Kendrick Lamar performed the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show last night (February 9), making him the the first rapper to headline the event as a solo artist. As confirmed in advance, SZA joined him during the performance, with the two artists dueting ‘Luther’ off Lamar’s latest album GNX as well as their Black Panther soundtrack contribution ‘All the Stars’. The Compton rapper also brought out Samuel L. Jackson to introduce the show as Uncle Sam, while Drake’s ex Serena Williams danced side-stage to ‘Not Like Us’, which had thousands of people singing along to the “A minorrr” lyric (though the “pedophile” line was censored). Watch a replay of the performance below.
Lamar opened the show with GNX‘s ‘bodies’ before segueing to the single ‘squabble up’. Jackson then returned to criticize Lamar for being “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” urging him to “tighten up.” He obliged by delivering the DAMN. hits ‘HUMBLE’ and ‘DNA’, as well as last year’s ‘Euphoria’. He then gave GNX‘s ‘man at the garden’ and ‘peekaboo’ their live debuts, brought along SZA, and charged into a full performance of ‘Not Like Us’. “You really about to do it?” the dancers teased him, to which Lamar responded with a new verse: “This is bigger than the music/ They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.” He looked directly at the camera as he rapped “Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young.” Finally, Mustard made a cameo for the closing performance of ‘tv off’.
Before kickoff, Lady Gaga sang ‘Hold My Hand’ in a segment filmed on Bourbon Street, which was introduced by Michael Strahan and Tom Brady. “This year began with a terror attack that tried to shatter it’s spirit,” Brady said. “But the resilience of New Orleans is matched by the resolve of our country.”
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