The Eagles weren’t the only controversial performance of the Super Bowl... Kendrick Lamar’s Halftime show delivered social commentary and went big with his beef with Drake.
With celebrities like President Donald Trump and Taylor Swift in attendance, the performance opened with Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam.
Lamar kicked off his set with an unreleased track, as he crouched in front of his album’s namesake, a Buick GNX.
Dancers wearing red, white, and blue emerged from the car as he followed with “Squabble up.”
Viewers, like freshman creative writing major Jordan Sims, felt the costumes held a hidden meaning.
“I think he symbolizes many motifs that represent the black community,” Sims said. “I like the costume design that he had with the American theme.”
So much so that the dancers assembled to form an American flag as Lamar stood center and performed “HUMBLE” and “DNA.” Afterward, he broke into his first Drake diss track “Euphoria,” before starting a mellower performance of “man at the garden.”
By the way, for the uninitiated, Lamar does NOT like Drake.
But, that was just the calm before the storm. Lamar performed “Peekaboo,” another track targeted at Drake. Then, he walked over to a dancer and said, “I want to play they favorite song, but you know they love to sue.”
This is another pointed reference to Drake, who tried to sue Universal Music Group over allegations made in the lyrics of “Not Like Us.”
Freshman computational neuroscience student, Aram Tripahti, shared his thoughts on the rivalry.
“Kendrick won that by a landslide,” Tripahti said. “I mean, there’s no contention on that.”
Lamar introduced SZA - a frequent collaborator - during a duet of “All the Stars.” SZA’s appearance is another hit at Drake, who dated the singer in 2009.
Finally, Lamar started his Grammy-winning “Not Like Us.” Then, another Drake ex, Serena Williams made a guest appearance as a shoutout to the Compton community.
Lamar pointedly left out the word “pedophile” during his performance - just one of the allegations he’s made - but its absence didn’t hide the implication. The crowd was extremely loud as they sang along with the words “a minor.”
Lamar’s producer, DJ Mustard, joined him onstage for his final song “tv off,” where he closed out the show by telling America, “Turn this TV off.”
As the performance ended with the words “Game Over” illuminated, Lamar left viewers buzzing on the internet, wondering what comes next for the rivalry.