Kendrick Lamar Performs Super Bowl Halftime Show With SZA and Surprise Guests — Watch and Grade It!

Anyone who didn’t groove to Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl 59 Halftime Show? They not like us.

The Grammy-winning rapper lit up the stage mid-game at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, making history as the first hip-hop artist to headline the halftime show solo. He previously performed during the 2022 Super Bowl as a guest artist alongside Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Snoop Dogg and 50 Cent.

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At a press conference Thursday, per the Associated Press, Lamar told reporters that centering hip-hop during one of the most-watched broadcasts of the year “puts the culture at the forefront, where it needs to be, and not minimized to just a catchy song or verse.”

The involvement of SZA, who will join Lamar on his upcoming tour, was public knowledge in the lead-up to the game. But he also brought others onto the halftime stage, including Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam and tennis great Serena Williams as a dancer. Songs performed included “squabble up,” “HUMBLE.,” “DNA,” “peekaboo,” “luther” (featuring SZA), “All the Stars,” “Not Like Us” and “tv off” (featuring Mustard).

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Watch segments of the halftime show performance below; the full performance will be added as soon as it is available.

In other musical news from this year’s Super Bowl: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert bandleader Jon Batiste performed the National Anthem, Trombone Shorty and Lauren Daigle took on “America the Beautiful” and Ledisi sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

What did you think of Lamar’s halftime show? Grade it via the poll below, then tell us more in the comments!

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