Kendrick Lamar brings viral diss track to Super Bowl stage

by Maggy DONALDSON

Kendrick Lamar commanded one of the world's most high-profile stages Sunday as the Super Bowl's halftime headliner, yet another feather in the cap of the rap laureate who has ascended to new heights of pop stardom.

Lamar performed a string of his classics while toying with his audience who had one major question: would he perform "Not Like Us," the searing diss track that served as the knockout blow in his eyebrow-raising rap battle with Drake?

In a word? Yes.

The wildly infectious hit released in May 2024 hears the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lamar -- the first solo rap artist to helm a halftime show at the Super Bowl, which this year saw the Philadelphia Eagles pummel the Kansas City Chiefs -- use his punchlines to accuse Drake of pedophilia.

"I wanna perform their favorite song," he said at one point during the 13-minute set -- the Grammy-winning track's ubiquitous, instantly recognizable bass line resounding -- "but you know they love to sue."

He offered his classics like "Humble" and "DNA" as well as tracks from his most recent album "GNX" -- he began the set atop the Buick Grand National it's named for -- including "Squabble Up" before sending fans into a frenzy in delivering the goods, a knife-twisting rendition of "Not Like Us."

Lamar cut the profanity and the word "pedophile" but didn't stop short of the money line, rapping "tryna strike a chord and it's probably A-minoooooor" on live television in front of tens of thousands of spectators and an estimated 100 million viewers.

In delivering the lyric "say, Drake, I hear you like 'em young," Lamar stared right into the camera, dancing on the Canadian rapper's rap-battle grave while sporting a chain with a massive pendant -- a lower-case a.

The performance is all but sure to kick off more legal wrangling: Drake, the reigning highest-grossing rapper, recently filed a bombshell defamation suit against his own record label Universal Music Group, which also represents Lamar.

Drake is notably suing UMG and not Lamar himself, but questions abounded leading into the Super Bowl set over whether performing the song on one of the top global stages could open the door to further litigation.

- Uncle Sam, surprise protestor -

"Not Like Us" dominated the set but it was also a performance that paid homage to the 37-year-old rapper's expansive oeuvre.

Born in Compton, California, the artist is renowned as one of contemporary music's most impactful writers, with his verses offering personal insights that take on systemic issues such as race relations and structural poverty.

His poignant lyricism soundtracked the Black Lives Matter movement and compelled many to call him the voice of a generation.

Lamar brought some of that energy to the Super Bowl stage, which included set narrator, the actor Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam, a character emblematic of American patriotism that has frequently appeared in military propaganda.

Lamar didn't make any direct references to Donald Trump -- who several weeks into his second go at the presidency attended the game -- but rather used the platform to offer a more symbolic critique of the marginalized treatment of both hip hop and Black Americans at large.

"No, no, no, no, noooo. Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto. Mr Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up," the costumed Jackson jeered at one point.

Troupes of dancers dressed in red, white and blue at one point coalesced into an American flag formation.

Before his climactic delivery of "Not Like Us" -- which just one week ago scored Lamar five Grammys -- the artist brought SZA, who he's due to tour with, onstage.

Their duet included a performance of "All the Stars," their hit off the "Black Panther" soundtrack.

Another notable cameo came from Serena Williams, the tennis legend who also hails from Compton -- and who is thought to have briefly dated Drake.

The set was also punctuated by a protestor who unfurled a flag in support of Gaza and Sudan during the performance, a moment production company Roc Nation told AFP was not rehearsed.

"The individual hid the item on his person and unveiled it late in the show," said the NFL, who added the protestor was part of the 400-member field cast.

The protestor was seen in AFP photos standing atop Lamar's centerpiece car, wielding the flag emblazoned with images of heart and a fist as well as the words "Gaza" and "Sudan."

The person was later tackled and escorted out by security.

© Agence France-Presse