Poetic Rapper Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance continues to gain attention, amassing over 11 million additional views in the hours following the game on Sunday night.
Lamar, a Pulitzer Prize-winning artist known for his storytelling, Kendrick Lamar won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2018 for his album DAMN. He was the first non-classical or jazz artist to receive the award. He used his performance at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana, to narrate the experience of Black Americans and their place in U.S. history.
As fans in New Orleans rapped along to hits like “Humble” and the Grammy-winning diss track “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s all-Black performance was rich with political messages and references to Black history.
Here are seven meaningful messages from Lamar’s performance.
Uncle Sam/Uncle Tom
Kendrick Lamar’s performance opened with a cameo from award-winning actor Samuel L. Jackson. Known for his sharp comedic timing and signature use of the f-bomb, Jackson wore a red, white, and blue suit with a top hat as he introduced Lamar at “the Great American Game.”
His portrayal offered an alternative take on the patriotic figure of Uncle Sam, traditionally depicted as a white man.
However, as Jackson emceed Lamar’s performance, his role evolved into that of another well-known uncle—Uncle Tom.
The term originates from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel Uncle Tom’s Cabin and refers to Black individuals who reject their community and culture, embracing subservience to white America.
Jackson previously played an Uncle Tom-like character in the 2012 film Django Unchained.
During the performance, Jackson called Lamar “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” echoing long-standing stereotypes associated with Black Americans and hip-hop culture.
The Revolution
Early in the performance, Lamar referenced “the revolution,” telling the audience, “The revolution is about to be televised / You picked the right time but the wrong guy.”
This line alluded to Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 poem The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, which argues that real change comes from individuals, not corporations and that mainstream media will not broadcast the brutal realities of racism.
However, some social media users speculated that Lamar’s reference to “the wrong guy” was a direct jab at former President Trump, who was in attendance.
While Trump has received support from several hip-hop artists, including Lil Wayne, Kodak Black, and recently Snoop Dogg, Nelly, and Rick Ross, Lamar has consistently criticized him in his music, particularly in songs like The Heart Part 4 and XXX.
The Power of Black Unity and Excellence
Lamar’s all-Black dancers, musicians, and performers celebrated Black talent, resilience, and Black Cultural contribution made to the country, which is slowly being stripped away by the Christian Conservative movement. The performance highlighted the importance of Black solidarity in the face of oppression. By surrounding himself with a powerful team of Black artists, Lamar’s performance gives the impression that success is both a personal achievement and a shared accomplishment within the Black community.
Mass Incarceration
Lamar’s set design carried a powerful message. As he and his all-Black group of dancers moved across the field, they appeared to be performing inside a prison yard.
The staging highlighted the issue of mass incarceration and the racial disparities within the U.S. prison system, where Black Americans are disproportionately incarcerated compared to their white counterparts—even for the same crimes.
Though Lamar has never been incarcerated, his lyrics frequently address the impact of systematic racism on Black communities. In Beyoncé’s song Freedom, where he is featured, he raps about “opening correctional gates in higher deserts.”
Sunday’s performance was not Lamar’s first time using a live stage to critique the justice system.
At the 2016 Grammy Awards, he performed in a prison uniform, leading a gang of dancers across the stage while musicians played inside jail cells.
40 Acres and a Mule
Leading into his highly anticipated performance of Not Like Us, Lamar rapped to his backup singers, “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.”
This line referenced reparations promised to Black Americans after the abolition of slavery.
On January 16, 1865, Union General William T. Sherman issued Special Field Order No. 15, which stated that each formerly enslaved family would receive 40 acres of land.
That promise was never honored, and the phrase has since become a lasting symbol in discussions about reparations for Black Americans.
Although the 40 acres and a mule were never given, Black Americans have not forgotten.
Serena Williams
While fans may have been surprised to see Samuel L. Jackson in Lamar’s performance, they were shocked when tennis legend Serena Williams joined him.
Williams’s appearance was widely interpreted as a direct jab at her ex, rapper Drake, who is the target of Not Like Us.
Williams, was dressed in a royal blue tennis skirt and matching jacket, Williams didn’t just dance, she crip walked.
The dance originated with the Crips, a predominantly Black street gang from Southern California.
Like Lamar, Williams is from Compton, a city known for its hip-hop culture. But her performance on Sunday also recalled a moment from her career during her 2012 Olympic victory over Maria Sharapova, where she celebrated by crip walking.
That dance move sparked controversy at the time, with critics calling it “tasteless” and “inappropriate,” accusing Williams of glorifying gang culture. For example, sports journalist Jason Whitlock wrote in Fox Sports that the dance was “too closely associated with thugs and gangsters!”
Her supporters, however, argued that the backlash was biased and even racially motivated.
On Sunday, Williams reflected on that experience. In a video posted on social media, she joked, “Man, I did not crip walk like that at Wimbledon. Ooh, I would’ve been fined!”
The American Flag
Lamar’s backup dancers wore red, white, and blue outfits, but their connection to the American flag became even more apparent during Humble when they physically formed the image of the American flag.
At one moment, the dancers bent forward in unity, lifting their backs into the air—a move many on social media interpreted as a symbolic representation of how America was built on the backs of enslaved Black Americans.
Moments later, the dancers split into groups on either side of Lamar.
The divided flag formation appeared to reflect the political and cultural divisions in the nation, a theme Lamar raps about in his lyrics: “It’s a cultural divide.”
As I mentioned in several posts made on X (formerly Twitter) in response to TMZ, Lamar’s performance was to convey a message that the American Flag belongs to all Americans.
