On February 9th 2025, Kendrick Lamar stepped out into the spotlight at Caesar’s Superdome in New Orleans to perform in his second Super Bowl Halftime Show. His first appearance in the Super Bowl was back in 2021 as a feature. But, this year, he had the stage all to himself.
Performance Recap:
To begin the halftime show, the camera panned over the stage, which was designed as a video game controller. Shortly after, Samuel L. Jackson, dressed up as Uncle Sam, told the audience to prepare for the upcoming show. Then, Kendrick appeared on top of a black car and started to sing his song “Bodies” as multiple backup dancers dressed up in red, white, and blue filed out of the car he was standing on. Kendrick then moved onto his next song, “Squabble Up,” as his dancers moved all around him.
Once Kendrick was done with his second song, Samuel L. Jackson reappeared to complain about Kendrick’s performance calling it too “ghetto” and “reckless.” The camera then panned back to Kendrick in the middle of an American flag formed by his dancers to perform “Humble.
Finished with “Humble,” Lamar then moved across his stage to perform more of his hit songs, each incorporating a different kind of background dance and reaction from the audience before Samuel L. Jackson appeared once more to talk about the “culture” brought to the performance.
Kendrick Lamar then appeared in a big red “X” positioned on the field to continue his performance. Once finished with a few more songs, Kendrick looked to the camera and said, “I wanna play their favorite song but you know they love to sue,” hinting at his most popular song of 2024 “Not Like Us.”
After that fun audience interaction, Kendrick walked across the stage once more as he began to sing “Luther.” SZA then appeared on stage to perform her verses of the song in a stunning red outfit. After they collaborated on that song, they both moved over to another section of the stage as “All the Stars” began to play and they performed.
Once “All the Stars” ended, Samuel L. Jackson praised the songs Kendrick had just performed before he was cut off by the track to “Not Like Us.” This moment is when the show reached its height as everyone in the stadium watched Kendrick diss Drake on live television, saw Serena Williams dance on stage, and shouted “A minor.”
Kenrick Lamar then ended his show by performing “TV Off” and bringing out DJ Mustard to dance with him.
Setlist:
- “Bodies”
- “Squabble Up”
- “Humble”
- “DNA”
- “Euphoria”
- “Man at the Garden”
- “Peekaboo”
- “Luther”
- “All the Stars”
- “Not Like Us”
- “TV Off”
Review:
To me, Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance felt fun to watch because of its storyline with Samuel L. Jackson utilizing audience attention to understand what was going on. The fact that Samuel L. Jackson was meant to represent the American public and their opinion on a rapper performing at the Super Bowl was a very fun addition to the show that I realized after it. From calling Kendrick’s raps “reckless” to praising him, Uncle Sam was not a disappointment. The songs Kendrick performed were also a big plus because he sang some of his biggest hits and brought out some great features in DJ Mustard, SZA, and Serena Williams.
There is no doubt that he could have taken a different creative direction to perform a different set of songs, but the path he took was undoubtedly amazing and grew on me the more I watched it.
My one critique for the show would be the exclusion of his songs “Alright,” “m.A.A.d city,” and “Family Ties,” but I do know that he sang some of those songs back in the 2021 Super Bowl. So his choice to switch things up is understandable.
In the end, I would give his performance an 8.5- 9/ 10. I really liked watching him perform and hope that the NFL gives other big rappers a chance to perform at future Super Bowls.
