Rapper Kendrick Lamar performed for the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show but viewers may not have noticed the many hints, nods and jibes hidden throughout his set
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl show was riddled with secrets.
The 37-year-old rapper performed at the 2025 halftime show in New Orleans, Louisiana at the Caesars Superdome as the Kansas City Chiefs battled the Philadelphia Eagles. While on stage, Lamar brought out some very famous faces including SZA and Serena Williams to join him as part of one of the most watched sports events in the world.
Eagle-eyed viewers may have noticed a number of hidden references throughout Kendrick’s performances, including a dig at President Donald Trump. Kendrick told the crowd: “The revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guy.”
The comment was in reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 poem The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, which refers to the Black power movement in the 1960s. The internet wasted no time deciphering Lamar’s message and theorised he was referring to the recent US election.
“Kendrick literally protested and taunted America in front of the president during America’s biggest sports event. Chef’s kiss,” praised one impressed X/Twitter user. Fans also noticed that the rapper’s backup dancers were wearing red, white and blue outfits with a subtle reference to the colours of the American flag.
The dancers, who were all Black representing a nod to America’s history of slavery, also divided which led viewers to think that the colours were used to show a split, hinting at the political divide spurred on by the election.
Fans on social media noted that “Black folk representing the American flag” show that “modern America was built on their labour,” while others pointed out that splitting the “flag” in half was “amazingly executed political symbolism”.
To close out his set, Kendrick performed Not Like Us, a diss track toward fellow rapper Drake. Tennis star Serena Williams made a surprise appearance at the Super Bowl and performed a crip walk, a dance used to spell out the word with the dancer’s feet.
Williams’ stunt was yet another dig toward Drake as the pair were allegedly romantically linked back in 2015, before she married her husband Alexis Ohanian in 2017. Lamar mentions Serena in Not Like Us with the lyrics: “Better not speak on Serena.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
