Hip hop artist and Pulitzer Prize winner Kendrick Lamar is known to drop what fans call “Easter eggs” in his music and imagery that would escape novelists of his art. If you thought the performance was bad, you probably didn’t know what you were watching. But that’s cool because I’ve got you covered.
Lamar headlined the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, and his smash hit, “Not Like Us,” which fans speculated whether he would perform or not due to sensitive parts of the song, blared throughout the Superdome, urging Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs fans to join in.
Lamar was joined on stage by Samuel L. Jackson, who played Uncle Sam, Grammy award-winner SZA, and tennis Legend Serena Williams, from Compton, who sported a blue outfit while Crip walking on Drake’s grave.
However, there was much more to K-Dot’s performance than what meets the eye.
It wasn’t just entertainment, but, in addition to multiple Drake shots, a message laced with symbolism about America, its government and control.
“The revolution is about to be televised,” Lamar said to begin his set. “Right time for the wrong guy.”
Here are a few “Easter eggs” that you may have missed:
– Lamar began his set with “Tiramsu,” an unreleased song teased leading up to the “GNX” album drop, which did not make the album. This is Lamar’s way of teasing that he is not done, and new music is to come.
– The division of the American flag symbolized the division of America.
– Lamar, who is from Compton, often uses Crips, dressed in Blue, and Bloods, dressed in red — street gangs birthed in California — in his imagery. At the Super Bowl, he put dancers, draped in either red or blue together on stage as the American flag to symbolize desired unity in the Black community, and America as a whole.
– “I want to perform their favorite song, but y’all know he likes to sue,” Lamar said while teasing to perform “Not Like Us,” alluding to Drake and his lawsuit against record label UMG for promoting the song.
– Samuel L. Jackson playing Uncle Sam, who represents patriotism and national identity, is an Easter egg in itself, and a call for Black unity. “Welcome to the great American game,” which Jackson said, not referencing football, but the U.S government, and how it expects Americans to behave — silently and complicit. “Forty acres and a mule, it’s bigger than the music,” Lamar said, alluding to America’s promise to Black Americans, which was not upheld.
-Lamar’s dancers moving counter clockwise signify a reversal in time to when marginalized groups lacked protection from the laws of the land.
– Lamar wore a chain flanked by a pendant with a lower-case “a,” highlighting the “A-minorrrrrr” line and Drake headshot on “Not Like Us,” where Lamar also shames Drake for culturally appropriating, and colonizing Atlanta’s rap scene. The “a” is also the symbol for “PG Lang,” Lamar’s label.
– Lamar wore a red and blue jacket with “Gloria” written across it — a reference to his theoretical “pen” which he used to write countless hits, Lamar revealed cleverly on “GNX.”
– During Lamar’s performance of the song “Peekaboo,” the telecast cut to a large “X,” which could mean a few things. For one, Drake, Lamar’s nemesis, dated both SZA and Serena Williams, who were scorned enough by Drake to literally dance on his grave on Sunday. Meanwhile, “X” is also the nickname for murdered Florida rapper XXXTentacion, who warned fans on video before his death that if he were to be killed, it was Drake.
– Lamar and SZA performed ”All the Stars,” also a Drake diss from the “Black Panther” soundtrack.
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