Kendrick Lamar's solid halftime show refuses to shy away from Drake beef

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Fresh off his five Grammy wins last weekend for the iconic Drake diss track Not Like Us, Compton, Calif., rapper Kendrick Lamar wasn’t about to leave the most decorated rap song in Grammy history off his Super Bowl halftime performance on Sunday night.

Not even a lawsuit by Drizzy himself — half a world away while on tour in Australia — against Drake’s own record label for promoting Lamar’s song could do that.

Still, Lamar, opening the performance with GNX (Teaser) while kneeling on top of the hood of the car of the same nickname on a lit-up Tic Tac Toe set, waited until almost the end of his set for Not Like Us.

Performing in New Orleans at the Caesars Superdome — which was briefly interrupted by a pro-Palestinian protester — the rapper wore a blue varsity jacket, backward baseball hat, black shirt, jeans, white sneakers and a large “a” on a chain around his neck.

The first special guest, if you will, was actor Samuel L. Jackson dressed up in red, white and blue as Uncle Sam.

“Salutations! It’s your Uncle Sam and this is the great American game!” said Jackson on the field, where other special guests would also appear like Drake’s ex Serena Williams and rapper Mustard for the songs Not Like Us and TV Off, respectively.

“The revolution about to be televised — you picked the right time, but the wrong guy,” said Lamar off the top.

Still, for a Super Bowl halftime show it was pretty lo-fi in terms of special effects or big-name collaborators, but Lamar — spitting lightning-fast lyrics — kept the pace up with all those dancers as eye candy for the second song, Squabble Up.

He was, after all, awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first musician outside of the classical and jazz genres to receive the honour.

“No, no, no,” Jackson complained after Squabble Up.

“Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto. Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!”

Lamar answered back with HUMBLE., DNA., Euphoria, Man at the Garden and Peekaboo.

The rapper first teased Not Like Us by saying “I want to perform my favourite song … know what? I’ll slow it down,” offering up Luther instead featuring already advertised special guest SZA — in head-to-toe red leather on that one and All the Stars, with both of them performing on a rotating circular stage.

“Hey! Hey! That’s what I’m talking about,” said Jackson in response.

“That’s what America wants! Nice, calm, you’re almost there — don’t mess this up.”

Finally, we got Not Like Us with some altered lyrics.

Instead of spitting the contentious lyrics, “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophile,” Lamar went silent for the part where he would normally rap “pedophile.”

But the later lyric, “trying to strike a chord but it’s probably A minor,” was intact, which drew huge cheers.

Lamar was previously part of the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige, which won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special.

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SET LIST

GNX (Teaser)

Squabble Up

HUMBLE.

DNA.

Euphoria

Man At The Garden

Peekaboo

Luther with SZA

All the Stars with SZA

Not Like Us

TV Off

RATING

(3 stars out of 4)