As soon as the NFL announced Kendrick Lamar as the Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show headliner, fans and haters alike began to surmise just what the Compton MC would do with the 10 to 15 minutes allotted to him.

Kendrick Lamar struck a chord at the Super Bowl, and it was definitely a major. The hip-hop legend triumphed in his halftime show at the big game in the New Orleans' Caesar Superdome, in the middle of a lopsided Super Bowl where the Philadelphia Eagles ethered the Kansas City Chiefs.

Salutations!,” the actor Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam introduced Kendrick Lamar at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome for the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show — a powerful, commanding creative choice by the first solo hip-hop artist to ever headline the coveted slot.

Kendrick Lamar said to expect “storytelling” during his halftime show, and he brought it, with help from some famous friends. He infused the proceedings with humor as well as the cutting American imagery he’s known for — another milestone performance after one of the rapper’s biggest years ever.

The first rapper to headline the N.F.L.’s biggest stage solo made his Drake diss “Not Like Us” the centerpiece of his set at the expense of a larger statement.