Atlanta may not be able to claim to have had as much cultural influence on Super Bowl 59 as the city did in 2024, when Usher’s record-breaking halftime performance “turned the world into the A.”
Still, there was plenty of Black talent on display in New Orleans last night.
It was already shaping up to be a big night for Black culture prior to kickoff between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs, since both teams are led by Black quarterbacks and were playing in the birthplace of jazz music.
New Orleans native Ledisi gave a rousing, pitch-perfect recital of James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Every Voice and Sing” also known as the Black National Anthem.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Following her set, longtime New Orleans radio personality Wild Wayne emceed a pregame show featuring trumpeter Terence Blanchard and Southern University’s “Human Jukebox” marching band, which performed hit Louisiana hip-hop songs such as Juvenile’s “Back That Azz Up” and “Wipe Me Down” by Baton Rouge rapper Boosie.
The pregame show also featured a variety of smaller brass band outfits, including the Original Pinettes Brass Band, an all-women collection of New Orleans instrumentalists, who played along as Harry Connick Jr. sang the classic song “Go To the Mardi Gras.”
Before the game began, viewers were also treated to musicians Trombone Shorty and Lauren Daigle’s version of “America the Beautiful,” before Jon Batiste shared his swinging, gospel-licious version of the National Anthem from a white Yamaha piano painted with pastel butterflies.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Yet much of the anticipation for the event centered around Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show.
Lamar opened his set by delivering quick-paced lyrics from a previously unreleased song while crouched on a black Buick Grand National, the car for which his latest album, 2024’s “GNX,” was named.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The Compton rapper then paused while Samuel L. Jackson appeared, dressed as a ringleading Uncle Sam for the show taking place on the field.
“Squabble up,” the funked-up second track on “GNX” played next, as several dancers in red, white or blue uniforms began streaming quickly from the classic 1980s vehicle parked onstage. Lamar began performing from the song’s third verse, including lyrics like “It was woof tickets on sale ’til I silenced it,” which have been interpreted as being aimed at Drake.
It was the first hint that the diss song heard ‘round the world wasn’t off limits and would be performed, although not before another interruption from Uncle Samuel L.
“Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto? Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up,” said Jackson.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
From there, the crowd at Caesars Superdome was given a brief medley of cuts from Lamar’s 2017 album “DAMN.,” including the hit song “HUMBLE.” which was performed with Black male dancers in monochromatic outfits dancing in formation to resemble a large, moving U.S. flag.
Lamar then went into a snippet of “Euphoria,” one of several songs released in the flurry of diss tracks thrown back and forth between the West Coast rapper and his Canadian arch nemesis last year.
At one point, Lamar took a moment to acknowledge the question everyone seemed to wonder. “I wanna perform their favorite song,” Lamar told the crowd. “But you know they love to sue …”
The statement seemed to be a nod to the lawsuit Drake has filed against Universal Music Group, which also counts Lamar in its roster of recording artists under contract. There had been speculation that “Not Like Us” might not make the set list due to the potential legal ramifications of accusing one of the biggest celebrities in the world of being a “pedophile.”
Lamar did in fact give the crowd what it wanted. During his performance of “Not Like Us,” which recently swept all five Grammy award categories for which it was nominated, he left the word “pedophile” out but did include a line in which he refers to the rapper by name, saying “Say Drake, I heard you like ‘em young.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
The crowd also took its cue to loudly sing along when Kendrick recited the famous “A minor” line ending the song’s first verse, interpreted by many to suggest that Drake is interested in underage women.
Other standout moments from the show included tennis legend and Compton native Serena Williams, who once dated Drake but appeared on the field dancing to the fiery diss song.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
There were also times in the show where Lamar was joined by other artists, including producer Mustard and former labelmate SZA, who sang her parts on the “GNX” song “luther” and the duet “All the Stars” from the movie “Black Panther.”
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
At one point a protester who may have entered the field as a dancer ran around with a Palestinian flag before being tackled and removed from the stadium floor by security.
No notable artists from Atlanta were included in the show. Kendrick also skipped the final verse of “Not Like Us,” in which he accuses Drake of behaving like a “colonizer” by using Atlanta’s hip-hop influence for his own cultural credibility.
Credit: AP
Credit: AP
Still despite the lack of direct Atlanta shout-outs in the show, Lamar did acknowledge the cultural connections between California and the South.
“Our dialect and how we talk, it gauges from the South and the Bay Area,” Lamar told radio personality Ebro Darden during an Apple Music interview leading up to the Super Bowl.
“The culture, and just being Black, I can’t help that. It’s not something I think about,” he said. “I’m Black … It’s gonna come out every time. I can’t sugarcoat it; I can’t downplay it. I’m at a point in my life I can’t fake the funk for nothing.”
Become a member of UATL for more stories like this in our free newsletter and other membership benefits.
Follow UATL on Facebook, on X, TikTok and Instagram.
About the Author
The Latest
Featured
