Angelina Godinez ’28
Staff Writer
Feb. 9, 2025 marked the NFL’s 59th Super Bowl, alongside Kendrick Lamar’s historic halftime performance. Although it is not Kendrick Lamar’s first appearance on stage at the Super Bowl, it is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and political performances the Super Bowl has seen. A 22-time Grammy winner and the first rapper to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize, Lamar delivered a showstopping performance to nearly 127.7 million viewers, notably including President Donald Trump, who attended the Super Bowl in person. This performance was not only a direct message to the oligarchy that was once formally known as the U.S. government, but an inspirational message to, specifically, people of color to stop performing for the approval of those in power and to instead unite and fight against forced assimilation and conformity under the U.S. government.
The performance began by panning over a stage with a similar set up to that of a PlayStation controller, containing the familiar game symbols of a square, triangle, X and circle. Similar to the set up of a video game, just above the stage flickers the score of “100,” symbolizing a full life, but also the foreboding chance of loss. No harm done, yet.
Then Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as the infamous All-American propaganda star Uncle Sam, introduces the halftime show as “the great American game.” This kickstarts Lamar’s performance, where he begins crouched over a black-on-black Buick, rapping the lyrics to an unreleased song fans have dubbed “Bodies.” Dancers dressed head to toe in outfits of red, white and blue fill the stage, continuing the patriotic symbolism represented in his performance and the game of football as a whole.
Before segueing into his next song, Lamar raps a verse that might have had its meaning missed by many, but was related to by many others: “Started with nothin’ but government cheese, but now I can seize the government, too. Remembered the food stamp color was tan and brown but now the hunnid in blue.”
This line references the artist’s young beginnings in Compton, California struggling with poverty. Now, after years of resilience, Lamar raps as one of the most decorated artists of his time. Wearing $1,700 jeans, rapping to some of the most well-off Americans, as well as the president of the United States, Lamar now holds the influence to, in his words, “seize the government.” Lamar’s next statement works to bridge disconnect classes and unite the people who watch the Super Bowl from all across the globe, specifically Americans, in seizing the government from its injustices against the people: “The Revolution ‘bout to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.”
This revolution that Lamar raps about is the fight against forced assimilation under the U.S. government. The first line, “The revolution ‘bout to be televised,” is a play on the 1971 song by Gil Scott-Heron, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” Scott-Heron sings about how the “revolution” of Black liberation will in fact not be televised, due to racial biases carried through the media. Throughout the song Scott-Heron further emphasizes the white, capitalist nature of media coverage, something that Lamar aims to emphasize with his broadly televised performance.
Years later, in a world where most of these values remain present, commercial times for the “American game” cost $8 million and the cost of attendance averaged around $8,000 in the weeks leading up to the event. This so-called “American game” still serves only one type of American: Those who are wealthy, white and in power. There is nothing more American about the Super Bowl than a gated venue where only the wealthiest can attend. This has been the history of the Super Bowl and America for years. Although this is not to say there were not hundreds of people of color in attendance and playing this American game, it still tends to cater to the wealthy. It is with this knowledge Lamar claims that, while they picked the wrong guy, the revolution will in fact be televised. Instead of catering to the audience with his 13 minute performance, Lamar used the stage and influence he had to rap for the people who didn’t have the luxury of attending. The revolution will be televised.
With Trump in the crowd — the first ever president to sit in on the Super Bowl, and the key enforcer of the lifelong Eurocentric views of what an “American” truly is; this entire performance undoubtedly is a “diss” towards the views Trump upholds and those who would go on to label Lamar’s performance “as the worst in Super Bowl history.” His performance is even more than that, too. It is a message to the American people to stand up even if they are labeled as “wrong.”
Lamar then goes on to continue performing according to his agenda and plays “Squabble Up,” off his latest album GNX. This is then interrupted by Jackson’s character, Uncle Sam, with the monologue: “No, no, no, no, no. Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto. Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up.”
With Lamar being told by “Uncle Sam” that he is “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto” and to “tighten up” and “play the game,” the performance is representing the forced assimilation and stereotypes Americans expect people of color to fit into. Despite this, Lamar goes on to perform hit songs like “HUMBLE”, “DNA”, “Euphoria”, “Man at the Garden” and “Peekaboo” before Uncle Sam, playing the role of referee, “deducts one life.” This direct symbolism shows how refusing to fit into racial and social constructs will directly be met with violence or a deduction of life, in the “game” or in real life.
Shortly after this, Lamar is joined by SZA as they perform their hit songs “Luther” and “All the Stars.” Uncle Sam is finally pleased with this performance, stating, “That’s what America wants: Nice and calm. You’re almost there.” Lamar then interrupts this approval of his behavior by playing “Not Like Us,” the song that most people inevitably wanted to hear performed live, but not those in power.
“Not Like Us” is a diss track released last May that criticizes rapper Drake. Contrary to popular belief, the hesitation to play “Not Like Us” live at the Super Bowl is not relevant to the several diss tracks between Drake and Lamar, but, as Lamar raps in the performance, “It’s a cultural divide, I’ma get it on the floor … Forty acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music … They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.”
Lamar refuses to adhere to the orders of Uncle Sam, the epitome of American beliefs. Despite some “rigging the game” — or in better words, buying a seat at the table of the U.S. government — Lamar proves with his performance the point that “you can’t fake influence,” and resistance will occur. The only “wrong person” is the person who does not advocate for the rights of those before and after them.
In order for the revolution to be televised, follow the words of Kendrick Lamar and Gil Scott-Heron. Read the news, do your own research, go in the front lines and attend panels, email college administration and send letters to your local politicians.
The revolution will be televised. But, also, as Scott-Heron says, “The revolution will put you in the driver’s seat…the revolution will be no re-run, brothers. The revolution will be live.”
Quill Nishi-Leonard ’27 contributed fact-checking.