The beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar began last March. Now, almost a year later, Lamar has seemingly put an end to this chapter once and for all with his Super Bowl halftime show.
The 13-minute performance marked the first time a solo rapper has headlined the halftime show. It was packed with symbolism and memorable cameos, and certainly solidified him as the winner of this beef. But feud references aside, was there enough substance to the show he built?
Today on Commotion, culture critics Marlon Palmer, Matt Amha and Pablo The Don join guest host Rad Simonpillai to break down Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance.
We’ve included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, including a look at the legacy of hip-hop producer and DJ Irv Gotti, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.
WATCH | Today’s episode on YouTube:
Rad: Pablo, overall, how did you feel about the halftime show performance?
Pablo: I thought it was great. I thought it was excellent. I thought it gave us what we wanted, thought we were going to get, but at the same time gave us a little bit something different, a little bit more than what people I think were looking at. I don’t think it was all about just the one moment, just the feud. I think it was such a big commentary considering the state of America politically, economically. It was such a huge moment. And I think it was the perfect person. As he said, the revolution will be televised and picked the right time, but the wrong guy — a perfect person to kind of kick off this new era of the United States of America, to be honest.
Rad: The right time, wrong guy. That is the second part of the show that made me cackle out loud; the first being the treatment of the GNX as a clown car where everyone popped out. Marlon, what were your thoughts on the performance?
Marlon: I thought it was mid. I was going to give it a safe seven, but it’s a six, realistically, out of 10. I think his mic was way too low. I think the song selection was absolutely horrible, and I think that his own energy went up when it was time to talk to Drake. You can feel that. It wasn’t even just the audience; it was him. And that is telling to me.
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Now I look at GNX differently, honestly. I think it’s a project that he put out so that he could have some Super Bowl music, because he did do the Super Bowl before. He obviously wasn’t the headlining act, but he did perform a lot of the major hits that I’m pretty sure people were searching for from this performance, and he couldn’t duplicate that. So he had to put out a project that could give him some upbeat tempo vibes. And he still got it wrong, in my opinion. But I feel like if you are American, you probably have a different perspective on the entire performance.
Rad: You’re hurting my soul over here. Matt, are you agreeing with Marlon?
Matt: Yeah, I agree with parts of it. This was Kendrick saying, “Checkmate,” I think. The “turn the TV off, game over” — you know, the whole thing speaks for itself. We should say first, Kendrick Lamar is probably hip-hop’s greatest showman. The guy knows how to produce a spectacle. To some of the earlier points that have been made, the critique of America was compelling. I think Sam Jackson playing Uncle Sam, describing Kendrick in the show as “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” the red, white and blue motifs — the whole thing is interesting. But it kind of reminded me of what I might call Beyonce’s co-optation of the Black Panther Party’s legacy in 2016. The listener can make of that what they will.
WATCH | Kendrick Lamar’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show:[embedded content]
I also think that, to some of what Marlon was saying, some of the songs just didn’t necessarily feel big enough for the moment. It felt like a halftime performance that was essentially built on the shoulders of one song, one moment, one thing, rather than a career performance that everybody could enjoy in full. This whole moment — post-lawsuit, the Grammys, and now this — feels to me like it again corroborates the case that Drake was making in his lawsuit: essentially, that all these institutions conspired against him in some way to boost this record that refers to him as a violator of children, which is the thing that Kendrick doesn’t feel comfortable saying anymore, right? And so every time I now hear that song, I think about Dr. Dre and Lucian Grainge, the CEO at Universal Music Group, slapping five as Kendrick Lamar makes his way to the dais to collect his award for song of the year.
Marlon: Nasty work.
Matt: Yeah, like there is this cloud of systemic interference that has now kind of spoiled the party a little bit. And Kendrick seemed to confirm this yesterday. He said, “They tried to rig the game.” That’s him confirming the case that Drake is making in his lawsuit, you know? And just very quickly, it’s a shame, shame, shame that Lil Wayne was not given his moment in his city. That’s the way that this should have gone. And I find it still hard to believe that Jay-Z, who organized all of this, wasn’t able to recognize that.
Marlon: Oh, he knew.
Rad: Well, I mean, have y’all seen Lil Wayne perform live? I don’t know.
Marlon: Yeah, I have seen some great ones!
You can listen to the full discussion from today’s show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.
Panel produced by Ty Callender.
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