It is no secret that Kendrick Lamar is known for his groundbreaking music, lyrical depth, and social consciousness. His long-awaited Super Bowl Halftime show is just one example of how powerful and unforgettable his artistry is. Not only did he make history as the first solo hip-hop artist to headline the event, but he also used the opportunity to tell a powerful story about patriotism through his stage design, costumes, and setlist, featuring songs like “Humble,” “DNA,” and “Not Like Us.”

One of the most obvious symbols throughout the whole performance was dressing dancers in red, white, and blue then arranging them together to create a formation resembling the American Flag. Every person featured in the performance, including the backup dancers, were also Black Americans. The dancers forming an American flag with Lamar in the center of can be representative of how this nation was built on the backs of Black Americans. As Lamar stands in the middle of the formation, he creates a physical divide within the dancers’ formation. This is a visual metaphor for the ongoing racial and political division in America that continues to rip our nation apart.

Following along with the theme of patriotism, we see Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam. He is acting as the narrator for the performance, introducing Lamar by saying, “It’s your Uncle…Sam, and this is the Great American Game!” Jackson’s role represented the “clean” or “sanitized” version of American history that often criticizes and tries to control how Black artists express themselves. In one instance, he calls part of Lamar’s performance “too ghetto.”

Throughout the entire half-time show, Lamar’s performance is continuously referred to as “a game.” A couple of times within the performance, the camera pans over the audience; when this happens, the words “WARNING WRONG WAY” and “GAME OVER” appear in lights. This motif is also seen in the stage design itself, reinforcing the idea that life is now a game to be played, and that someone else is deciding the rules for you.  As the camera spins around to show them dancing on the field, it becomes even clearer that they are performing in a prison yard. This highlights the disproportionate mass incarceration of Black Americans and the racial inequality in both prisons and the justice system. It is during this part of the performance that he features his song “Not Like Us,” where Lamar announces, “40 acres and mule / this is bigger than the music.”  This is a direct reference to the reparations that were promised to Black Americans when slavery was abolished. It was January 16, 1865, when Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s Special Field Order No. 15 called for each formally enslaved family to receive 40 acres of land. That promise was never fulfilled.

Commentary on reparations was not the only historical reference made by Lamar that night. Early in the performance, Lamar says, “The revolution is about to be televised / You picked the right time but the wrong guy.” This references Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised.” The poem argues that change does not come from big corporations nor the government. It comes, instead, from individuals , who the media will ignore and censor.  Other than Lamar’s performance, this Super Bowl is marked in history for another reason: it is the first Super Bowl in history that a sitting United States President has attended. President Trump attended the fifty-ninth Super Bowl following the NFL’s recent decision to remove the “End Racism” slogans that have been stenciled on the end zones since 2021. In my opinion, Lamar’s fearless performance to openly criticizes patriotism and our government was incredibly inspirational, especially to do it in front of a President who is at the helm of much of what is wrong with our nation.

His performance will continue to be praised, analyzed, and torn apart by people online. Regardless of anyone’s opinion of whether it was “the best” Super Bowl performance, it had a purpose. That purpose was to make people listen to what Lamar has to say and what so many Black Americans have been saying for years. To me, it is one of the most audacious public acts of protest in modern history. The revolution is now being televised, and in my opinion, we picked the right time and the right guy.