Sunday, February 16, 2025

Kendrick Lamar: Super Bowl 2025

 


Kendrick Lamar has never been an easy lift, so I'm not surprised many folks didn't pick up on the messaging last night.
Many words have been written since then and no doubt more will come in the next hours and days.
Even if you didn't catch a single lyric in his intentionally densely coded flow, the visual presentation alone -- the colors of the dancers and the colors they wore -- was serious counter-MAGA Nation signalling, trust that.
A demonstrated hip-hop genius from Compton, performing in New Orleans, sending a message to D.C. that the whole world was party to. Righteous!
I spend a lot of time watching and thinking about how performers construct themselves and their messages. Not all are successful, and audiences will be divided over Lamar's 20 minutes. That's inevitable.
For me, I channelled a bit of Divine G from Sing Sing when he said to Divine Eye after he'd nailed Hamlet's soliloquy, "You did your thing, Beloved!"

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