Let’s talk about the Super Bowl.
Actually, let’s take that back.
Let’s talk about Kendrick.
(Before we really even get into it with the meanings and the symbolism, I’m gonna let you enjoy this moment. One of my MANY favorite moments from last night. His song Peekaboo. And oh…my god. How he popped up into the camera shot saying peekaboo. It had me dead. I’ve watched it a million times and I’ll need to a few million more. 😂)
I don’t know the specific demographic of my readers here. I don’t know your age. Or your race. Or where you live. Or how you grew up. To be clear, I’m writing this as a white female.
But there will be some of you that thought last nights half time show was trash. That thought it was “ghetto”. That thought it was “the worst halftime show ever” (but those same people literally say this EVERY YEAR).
Some of you even called it racist. Not necessarily you guys here on this platform, but some people on the internet as a whole.
Why? Because he used black dancers to represent the image he was portraying.
And let’s talk about that for a moment, too.
He didn’t use pyro. He didn’t use insane lighting effects. Or flashy lights or whatever else.
He used people. Dancers. Choreography.
And Samuel L Jackson as fucking Uncle Sam.
Specifically, he had dancers dressed in all red. And all blue. And all white.
On the surface, the colors of their outfits represented the American flag.
And it was. The surface theme here, to speak to one of the themes he was presenting, was about the colors of the American flag. Red white and blue.
But it goes further than that. It’s about unity on a different level too. The reds and blues. The Crips and Bloods.
If you’ll take it back a few months, to his Juneteenth concert in Toronto on June 10th, 2024…that was probably, what I would consider to be the most impactful moment in history of this nature.
See, while this post isn’t about Drake, it also kind of is.
I don’t know what you, the reader, knows about the Kendrick and Drake beef.
I’ve written and talked about it in the past, but that doesn’t mean you’re up and current on the situation.
Here’s a real watered down version of the Drake beef.
Drakes…..a pedophile. Legitimately. He does creepy shit, and he’s not a good person by any standards. He has registered sex offenders working with him on his label. Oh, and he doesn’t actually write his own shit. He uses ghost writers. Which is a huge offense in the rap genre.
Drake started a rap beef with Kendrick. Kendrick said no, we’re not doing this. You’re not going to force the narrative, you’re not going to make me do this on YOUR timeline. You’re not gonna be horrible for the culture and smear my name.
So they had a whole rap battle. Like probably 10 songs back and forth. With Drake begging him to “drop, drop, drop” the next song.
Eventually Kendrick did, and he dropped the song Not Like Us, and it was a direct statement that him and people like him (ya know, like Diddy) are not like us. We don’t want that. He isn’t for the culture. He doesn’t do anything for it. He hurts and uses people. And he also probably put the hit out to get another rapper killed a few years ago, XXXTentacion.
The Juneteenth concert this year was played in Toronto Canada, Drakes home town.
It was the first time the song Not Like Us was played live. It had only just been released days before!
But EVERYONE knew the words.
And Kendrick didn’t just play the song once.
He played it FIVE times. He started it over. And over. And over again.
Five times. And the crowd was in it the entire time.
He had gang members from all the different sections come ON STAGE. And dance.
Together.
He had the Crips and the Bloods ON STAGE DANCING TOGETHER. Instead of their typical interaction, which would be killing each other.
Unity. This is fucking unity.
Red and blues. Crips and Bloods
Last night at the Super Bowl, it wasn’t flashy with lights and pyro. He sent a message with the people and the colors. Reds and blues and white.
He let his words speak for themselves and he told a story.
He had Samual L Jackson there as Uncle Sam WARNING Kendrick to keep it “classy”. To keep it slow and soft. To conform. Not to play that “ghetto rap” shit, basically.
When he sang Not Like Us, Kendrick looked straight into the camera and said “Hey Drake, I hear you like em young”, smiled and winked when he said Drakes name…and then the last shot was all the lights off in the stadium and the only thing lit up were the words “game over”.
I cant believe how much of a DIRECT statement he made to Drake when he’s said nothing direct to or about him in months. Even though Drake is suing everyone about the song Not Like Us, specifically because Drake did NOT want this song played at the Super Bowl. It really was amazing.
People who don’t understand this genre, especially people older than us, will say it was a bad halftime. They’ll hate it because they don’t understand it, and they’ll just see another black rapper “being ghetto” and think it’s a certain type of way, when it isn’t.
Kendrick is on the good guy side of things. And that means a lot. That’s why he was handed the stage to begin with. He is for the culture. For the people. And for the storytelling, for his message.
It’s about the rich not killing the poor. It’s about not censoring ourselves. About protecting our people, especially black women in this moment he was articulating. It’s about the flag. Creating it out of people of color, much like the country IS made up of. It’s about unity. And it’s about separation within the unity. It’s about so fucking much.
I’ll leave you with this. A comment from someone else breaking it down with a lot less words than I used.
This shit matters. It really does.
And the ending shot. Kendrick looks at the camera. Gestures us to “follow him” with his hand, and then the stadium goes black and all you can see are the drones lighting up the sky with 2 words. A simple phrase.
GAME OVER.
Game over, Drake. Game over.
Turn his TV Off.