On 9 February 2025, Kendrick Lamar performed the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in New Orleans, and in twelve minutes he turned the biggest stage in American entertainment into a statement about rivalry, identity and the power of Black music. The show, titled The Bigger Game, featured special guest SZA and a cameo by Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam.
The moment that defined the night came when Lamar delivered Not Like Us, the diss track that had made him the victor of his celebrated feud with Drake. The performance, complete with dancers forming an American flag that split apart, was rich with layered symbolism, and its broadcast to an estimated 120 million viewers made the song a national conversation all over again.
The halftime show, more than the game itself, became the dominant cultural story of the week, generating endless analysis of its hidden meanings and legal implications. It confirmed Lamar’s status as the pre-eminent rapper of his generation and demonstrated, once again, that in the 2020s, the Super Bowl had become as much a stage for pop culture as for football.