Super Bowl LVI
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Super Bowl LVI took place on February 13th, 2022, but what hip-hop fans are talking about the most is the halftime show: one of hip-hop’s highest profile moments yet. Before this year’s performance, the NFL was yet to host a halftime show fully dominated by hip-hop and R&B, especially not with performers hip hop heads consider legends, such as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem. The 2019 performance featured Travis Scott and Big Boi from OutKast supporting Maroon 5, but the headlining act was still a pop artist. During Super Bowl LVI, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar performed on stage together for the first time. The set was designed to induce a sense of 70s nostalgia, emulating the block parties from where hip hop emerged with its multi-house stage. These artists are some of the most successful of all time, with 45 Grammys and 24 Billboard 200 #1 albums between the six of them. Rapper, producer, and entrepreneur Dr. Dre handpicked each performer and served as the glue connecting these artists. Eminem and Kendrick Lamar are signed to his label Aftermath, 50 Cent was signed to both Aftermath and Eminem’s label Shady Records, Dr. Dre produced Mary J. Blige’s only #1 hit “Family Affair,” and Snoop Dogg has worked closely with Dre since the creation of Death Row Records after leaving his previous rap group N.W.A. With all of these artists having ties to the West Coast and the Super Bowl taking place in Inglewood, California, the show was a coming out party for the West Coast, especially since many of these artists have been stagnant in musical releases as of late. For instance, it has been almost five years since Kendrick Lamar released his last studio album DAMN., and his label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), despite being home to globally known artists like SZA, has been similarly inactive.
Dre, being the de facto leader of the performance, opened and closed the set with some of his most popular tracks: “The Next Episode” and “Still D.R.E.” can both be found on his second studio album 2001 (1999). Both of these tracks featured performances from Snoop Dogg, who has been Dr. Dre’s frequent collaborator dating back to their 1992 song "Deep Cover.” Dre also littered his set with tributes to fellow Death Row artist 2Pac, performing his own verse on 2Pac’s song “California Love” and playing the piano roll on “I Ain’t Mad At Cha” before closing the set. Snoop used the increased attention from his appearance on the national stage as a platform for new music, releasing his new album BODR (Bacc on Death Row) on the Friday before the performance after having recently acquired the label that brought him up during the 1990s. This comes as no surprise given his prolific release schedule. By contrast, Dre has a limited release schedule, having only released three studio albums despite his career beginning over thirty years ago. Dre’s studio album Detox had been rumored for decades, but never got released as Dre began to focus more on business deals and signing new artists. Instead, his last album, Compton, was released on August 7, 2015. However, Dre recently announced via Instagram that he recorded a new album titled Casablanco with Aftermath signee Marsha Ambrosius, but hasn't spoken on it since then.
Few people were surprised by 50 Cent making an appearance at the halftime show, given that his fellow performers Dre and Eminem have played a significant role in his career since his come up. In his performance, he hung upside down from the stage and recreated the music video of his biggest hit “In Da Club”, also produced by Dr. Dre in 2002. He was followed by Mary J. Blige, who is known in the hip-hop community for not only being a talented multi-platinum singer, but also for frequently collaborating on diverse hip hop albums. Like Snoop Dogg, she also released new music on the Friday before the performance with her fourteenth studio album Good Morning Gorgeous. Mary J. Blige had a feature on Dre’s album 2001 (1999), but her most well-known connection to Dre is from his production on her first and only #1 song “Family Affair” in 2001. At the show, she performed “Family Affair,” as well as “No More Drama” from the same album.
Before Kendrick Lamar’s appearance at the halftime show, fans theorized that he would perform new music given how long it has been since his last studio album. Lamar only recently returned to the public eye with a cryptic message on August 20, 2021, perplexedly announcing that he was leaving TDE after releasing his still-forthcoming final album on the label. Given his familial relationship with the leaders of the label Top Dawg and Punch, and especially after such a long silence from TDE, it seems odd that Lamar would leave the label at its moment of need. Some theorize that he is starting a new label called pgLang, which is corroborated by him recently taking an interest in bringing up his cousin Baby Keem, and featuring three timess on his debut album, The Melodic Blue. Lamar returned sounding hungrier than ever and with a new, more trap-based approach to his style, with the repetitive "top of the morning" refrain being memed to death. Nevertheless, after his contributions to The Melodic Blue, Lamar has been just as silent now as he was then. At the show, he performed “m.A.A.d. city” and a rendition of “Alright,” which has become a social activism anthem since its release on Lamar’s critically lauded album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015). With a full band supporting him, Lamar finished his performance via a tribute to N.W.A. and segue into “Forgot About Dre” by Dr. Dre and Eminem.
During the show, Eminem performed “Lose Yourself” with Anderson .Paak on the drums, another West Coast artist signed to Aftermath, and somewhat controversially took a knee at the performance. The possibility of Eminem releasing a new album after the hype of his performance, more specifically the third entry in his Marshall Mathers LP trilogy, has been discussed, mainly by untrustworthy leakers who seem intent upon lying. Besides that, there's no real indication that Eminem will release an album. However, we can't be entirely certain because his last three albums, Kamikaze (2018), Music to Be Murdered By (2020), and Music to Be Murdered By: Side B (2020) have all been dropped without any advance warning.
Overall, it was long overdue to see a public demonstration of hip hop to the masses. For instance, Snoop kept the gangsta ties strong by walking out in a Crip bandana tracksuit and Crip walking on stage. However, given the anti-establishment attitude of hip hop, with performing at a curated event like the Super Bowl, the rebellious attitude of hip hop is somewhat lost. Even though the Super Bowl is supposed to be a family friendly event, the censoring of explicit content doesn’t sit well – especially the censoring of Lamar’s “and we hate po-po” lyric in “Alright.” This is especially clear given the West Coast theme of the halftime show, since 2Pac, who was represented at the show in various forms, is considered a martyr for social activism. There’s little crossover between NFL fans and hip hop fans, and if there are going to be more hip-hop halftime shows moving forward, more emphasis should be placed on social messaging, given how hip-hop has traditionally served as a vessel for social empowerment.
Edited by Sha Frasier, editor of News
Cover art by Jai Daniels