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Kendrick Lamar did that!
The Grammy winner gave a stellar halftime efficiency at Sunday’s Tremendous Bowl, shocking everybody when he was launched by none aside from “Uncle Sam” — actor Samuel L. Jackson — as a tic-tac-toe board lit up the sector.
Utilizing a Black Uncle Sam was seen by some as a refined dig on the present discourse on variety and inclusion, and the complete set was centered round Jackson’s character facetiously chastising Lamar, urging him to not go too far as a performer.
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Providing a “Wacced Out Murals” intro and a snippet of “Our bodies,” “Squabble Up” was staged on a Buick Grand Nationwide, with Lamar spitting rhymes in a crimson, white and blue leather-based jacket, surrounded by dancers in crimson and white outfits.
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“Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto!” declared Jackson’s Uncle Sam, urging him, “Tighten up!”
That led to a relentlessly synched-up dance by his backup performers as he rapped “Humble,” flowing into “DNA.”
Persevering with to carry down the home solo, he carried out a high-intensity “Euphoria” and “Man on the Backyard” earlier than Jackson’s character put him in examine as soon as extra.
For “Peekaboo,” his dancers have been all in white, together with his feminine dancers in black-and-red wigs.
Teasing his controversial File of the Yr and Tune of the Yr Grammy winner “Not Like Us,” he stated he needed to carry out it, however, “You already know they like to sue.”
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He as an alternative slipped into “Luther,” bringing out duet associate SZA, who was poured into maroon leather-based and lace.
They carried out on a triangular stage whereas dancers gathered round a round stage, a quick break earlier than “All of the Stars,” his assault on individuals who “really feel entitled,” one other highly effective SZA duet. The tune was a success off the “Black Panther” soundtrack.
(A lone protester managed to take the sector for a number of minutes with a flag that appeared to name-check Gaza and Sudan, however safety hustled them away shortly.)
Paradoxically, Jackson’s sarcastic character interjected, “Do not mess this up!”
That signaled Lamar throwing down “Not Like Us,” absolutely the first-ever diss tune carried out on the Tremendous Bowl. The tune notoriously insinuates that rival rapper Drake must be evaded underaged ladies. Including insult to damage, the gang sang again to Lamar when it got here time to rap the double-entendre “a minorrrr.”
At the least Lamar didn’t embody the phrase “pedophile,” as he often does.
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As an enormous shock, and on a lighter notice, Serena Williams emerged to supply some dance strikes! (Serena’s presence was additionally a Drake dig… the 2 dated for a sizzling minute in 2011.)
He then introduced out his solely different main visitor, Mustard, for the massively well-liked observe “TV Off.”
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In all, the efficiency — which earned combined opinions from followers and critics — was an enormous departure for a halftime present. Lamar turned the primary rapper to land the gig, and he selected to make this a efficiency that centered, with simply a few exceptions, extra on him as a singular entertainer than on gimmicks or on extreme guest-spot moments.
When he ended his set, he did it with a playful smile of satisfaction.
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