The “art of war” is something that the modern American citizen requires a proxy to understand.
For many of us, sports give us a taste of battle. The 2024-2025 Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs understood this art.
Both teams overcame the attrition of an National Football League regular season to go on crazy win streaks and make it to the championship game this season.
But this year, America was given a new proxy. This year, Kendrick Lamar and Drake gave us something to marvel at: an exhibition of beef. Poems of hatred. They gave us war.
Whether coincidental or not, two of America’s biggest battles were broadcast on Sunday night. While the Eagles were able to tear up the Chiefs’ offensive scheme and open the game up with their explosive passing attack in an absolute rout, Lamar was able to perform a victory lap so devious that he just might get sued for it.
The Apple Music Halftime Show started off leaning heavily on symbolism with actor Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam. This show, from its American flag color scheme and PlayStation set, was a performance art and protest piece. This performance was made with the United States’ political landscape in mind and echoed many of the same themes and political causes Lamar professed in his discography.
While Lamar addressed the nation, he also attempted to cater his set for his fans and play many of his hits. He brought out some of his biggest collaborators in SZA and Mustard and even got the tennis superstar and Drake’s ex, Serena Williams, to dance.
Despite my enjoyment of his set and the choreography, the performance is not without some valid criticism. With such a large and acclaimed discography, making a setlist was no easy task. Many of Lamar’s most meaningful and popular songs were omitted from this performance.
After the show, I saw many Instagram posts expressing disappointment in the tracks performed. While I understand why some people weren’t content, I think we have to understand that there was no pleasing every fan with just 12 minutes of music.
This halftime show was truly like no other and that upset a lot of people. The show did not have Usher’s dancing or Rihanna’s vocals. It was a different type of production. I think that many people who tuned in were not ready for a symbolism-heavy and esoteric show. Many watchers and prolific social media commenters were not pleased with the politics of the performance. Some people just want to dance. It’s a halftime show after all, right?
One of the more genius aspects of Lamar’s show was the role of Uncle Sam. One of my favorite interpretations of Lamar’s use of the character is as a surrogate for his critics and detractors. As Jackson interrupts Lamar during the performance, Lamar switches up tonality.
While I admire many of the shows of the past, Kendrick’s performance will hold much more historical significance than your average Super Bowl halftime show when the dust has settled. It will serve as a time capsule for music, politics and culture.
Hopefully it will be the start of an electric touring season with Lamar and SZA set to begin their “Grand National Tour” beginning on March 19 in Minneapolis. But is this what America wants in a halftime show? Is this what we want? Do we want a message? Do we want to see blood? How will Drake ever come back from this?
On Sunday night, Kendrick salted the ground. Not only did he play his Drake diss “Euphoria,” not only did he tease and ad-lib his multi-Grammy Award-winning Drake diss “Not Like Us,” not only did he get Drake’s ex to dance on stage, not only did he get everyone in Caesars Superdome and in the nation to sing along with his “A-minor” line, but when it was time to directly address Drake, he gave the camera an absolutely diabolical simile. That small gesture may just tie the bow on the beef.
No matter what, next year the NFL is going to have to try to follow this performance up. What will they do? Probably something very, very different. Will the next artist go to war?
