Kendrick Lamar has been one of the most celebrated rappers among fans and critics for years. More recently, he found major mainstream success with his Grammy-winning track “Not Like Us.” One week ago today, he took home five Grammy Awards for the song. Today, he stepped onto one of the biggest stages in the United States as he headlined the Super Bowl LIX Halftime show.
It was easy to forget about the game between the Chiefs and the Eagles when K Dot took the field to perform. For around 13 minutes, millions of eyes and ears were on him, SZA, and other stars as they brought West Coast hip hop to the center stage in the Big Easy.
After an introduction by legendary actor, Lamar took the crowd on a tour of his biggest hits including “Squabble Up,” “Humble,” and “DNA.” After performing solo, Dot and SZA joined forces for abbreviated renditions of “Luther” and “All the Stars.” Finally, Kunfu Kenny gave the crowd what they wanted and performed a modified version of “Not Like Us.”
While some football fans might be new to Lamar, his catalog is deep. As a result, he was able to pull from several eras of his long and storied career for his electrifying halftime performance.
Kendrick Lamar Had Creative Control Over His Halftime Performance
Last week, Kendrick Lamar sat down with Extra TV for a pre-halftime show press conference. During the conversation, he discussed his career, his hopes for the future, and today’s Super Bowl performance. He revealed that he and his PGLang team planned every second of the performance.
Lamar and his longtime friend and collaborator Dave Free launched PGLang in 2020 after leaving Top Dawg Entertainment. The award-winning company produces music, film, and more. The team also cultivated today’s Halftime show.
“That’s all PGLang,” he said of today’s performance. “That is us sitting day in, day out from the edits, the production, the stage design, the music, the sound tech. Everything across the board,” Lamar explained. “It takes a lot of work. It takes a lot of creative individuals. I can’t sit here and sit here and say it’s all me because these are people that are just as passionate and want to see us win but also want to put out something that’s going to live a long, long time.”
