as the current divide in this country.

While watching Lamar perform “HUMBLE.”, I noticed that he was wearing a “a” chain. I naturally assumed the “a” stood for Aubrey, Drake’s real name. Then, I thought about the “a minor” lyric from “Not Like Us,” in which I let out a chuckle. (I found out after the halftime show that Lamar’s “a” chain is in reference to the logo of his multimedia communications company, pgLang, which he founded in 2020 with Dave Free).

Following “HUMBLE.” was “DNA.”, another track off the “DAMN.” album. Lamar went across the stage, showcasing his rapping abilities as the dancers danced behind him.

Then, the instrumental to “Euphoria” played, the first of many disses Lamar released during the height of the beef. Lamar’s performance during “Euphoria” was one of my favorite moments during the halftime show, as I thought back to the day “Euphoria” dropped and my first time listening to it (I was outside sitting on my patio with my jaw dropped. I frantically texted my sister how Lamar ate Drake up.

After “euphoria”, Lamar’s performance transitions to him and the group of dancers dressed in white at a street light. He raps “man at the garden,” another “GNX” track. Although it was one of the many laid-back moments of the halftime show, you can easily hear the grit and passion in Lamar’s voice through his rapping.

Uncle Sam appears once again, referring to Lamar bringing out his homeboys as “the old culture cheat code” and says, “score keeper, deduct one life.” The last quote was something that stood out to me as I was watching the performance. I was thinking in my head a couple of questions, mainly “Does he mean the lives of the dancers?”

After Uncle Sam says that, Lamar then performs “peekaboo,” as the camera does a 360, showing the dancers dressed in white doing various dance moves. I noticed that they are performing in the “X” section, one of the PlayStation buttons on the stage.

Lamar then goes over to a group of women dressed in white, with their hair styled in red and black bob, saying that he wants to make a move. Following that, the next line Lamar says led to the inspiration of the title of this post:

“I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue.”

That’s when the instrumental to “Not Like Us” began to play, in reference to Drake infamously launching a lawsuit against UMG, as previously stated at the beginning of this post.

“Oh, you done lost your damn mind,” said Uncle Sam.

Immediately after that, Lamar starts to perform “luther,” (aka one of my favorite songs off of “GNX” and another one of my favorite moments from this halftime performance). That’s when SZA, the featured artist on the track, appears sitting on stage, dressed in red.

Lamar and SZA delivered a lovely live performance of “luther” as they appeared on stage together. This comes as no surprise, since SZA was announced as another performer before the halftime show. Not only that, but SZA and Lamar collaborated on multiple tracks, such as “Doves in the Wind” from SZA’s debut album “Ctrl” and “gloria” on Lamar’s “GNX” album.

After “luther”, “All The Stars,” another SZA and Lamar track and one of the standout songs from the “Black Panther” album, begins to play. The red and white dancers are walking in a circle around the “O” button, which is also on the PlayStation controller.

I genuinely enjoyed this part of the performance, as it took me back to the first time I saw “Black Panther” in theatres and hearing this song play as the end credits were rolling.

After SZA finishes her verse in “All The Stars,” Uncle Sam once again makes another appearance and says, “That’s what I’m talking about. That’s what America wants, nice and calm.”

Right when Uncle Sam says, “You’re almost there, don’t mess-” the instrumental to “Not Like Us” plays once again, and as Uncle Sam walks out of the frame, Lamar is once again with the women dressed in white.

“It’s a cultural divide, imma get it on the floor,” Lamar says. “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.”

After Lamar says, “They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence,” the moment finally arrived as he starts to perform “Not Like Us,” a song that everyone was debating ahead of the halftime show, whether or not Lamar was going to perform it.

You could feel and hear the electric energy from the audience as they rapped along with Lamar.

One of the highlights of the halftime performance that sparked many memes across the internet occurred as Lamar looked at the camera and said, “Hey Drake, I hear you like ’em young, you better not ever go to cell block one.”

It didn’t stop there, as Lamar and the audience in the stadium said the famous “a minor” lyric. Watching that moment at home was mind-blowing to me, because exactly a week ago at the Grammys, numerous musicians sang along to that lyric as Lamar accepted one of five Grammys for “Not Like Us.”

Imagine being in Drake’s shoes, and hearing your peers in music reciting that line last week, and then hearing it again this week on the big stage with thousands of people in attendance. That has to hurt big time.

However, it doesn’t stop there, as the camera turns to Tennis icon Serena Williams crip-walking as Lamar performs “Not Like Us.” Williams was romantically involved with Drake back in 2015. Years later, Drake would go on to diss Williams’ current husband, Alexis Ohanian, on his 2022 track “Middle of the Ocean,” calling Ohanian a “groupie.”

Williams’ cameo had me laughing, thinking of how messy Lamar was being to include her in his halftime show. Right when “Not Like Us” ends, it transitions into “tv off,” the final song Lamar performs at the halftime show.

Without fail, Lamar shouts the iconic “Mustard” line, and the man himself comes on the stage, holding a football. Mustard played a key role in the Drake and Lamar beef as he’s the one who produced “Not Like Us.”

Lamar and Mustard are dancing on the stage as Lamar raps the lyrics to the “GNX” track. Right after Lamar finishes rapping “Turn this TV, turn this TV off,” his halftime show ends with the stadium going dark, and the words “Game Over” are lit up.

In conclusion, Lamar showed up and showed out in this year’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. What impressed me was the storytelling and visuals throughout the performance, as well as my ability to catch on to the symbolism of it all.