6 Hidden Messages in Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance

Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance is growing in viewership hours after the big game, gaining more 11 million views since it aired Sunday night.

Lamar, who has won a Pulitzer Prize, is known for his storytelling, and his performance at Caesars Superdome sought to tell a story of Black Americans and their place within U.S. history.

While fans gathered in New Orleans rapped along to hits including “Humble” and the Grammy-winning diss-track “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s all-Black performance was filled with political references and Black history.

Here are six hidden meanings in Lamar’s performance.

Uncle Sam / Uncle Tom

The start of Lamar’s performance featured a cameo from award-winning actor Samuel L. Jackson. {snip}

The characterization was one that offered a different narrative of what patriotic Uncle Sam,  normally depicted as a white man, looks like.

But as Jackson emcee’d Lamar’s performance, his role took on one of a different uncle: an Uncle Tom.

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At one point during the performance, the actor accused Lamar of being “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” voicing stereotypes often associated with Black Americans and hip-hop music.

The revolution

Early in his performance, Lamar speaks of “the revolution,” telling the audience that “The revolution is about to be televised; You picked the right time but the wrong guy.”

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Mass incarceration

The set for Lamar’s performance sent its own message. As the rapper and his all-Black dancers spun around the field, it soon became clear they were performing in a prison yard.

The set was designed to highlight the issue of mass incarceration and the racial disparities of those behind bars. {snip}

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The American flag

Lamar’s backup dancers were dressed in red, white and blue, but if the message of the flag wasn’t clear enough, they came together during “Humble” to form the image explicitly.

At one point during the line-up, the dancers all bent forward, lifting their backs in the air. Many on social media theorized the move was meant to indicate how America was built on the backs of Black Americans during slavery.

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40 Acres and a Mule

Ahead of the highly anticipated performance of “Not Like Us,” Lamar raps to his backup singers, “40 acres and mule, this is bigger than the music.”

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Serena Williams

If fans were surprised to see Jackson join Lamar’s performance, they were shocked when tennis legend Serena Williams took the stage to dance alongside Lamar’s team.

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But Williams, decked out in a royal blue tennis skirt and matching jacket, didn’t just dance: She was crip walking.

The move, a series of intricate foot movements, was created by the Crips, a predominantly Black gang from Southern California.

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