Kendrick Lamar will headline the Super Bowl LIX halftime present in New Orleans subsequent February, inserting one other prestigious feather within the Putlizer Prize-winner’s cap. And but a lot of the discourse surrounding the choice has targeted on one other artist fully: Lil Wayne.

The largest rapper to ever come out of New Orleans, the Hollygrove native had overtly coveted the chance to carry out on the most important stage in entrance of a hometown crowd. And whereas he’s but to react to the NFL’s choice, lots of his friends have spoken up for him, letting their frustration be felt.

Much of this anger has been directed at JAY-Z, who together with Roc Nation has helped arrange the halftime present since 2020. Cam’ron has implied that the snub was Hov getting “payback” on his former rival Weezy, whereas Nicki Minaj has outright accused him of harboring “hatred” towards herself, Birdman and Drake — Wayne’s longest and closest allies.

While there’s definitely an argument for Lil Wayne to carry out at a New Orleans-hosted Super Bowl, what’s being misplaced in all of this fussing and finger-pointing is that, by all goal metrics, Kendrick Lamar completely, a hundred percent deserves to headline subsequent 12 months’s Super Bowl halftime present.

Here’s why.

No Rapper Has Had a Better 2024 Than Kendrick Lamar

Kendrick Lamar is the right man for the second given how inescapable he’s been in 2024. He started the 12 months by delivering a blistering verse on Future and Metro Boomin‘s number one hit “Like That,” in which he let his “big three” contemporaries Drake and J. Cole know that it’s “just big me.”

While Cole returned hearth solely to rapidly wave the white flag, Drizzy was lured right into a lyrical battle that, in hindsight, he was woefully unprepared for. The blitzkreig of “Euphoria,” “6:16 in LA,” “Meet the Grahams” and “Not Like Us” — launched within the area of 5 days — dispatched the world’s hottest rapper with stunning ease.

Kendrick even beat Drake at his personal sport as “Not Like Us” topped the Billboard Hot 100 (twice), turned the highest-selling music within the U.S. this 12 months and, including insult to harm, broke a number of of the 6 God’s streaming information. “Not Like Us” not solely dominated the summer season of 2024, nevertheless it may simply go down in historical past as probably the most bruising diss music of all time — sure, dethroning even “Hit ‘Em Up” and “Ether.”

K. Dot’s victory lap got here within the type of his Pop Out live performance in June, the place he primarily danced on Drake’s grave alongside the likes of Dr. Dre, YG and his Black Hippy brethren whereas uniting the pink and blue factions of Los Angeles, proving he’s nonetheless the great child within the m.A.A.d metropolis.

Come February, Kendrick is prone to step onto the Super Bowl stage with extra silverware to his identify, with “Not Like Us” tipped for achievement on the 2025 Grammy Awards, which happen precisely per week earlier than the Big Game.

Who Better to Make Hip Hop History?

Kendrick Lamar will change into the primary rapper to headline the Super Bowl halftime present by himself when he steps out into the Caesars Superdome on February 9. Who higher to make Hip Hop historical past than arguably the most effective rapper of his technology?

While Dr. Dre was technically the primary rapper to headline the annual occasion in 2022, he was joined by an all-star supporting solid that included Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick, Mary J. Blige and particular visitor 50 Cent.

Before that, rappers had been relegated to minor cameos for main pop acts (see: Queen Latifah in 1998; Nelly in 2001; Diddy and Nelly once more in 2004; Nicki Minaj and CeeLo Green in 2012; Missy Elliott in 2015; and Travis Scott and Big Boi in 2019).

As probably the most culturally influential style of the final nonetheless many many years with the industrial prowess to match, Hip Hop ought to now not be confined to the fringes or compelled to cobble collectively a few of its largest stars to justify a spot on the Super Bowl.

While different legends within the sport might declare to even be worthy of headlining the halftime present on their very own — not least Lil Wayne — Kendrick has separated himself as a very powerful rapper alive in lots of respects this 12 months. Plus, breaking new floor is already in his DNA, as confirmed by his historic Pulitzer Prize win in 2018 for DAMN.

A Championship-Worthy Catalog

Kendrick has a powerful catalog of hits that would simply fill a 15-minute setlist worthy of the Super Bowl. “Swimming Pools (Drank),” “Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe,” “Money Trees,” “m.A.A.d city,” “Alright,” “HUMBLE.,” “DNA.,” “Family Ties,” “Not Like Us” — take your choose.

He has no scarcity of high-profile collaborations, both, opening the door for A-list friends like Eminem, Beyoncé, Rihanna, Travis Scott, J. Cole, SZA, Future, Metro Boomin, Dr. Dre and U2. The choices are tantalizing. Who is aware of, possibly he’ll even recreate his Pop Out present and produce out half of L.A. on stage in NOLA?

associated information

Pusha T Piles Misery On Drake After Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Announcement

September 9, 2024

Whether Kendrick will even carry out “Not Like Us” is an fascinating conundrum. The music’s monumental success little doubt contributed to him securing the haltime present, however the prospect of watching him name Drake a “certified pedophile” in entrance of tons of of hundreds of thousands of viewers (together with youngsters) is sufficient to make any company sponsor sweat.

Maybe letting Mustard’s horn-laced hyphy beat ring out for just a few second could be sufficient. Or maybe performing “Like That” as a substitute of “Not Like Us” could be a safer method for Kendrick to reassert his authority over Drake on the Super Bowl with out working afoul of the NFL.

Rap’s Most Valuable Performer

The Compton kingpin is broadly thought of certainly one of Hip Hop’s — if not music’s — most electrifying performers who has graced a number of the largest levels on the planet, together with the Super Bowl. While famend ragers Travis Scott and Playboi Carti have a tendency to fireside up crowds with pure atomic bomb power, Kendrick feels extra like a heat-seeking missile — managed firepower than can explode at exactly the suitable second.

Just revisit his highly effective, prison- and tribal-themed efficiency on the 2016 Grammys that visibly spooked a number of the white attendees within the viewers. Or his theatrical, cleverly-choreographed medley on the identical awards present two years later. And who can overlook the Biblical picture of blood pouring down his face from a crown of diamond-encrusted thorns at Glastonbury in 2022?

Kendrick’s excessive manufacturing worth and carefully-curated units have additionally translated into massive bucks. His Big Steppers Tour, which toured the globe between 2022 and 2024 in help of Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, was at one level the highest-grossing Hip Hop tour ever, producing over $110 million.

As probably the most breathtaking and bankable performers round, the NFL know what they’re getting from Kendrick Lamar.

A Safer Bet

As Charlamagne Tha God argued on The Breakfast Club this week, Kendrick Lamar is best for enterprise than Lil Wayne, particularly when you think about the Super Bowl has billions of {dollars} on the road from a number of the largest manufacturers on the planet.

“If I’m making a business decision in 2024 and I look at the monster year Kendrick just had and I’m looking forward to February 2025 — maybe Kendrick got an album coming out — who’s gonna garner us the most eyeballs, the most streams, the most social media engagement?” the radio persona requested rhetorically.

Coming off of his high-profile victory over Drake in what has been deemed by many as the best rap battle of all time, Kendrick is extra prone to appeal to viewers than Lil Wayne, an authorized rap legend with an array of hits however whose industrial (and arguably artistic) peak is behind him and who hasn’t been particularly prolific lately, outdoors of show-stealing characteristic runs.

While Tunechi has scored some main offers himself through the years, the pgLang MC has additionally confirmed himself to be a flexible branding car outdoors of rap, partnering with everybody from Louis Vuitton and Chanel to Converse and CashApp, a few of whom might nicely find yourself shopping for airtime in the course of the Super Bowl.

A New Album on the Horizon?

Between the music snippet at the start of his “Not Like Us” music video, hints from shut collaborators like Terrace Martin, the truth that it’s been over two years since his final full-length launch and the apparent alternative to capitalize on his beef with Drake, all indicators level to Kendrick Lamar dropping a brand new album within the coming months.

This would tie in completely along with his Super Bowl halftime present, à la Beyoncé in 2013 or Usher in 2023.

Super Bowl Performers Aren’t Determined By Location

Although Super Bowl halftime reveals of previous had been knowledgeable by location, such because the Motown celebration in Pontiac, Michigan in 1982 or the “Salute to Hollywood’s 100th Anniversary” efficiency in Pasadena, California in ’87, this has not often been the case since Michael Jackson headlined the present in 1993, establishing the present format of fashionable musicians performing on the Big Game.

The 2004 Super Bowl halftime present in Houston was headlined not by Beyoncé or Destiny’s Child however by Janet Jackson, Justin Timberlake and others; the 2006 iteration in Detroit featured high billing not from Eminem, Stevie Wonder or Diana Ross however by the Rolling Stones; and the identical utilized to the 2019 present in Atlanta, which was led not by OutKast, T.I. or any of the numerous acts birthed within the Black Mecca however California-bred blue-eyed rockers Maroon 5.

In latest many years, Dr. Dre’s halftime present in Los Angeles two years in the past has been the uncommon exception to this rule. And whereas JAY-Z has bore the brunt of the criticism from different rappers and followers of Lil Wayne for supposedly snubbing him in his hometown, the choice isn’t fully his to make.

According to the Charlotte Observer, “the process begins with a panel that includes the NFL’s director of entertainment, members NFL’s production company, and the halftime show’s director and producer. A shortlist is then handed over to the Super Bowl’s hosting city for a final decision.” So if Wayne followers ought to have an issue with anybody, it’s his residence metropolis.