Kendrick literally protested, and taunted America in front of the president during America’s biggest sports event. Chefs kiss. pic.twitter.com/5xmcQsIuuu
— Joy De’Angela (@joydeangela) February 10, 2025
Was this a metaphor? Divide the nation with rap music or something? I don’t get it. What was the assignment?
— 😵💫 (@Joshdr) February 10, 2025
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103 comments:
There's uniters, and there's dividers. They divide you if they want to conquer or enslave you, they unite you if they want you to win.
That wasn’t music. That wasn’t singing.
I did look up the words to “Not Like Us” and Janet Jackson’s wardrobe malfunction is tamer.
A very bad cultural moment.
Didn't seem very protesty to me. Very low energy though.
I don't like that tall guy keeping the short woman down next to the Prez.
After 250 years, a black President of the United States twice, tens of thousands of black millionaires, and getting paid millions to do a pretty mediocre Super Bowl show, don't you think it's time to shut the fuck up with the phony hate crap? It's getting to be a really boring act.
Yeah how are we supposed to know it was a protest. We had captions running but they went by too fast, who can follow that.
I echo Ann’s comment. That was my impression as well. The flag thing seemed protestie to me. I thought it was a shitty show. But then rap isn’t my thing. Harry Connick would have been a better choice or any number of other New Orleans performers.
- Krumhorn
I had it turned down during the halftime show. I mostly saw the patriotic imagery. Does the assignment still work if only half the message is received?
Betcha the NFL has scooped up some a that sweet USAID nectar.
Filed under: Things I have slept through. (Not that I want to cement Derve's views). A couple of my FB friends -- Democrats -- who see every single thing through the prism of race thought it was da bomb.
If a protest falls at the super bowl and nobody could hear it, does anyone give a damn?
So apparently someone watched that?
What I noticed was a bunch of black people dressed like the sperm in Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex..."
I didn't understand the words, but Lamar's pants weren't falling down. It feels like a new day in America.
Trump's only been in office 3 weeks and pant waists are way up!
The costumes for the number were probably the most budget friendly half-time costumes in the history of the Super Bowl. They just ordered a bunch of sweats from Walmart and called it good. Again, I credit Trump's influence for this frugal display of good sense.
Black Celebrity : Down with Racism. Down with Republicans.
Others: Why can't you be reasonable? Here's my memo on why Blacks are doing well and we all love you, so very very much.
Black Celebrity : Who cares? Down with Racism. Down with Republicans.
Rinse and repeat. Yawn!
The Super bowl half time show has been a disaster zone of vulgarity and bad music (and occasionally leftwing politics) for 20 years. Stopped watching it, a long long time ago. Its basically for chicks.
Annual Superbowl ritual:
Wife: Aren't you going to watch (insert singer X )?
Me: No. Who is X?
Wife: He/She is blah blah and they're great. Try something new.
Me. No. Sorry.
Later:...
Wife: That halftime show was terrible!
Since the venue was New Orleans, which has a rich history of local music, it would have been nice to see some of that featured. Instead, we get incomprehensible drivel. Thanks, NFL.
"What I noticed was a bunch of black people dressed like the sperm in Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex...""
That's exactly what I said watching that! Ask Meade.
If they had showed any New Orleans history, it would have been about slavery and The Patriarchy, not something as uplifting as good jazz music. It should be clear by now: They don't care what the audience wants.
"I did look up the words...."
I know lyrics are available on line, but you can't read lyrics and watch the performance at the same time.
And yet I couldn't look up the lyrics because I didn't know the song titles. I guess I could try to hear any of the words and google the phrase and the artist's name.
The only lyric I heard was "Turn off the television," and that was the last thing in the performance, so too late.
Sadly, many blacks have been fed the Modern White Left's mission of division, segregation and hate. It keeps the white left money-power structure afloat.
Paul McCartney was at the Super Bowl last evening. A lot of people (including me) were wishing that he was on stage at half time. My other two favorite half time shows were Prince and U2.
"I didn't understand the words, but Lamar's pants weren't falling down. It feels like a new day in America."
OMG - I noticed that too. In fact - I thought - nice jeans. They actually fit.
Isn't the Superbowl all about violent conflict one group versus another? Over the top emotions drives the players in the trenches to mow through their opponents.
There's a definite Compton vibe throughout the NFL. It isn't all Roger Goodell and Trailer Swift.
You sound like an army of Karen's with your arms crossed over your chest:" the halftime show is too black". Yeah, it is. Just like the @realNFL
I think he said something nice about God on the front end of the performance. (oh no!)
I could be wrong - b/c I, like everyone else ,could not hear/make out, what he was saying.
Rate in order of worst to worstest:
-The commercials
-The game
-The halftime show
Putting Kenrick aside, is there any role that Samuel L. Jackson would turn down?
We were all taunted, but didn't know it! LOL how effective.
Taunted the president? Do we know this? I didn't get that vibe.
He probably sang some of his songs - and if someone could figure out what those songs are - perhaps a song lyric look-up is in order?
I looked up the words just now, but it didn't make the song any less incomprehensible.
Samuel Jackson and Gronk need to give it a rest, goddam it.
The image of the flag is patriotic —well done!
Howard says the NFL is too black.
I am glad Taylor Swift lost. There's that.
NFL Players doing the Trump dance.
https://x.com/bennyjohnson/status/1858294638286721324
It's from back during the campaign, but it is still pretty good.
The Super Bowl half-time show has become my yearly contemplation of: "I couldn't care less" vs. "I could care less." Which is it, or, do they mean the same thing?
Y'all need to speak to someone young. Kendrick and Drake have had a running feud. Kendrick included one of his songs where he called Drake a pedophile.
The Woody Allen sperm thought was laughed at the JAORE house too.
Final thought... fire the sound engineer. While the music was not to my taste the vocals were overwhelmed throughout.
I was unclear. Kendrick cut the specific lyric about pedophilia - mentioning not wanting sued - by used most of the song where that can be found. He also made a reference to "like 'em young".
"Harry Connick would have been a better choice" He's been dead for about a year.
They should have just gone with the winners of the Louisiana state high school marching band competition, would have been more entertaining...
https://lmeamusic.org/lmea-state-marching-championships/
He's been dead for about a year.
Even so...
Sometimes it is humbling to be reminded one is no longer the target audience of major events. Being a drum major back in my wild youth in the non-gay early 90s means I still like seeing marching bands, so I've long realized entertainment is hardly ever targeted to me. My 12yr old daughter quite popular and athletic daughter prefers Carrie Underwood and 1940s Big Bands. Both of which she found on her own.
And since the NFL decided they didn't care about LA for a key extended time, I grew to not care about the NFL. Very freeing. We watched the finale of the Great British Baking Show.
Harry Connick Jr is very much alive. He kicked off the Super Bowl pre-show yesterday and performed.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UG16KgDRq3U
Trombone Shorty playing on America the Beautiful was fantastic. Wish the half time show had had more of a New Orleans connection.
The lyrics in "Not Like Us," performed for the world to hear, explicitly call Drake a pedophile (in those words!). Drake has a $billion lawsuit to file. Unless, of course, he doesn't want to endure the discovery phase.
Whoever did the mix for the halftime show really messed up the first half. It got better but by then I think most probably tuned out.
"I looked up the words just now, but it didn't make the song any less incomprehensible."
I looked up the song with the turn off the television line, but I stop listening to any song when I hear the "n-word." Applying the same policy to reading lyrics, I didn't get far enough to understand the topic.
And don't lecture me about alternative spellings and special privileges. I've heard all that for decades, and it isn't going to change my policy.
The Samuel Jackson Uncle Sam thing was something I tried to understand. It felt insulting to Kendrick Lamar and to the American audience. He was criticizing KL in a voice that presumably represented what we the American people believe. And what we were presented as believing was, it seemed, that he's too "ghetto." I didn't like having that attributed to me. Let me watch him and make my own judgment. Don't attribute racist thoughts to me. And I didn't like you yelling racist thoughts at him. That was gratuitous ugliness. Does he need to perform in an environment of (made up) racism in order to make sense? Count me out.
"The Super Bowl half-time show has become my yearly contemplation of: "I couldn't care less" vs. "I could care less." Which is it, or, do they mean the same thing?"
A pet peeve. According to Britannica:
"If you say you "couldn't care less" about something, it means you do not care about it at all. You cannot care less than you do. Sometimes you will hear people say "could care less" in the same way. English teachers and grammarians will say that "could care less" is wrong because it should mean the opposite of "couldn't care less." Logically, if you could care less, it means you do care some."
Ann said: "Don't attribute racist thoughts to me. And I didn't like you yelling racist thoughts at him."
Tempered by Tom Brady & Snoop Dogg instructing you not to "hate."
I didn't like having that attributed to me...Don't attribute racist thoughts to me. Does he need to perform in an environment of (made up) racism in order to make sense? Count me out.
The same thing has been the message and the faith of the Democratic Party and the Progressive left for the last 16 years. It's not working anymore.
Bluntness warning. Don't read this if you think the NFL is some kind of "American" thing.
OK, I warned you. Anyone who pays attention to or watches any professional football is just an asshole. There. It had to be said and I said it. The people who brought you this "game" are responsible completely for the halftime show. They picked the "entertainers". They approved the content. They think it's kind of cool that they can shit in your hat, slap it on your head, and you just sit there and smile as if you have been entertained rather than insulted. Really. I'm ashamed of you.
hawkeyedjb: "Logically, if you could care less, it means you do care some." Good point. In terms of the Super Bowl half-time shows, each year, even though I thought last year's show meant I couldn't care less, the new year's show demonstrates that I could.
I kept wondering of the red outfits were making a statement about Rhianna’s red outfit last year
Judging from the comments here, I wish I'd known what I was missing last night - I would have enjoyed missing it more.
As I understand it from the local radio people, it looked patriotic but you were not able to understand anything being sung because the sound was so bad. Win-win.
Assignment?
The Soviet left speak in creepy Nazi terms.
Per Steve Sailer, the Super Bowl featured the first white man to start at cornerback in the NFL for almost two decades (rookie from U of IA Cooper DeJean for the Eagles) and he returned a Pic-6 on Mahomes. Go Hawkeyes!
"And don't lecture me about alternative spellings and special privileges. I've heard all that for decades, and it isn't going to change my policy."
You haven't thought this through, Althouse. Because of the special privileges, only B-B-B-Black!!! people are allowed to use the word. Therefore, your White Liberal Woman refusal to listen to any song using that word is racial discrimination! The horror! The horror ....
"Logically, if you could care less, it means you do care some." If I understand it correctly, the "I could care less" statement is meant to be pronounced sarcastically, so that while the words are literally "I could care less", the meaning is "I could not care less", but with extra emphasis because of the sarcasm. It sort of makes sense. I guess.
Sort of like the lyrics to "All The Young Dudes", where the singer says "Oh, Man, I need TV when I've got T.Rex". Meaning that he did not, in fact, need TV. That one puzzled me for far longer than it should have.
Plus, how is that even supposed to work? If the word is offensive, what makes it so? I certainly don't care if somebody wants to call me a blogger. Because, I'm not a blogger. But even if I were, it would still be OK. Because, hey, I'm a blogger. What of it? But if I didn't want to be called a blogger, and said so, you might choose to respect my choice, and refrain from stating the obvious. Except. What if I then go around, day in and day out, calling myself and everyone I know, a blog-blog-bloggety-blog-blogger? At some point, you have to realize that people who make rules that you are supposed to follow but they don't have to are asshoe. And the whole point of the exercise is to demonstrate your subjugation.
I suppose white women don't get that. You think you are avoiding the word because you don't want to hurt someone's liddle feewies. But being male, I know intimidation when I'm being subjected to it.
"I couldn't understand Kendrick Lamar's words but it seemed like a statement of anger against America ...".
Now that is funny. Apparently, the idiotic "song" is an instance of something called "diss rap", meaning a performance of disrespect. Like, "You Ain't Nothin' But A Hound Dog". However, the target of this particular howl of outraged contempt is not America, nor even Africa or Asia, but some person called Drake. And I suspect the reason you couldn't understand the words was that his contract specifically stated that the words he was planning to use had better not be plainly understandable. Slurs are OK, as long as you slur them.
So here we have Althouse, witness to a crude, public display of hostility toward a professional and personal rival, and what she takes away from it is "We white people must have done something very, very bad, to make him so angry!".
Was this a metaphor? Divide the nation with rap music or something? I don’t get it. What was the assignment?
That was supposed to be an American flag.
Which was a bigger joke: Obama's Nobel, Dylan's Nobel, or Kendrick's Nobel? I vote Kendrick. If Pulitzer wanted to break out of the classical (and jazz) rut, they could have done so years ago and picked someone better.
If the performance was political, though, I didn't notice. There was some black self-assertion. It was combined with much personal self-assertion and a lot of razzle-dazzle nonsense, and didn't seem especially novel or confrontational.
The Uncle Sam character was part of the show. He wouldn't be there without Kendrick's permission. Saying Kendrick Lamar was "too ghetto" was probably a reaction that a lot of Americans have had, but it's not an absolutely damning observation, and "Uncle Sam's" attitude towards Lamar wasn't on the whole hostile.
"Apparently, the idiotic "song" is an instance of something called "diss rap", meaning a performance of disrespect." And the dis recipient is Canadian!
Doesn't matter; Brady still the GOAT.
"And the dis recipient is Canadian!"
Something Trump and Lamar can agree on.
"witness to a crude, public display of hostility toward a professional and personal rival . . . ."
So? They're black, what do you care?
To be a stickler, yes, "I couldn't care less" conveys the idea that you don't care at all, while "I could care less" indicates that you do care a little. Sometimes though, you do care a little, but not enough to merit any great attention. You're not making an absolute denial. Maybe taking the trouble to make an absolute denial also means you do care a little.
Sometimes, perhaps you care so little that you aren't even going to bother with grammar or logic. In an old movie, the character with a posh British accent would clearly enunciate "I couldn't care less, while the American hero would mumble out "I could care less." The unasked and unanswered question, though, is "Under what circumstances could you care less?"
“I looked up the song with the turn off the television line, but I stop listening to any song when I hear the "n-word."”
Since the “n-word” occurs in the first five seconds of the “song”, you didn’t get far. If everyone had that policy, rap “music” would disappear, and what a shame that would be.
Ben Shapiro
@benshapiro
My halftime show review:
Actually, it's a beautiful voice and a beautiful accent. The only problem is, I can't understand a word you're saying. But I just say this: good luck, live in peace.
I didn't understand a fucking word that guy was saying. I'm not saying he's not talented, sound like he probably is, but frankly the whole show was just very boring. I didn't realize there was even a message at all other than "rapper, well known to people who like that type of music, plays halftime show."
Rap and hip hop --at their very infrequent best--are not about music, but about street poetry. The "artist" is supposed to "bust a rhyme". That said, we are way out in the weeds at some distance from actual music. It's a bad doggerel poetry reading.
But the audio on the half time show was such that no one could actually hear the "poem" being read. If you can't hear the message, is it really a message?
Roger Goodell and the NFL has a lot to answer for about this crime of a half time show. But they've proven to be recividists.
Watched the first couple minutes and then gave up out of boredom. I would probably have to go back to U2 for a show I actually enjoyed.
My wife told me she’d heard this morning that JayZ (sp?) bought the rights to the Super Bowl Halftime Show. If that is true, it goes a long way in explaining that mess yesterday evening.
Teh Revolution Will Not be Circumsized!
Man! Talk about that stupid "hate" thing with Snoop and Brady.
One would think the choice for a black person would be someone wholesome with great accomplishments others would want to emulate.
But Nooooooo!! Thy had to trot out the very SYMBOL of black cultural degration, with decades spent spewing that "gangsta" garbage and promoting debilitating weed.
Whites are supposed to respect THAT guy?!!!
Brady should have demanded someone much better. He was played.
To the grammar debate: how about “I could care less” meaning “I could care less, but I don’t care enough to make that effort?” In other words, for me to care even less than I do would require affirmative acts, or even conscious thoughts, and I just don’t care enough to remember to do that.
My favorite apathetic statement is the British “can’t be arsed,” which many people (including Brits!) mishear as “can’t be asked.” Either way, it encapsulates the same spirit I refer to above, that the person just won’t make the effort. It can even express a sort of positive virtue, like sprezzatura or a sort of louche refusal to conform with silly rules.
JSM
bagdadbob: "The lyrics in 'Not Like Us,' performed for the world to hear, explicitly call Drake a pedophile (in those words!)."
But to call him the n-word, that's just rapping. Maybe they had to remove the "End Racism" from the end zones to allow the half-time performance in all its glory.
"What I noticed was a bunch of black people dressed like the sperm in Woody Allen's "Everything You Wanted to Know About Sex...""
That's exactly what I said watching that! Ask Meade.
Was there a white guy in there saying "What am I doing here?"
I didn't understand the show or the songs. I suppose they're not meant for me, but it's worrying that they're meant for anybody. Kendrick Lamar is a big deal, and his song "Not Like Us" won the Grammy for Song of the Year. I asked ChatGpt what the lyrics meant. Apparently the song has something to do with some kind of feud he's having with Drake. I wonder if it's for publicity or, like the Tupac feud, it's a matter that can only be settled with blood. I don't have a strong rooting interest in either party. Sort of like when KC and Philly play in the Superbowl.......I didn't think the half time show was especially anti-American. It was pretty much incomprehensible. I also didn't pick up that Samuel Jackson was representing white America.. Althouse might be right in positing that but that's some unorthodox casting. Maybe if he wore whiteface, the meaning would be clearer. .......People have been criticizing Black music since ragtime. The caravan has moved on, and I'm too doggone tired to bark.
Rate in order of worst to worstest:
-The commercials
-The game
-The halftime show
-Mahomes
I'm wondering if a Maga Trumpster was running the sound system for that show, and turned the amps up to ELEVEN to prevent the so-called "lyricis" from that stream-of-unconsciousness drivel from being hear.
Halftime show was fine. But I have no problem with hip hop. It's hugely popular and sells more than rock so it completely makes sense that it be featured at halftime.
Leftists always one "Go-to" move. Anytime anyone criticizes a black, they implicitly or explicity call them "racist". If its a Jew, they're "antisemitic" if its Gay they're "Homophobic".
Evidently, if belong to any of these groups its impossible to criticize anything they do because you actually dislike what they're doing. Nope, the Left will defend them by calling you an -ist or a -phobe or an -ite.
And I don't know who the NFL superbowl show is aimed at, but it seems to be chicks and POCs. IOW, people with bad musical taste.
These sort of shows used to be bland and boring. I can remember a SNL satire where the Superbowl halftime group did the song "Up with People".
Now, its just noisy and vulgar.
@John mosby. The more we talk about it, the more I come to see the phrase as a vehicle for expressing a paradoxical wisdom, akin to many Yogi-isms. Its very illogic highlights some common human truth that we all get.
@ChrisopherB: [Cooper DeJean was] "the first white man to start at cornerback in the NFL for almost two decades." Correction: His teammate at Iowa, Riley Moss, was the first to start at cornerback (for the Broncos in 14 games this season) in the NFL in the last 20 years. The Chiefs' DeJean was the first white cornerback to start in the Super Bowl in at least that long.
Robother: yes! A Yogi-ism. Like “nobody goes there anymore; it’s too crowded:”. The number of unique visitors may indeed have gone down, because the place has been taken over by aficionados who go there every chance they get and don’t mind, or may even like, the crowds. And the general population may not like the ways and mores of the aficionados.
Hmm, sounds like the NFL.
Was Yogi predicting the fall of professional sport?
JSM
So I went and looked up the lyrics, and though they are so full of code, slang, and jargon that interpretation is risky, I gather that Lamar is jealous of Drake's success with the youngsters.
Of course, if what is alleged by Lamar is true, someone should notify the proper authorities.
The whole thing--halftime show and resultant controversy--reminds me of HLM's observation that no one has ever gone broke underestimating the good taste of the American people.
Written by a recent Yale College alum, his has been making the rounds on my Facebook feed:
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance, Explained: 6 Key Takeaways to Understand Its Depth and Meaning
My favorite Yogi-ism is "I never said most of the things I said."
And some people wonder why I gave up on the NFL years ago.
Here is the wealthy black lunatic called "Ye" on the subject; "IMAGINE SOMEBODY TELL YOU YOU CANT SOMETHING AND YOU LISTEN TO THEM THIS PERSON NOW HAS CONTROL OVER YOUR LIFE AND THEY DIDNT EVEN PAY FOR IT THEY CONTROLLED YOUR WORDS WITH THEIR WORDS YOU NOW ARE A FREE PROSTITUTE".
I'm thinking there might be some internal tension in the phrase "free prostitute", but Ye understands how the game is played. He is a playah.
@narr "Of course, if what is alleged by Lamar is true, someone should notify the proper authorities."
How much more notified do they need to be? You don't think they were watching? Or maybe they couldn't understand him either?
Thanks Biff for the explanation that you posted above. I intuitively sensed that the show meant something, and the explanation makes sense. However, the explanation is pretty arcane and I'm not sure if anyone except Compton rap scholars could dig what Kendrick was saying.....I suppose the show was kind of successful. People like me didn't understand it , and his fans thought it was a protest. I'm not sure though if even they understood what it was all about. The Finnegan's Wake of halftime shows.
Great link, Biff.
The rest of the commentary was as expected. Old people yell at cloud, don't understand young people and their music.
I knew about the Drake thing, but I couldn’t hear the lyrics so though I expected that content to be in there somewhere, I couldn’t detect it. The performance read as hostile to America because of the use of the flag, the angry tone, and Uncle Sam arguing to KL. Also it’s so dumb to have the Super Bowl performance be about insulting some specific person who isn’t there.
I totally understand it if you want to say the performance wasn’t for people like me but I think the Super Bowl is an event that is presented as something for a very wide audience. I am happy to decline to watch in the future. And I already avoid new music and regard it as not for me. I have plenty of music and don’t need anything new or care about being up to date.
Dear Althouse; long ago, when I used to be a performing musician (of limited talent), I took to heart the performer's motto; "Never apologize. Never explain.". Two basic ideas underlie this credo;
1 - If your performance was heartfelt, and the best you could do at the time, then you have no need -- and perhaps, no right -- to try to alter it after the fact. It was your performance. There it is.
2 - Apologies only encourage your enemies, and dishearten your friends. Fuck 'em if they can't take a joke.
You certainly don't owe me an apology, or an explanation, either. Unless, perhaps, you think I might profit by considering your explanation. I'll ponder on that.
Thanks!
FWIW, I think the half time show and the rest of the collateral activities (commercials, pre-game stuff, and so on) jumped the shark a long time ago. It's just another set of things that I used to enjoy that I no longer do.
Written by a recent Yale College alum, his has been making the rounds on my Facebook feed:
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Performance, Explained: 6 Key Takeaways to Understand Its Depth and Meaning
That write-up reminded me of that Princeton Generic Rap Song assignment that hit the internet something like 15 years ago. Both trended towards undergraduate drivel. Using the associated music video would be a hilarious commentary on the past several halftime shows. IMHO. Heck, I think some of the artists parodied in the video are halftime show alums!
YouTube link
I meant to say: [...] using the associated music video for the halftime show would be [...]
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