By Melanie Sosa
Kendrick Lamar said to expect one thing for his halftime show, and that was “storytelling.” And you can’t say he didn’t deliver.
It’s no secret that Kendrick Lamar is one of the most popular artists right now, from the virality coming from his diss tracks against Drake in the past year to his more recent five Grammy wins in early February. Despite his success, there is one prevalent theme that I happen to notice in his recent work, and being at odds with the music industry itself. Lamar’s halftime show is a narrative production meant to incorporate his personal journey that is completely intrinsic to Lamar’s fingerprint as an artist: a mixture of public performance, theater, and hip-hop, all on one of the biggest stages available to the public.
The aesthetics of video games act as a framing device for the halftime show. The first sounds you hear are video-game sound effects with the shapes on the field being the shapes seen on a PlayStation controller. Lamar also makes use of video game terminology, such as deducting lives, the numbers like a game loading in the beginning, and the words “GAME OVER” and “WARNING WRONG WAY” lit up in the audience stands.
American imagery is one of the central themes prevalent in this performance. There are dancers dressed in red, white and blue to represent the flag’s colors, even forming the formation of the flag around Lamar at one point. However, the most important allusion to American mythos would be Uncle Sam.
The use of Uncle Sam is more than just a nod to a familiar figure—he has a role to play within the narrative structure of the show. Uncle Sam, played by actor Samuel L. Jackson, acts as a spokesperson for what America wants. In the introduction he says that this is “the Great American Game.” Now, this line can apply to the Super Bowl, as it is considered to be America’s Game, something important to the popular culture and identity of the nation; however, there are also multiple meanings of the “game.” There is the game that must be played within the music industry as a celebrity and the game system of America itself.
Uncle Sam acts as an intervenor throughout the performance, interrupting to remind Lamar to play it safe, and how he is to conduct himself “correctly.” After “squabble up,” Uncle Sam calls Lamar “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto.” Once again, that motif of “playing the game” comes in, a game that is meant to limit Lamar’s expression and message. I don’t think that the use of “HUMBLE.” after that comment was unintentional either, because that’s what Uncle Sam is trying to push onto Lamar. He comes in once again and calls him out for using the “culture cheat code,” another reference to playing a video game, and he even deducts one life point for it. The one time he praises Lamar is when he takes it “slow, calm.” There is often a pressure to conform to a certain way of being, to be entertaining and likable, without pushing too much into being rowdy, loud, contentious, angry, political.
Before going forward, it is important to consider the larger context surrounding this performance. Many of the songs played come from Lamar’s newest album GNX, which contains many references to the Super Bowl, making me believe that the sentiments expressed in that album are meant to be in direct conversation with his halftime show. For instance, in the song “man at the garden,” he says, “Flip a coin. Do you want the shameless me? Or the famous me?” There is also the song “wacced out murals,” where he says, “I decided not to pretend. Y’all stay politically correct, Imma do what I did.” The pressure of conformity comes up in these songs, where there needs to be a rejection of the limits and censoring that mainstream fame can have on artists.
There is also the elephant in the room, so to speak, the issue of “Not Like Us.” There was skepticism of whether the song could even be played at the Super Bowl due to Drake’s lawsuits. Lamar references this when he says, “I wanna perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue.” The rivalry between Drake and Lamar is more than just personal grievances, but also represents two different ideologies of how fame and influence should be used. It’s the commodification of black culture which is what is the largest point of contention. Lamar is pictured to be more authentic, gritty, saying that he himself “represents what the culture is feeling,” that is to fight against the use of black culture as a product, meant to be manipulated and cheapened, rather than be protected. While Drake is more associated with a manufactured image that is meant to commodify hip-hop and black culture to a wide audience—to appeal to the mainstream.
When Kendrick says, “The revolution ‘bout to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy,” this implies that Drake would be considered “the right person,” someone who would conform to Uncle Sam’s demands, while Lamar disobeys him. Lamar respects the roots of the rap genre. It’s why his dialogue is a reference to the song “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” by Gil Scott-Heron. The point of the music was to be a call-to-action, to prompt Black Americans to actively participate in the revolution instead of being distracted. There is also the point of visibility, as actual Black suffering would not be shown on television screens.
In a way, “tv off” has a similar message, although it’s not the centerpoint, that media can be a distraction and many depictions of black culture are inauthentic due to their commodification to a non-black audience. However, I don’t think this is just an homage to the song, but rather a new take on the concept, since the media has developed a larger and more complicated position in our daily lives. Lamar wants to use his popularity and visibility to enact change– to televise a revolution– by inspiring it.
He alludes to this kind of thinking before “Not Like Us” starts, when he says, “It’s a cultural divide, Imma get it on the flow. Forty acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music. Yeah, they try to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence”. The idiom 40 acres and a mule refers to the promise of land to former slaves after the civil war, but it was never fulfilled. The lack of fulfillment persists to this day, with many black artists being taken advantage of in the same way, being made promises that are not kept, while selling their art and pieces of themselves to an audience that can never truly appreciate it. However this is bigger than the music industry, just like Lamar says, referring to life outside media and the industry, the history of exploitation that America was built upon. This is another aspect of the rigged game, which can refer to both the industry but also the rigged game of the American dream.
Yet, Kendrick has achieved success despite the rigged game, despite the rules and constraints of the industry, and his influence is the most powerful tool in his disposal. It might be easier to play it safe, to stay calm and quiet, but he chooses to bring up issues that he has been witness to throughout his life. His art is the influence, and influence can mean power, which makes Lamar one of the most promising leaders and candidates to lead his revolution, so to speak.
When “Not Like Us” finally plays, it is part of the climax of the narrative Lamar has woven into the show, that he asserts his freedom to express himself and his art. The entire framing of the halftime show is only meant to reassert one of the larger thesis that has been prominent in his recent work, all with symbolic allusions and character asides that is meant to drive the story forward.
The rejection of conformity, the callout of Drake and what he represents in the industry, speaking on the division of culture in America, which is pretty relevant to the current social and political climate. The final song “tv off” can then be seen as a dare to any who oppose him, that even though he may be the wrong guy, he is still the one who has the opportunity and responsibility to tell the audience the hard truth. The music is not meant to be a commodity, to simply be a product, but also be an expression of the self and a reflection of the community. To Kendrick, the art comes first, the helping of younger and smaller artists should come first, and if it happens to be a commercial success anyway, then it only adds to his momentum. And if you don’t like it? You can turn the T.V. off.
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