The subversive genius of Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime performance:

From Frenchmen Street to St. Charles, the rumblings about what Lamar's performance would bring ranged from comparisons to Prince's halftime show in 2007 to speculation that he would do something even more dastardly to Drake than he's done so far. It seemed like an impossible bar to leapfrog. But over the course of 15 minutes, Kendrick Lamar gave us what we needed. He was defiant, proud, vindictive, playful and celebratory. He was pro-Black and subversive, trolling and joyful, and through all the expectations and fighting and nastiness, he was ultimately victorious. Lamar was aspirational, inviting us along with him.

In short, Lamar was all the things that make him him; and make us us.

It was really good. I was about to write "as good as Prince," but it was quite possibly better than Prince...

Pretty sure that “other elephant” was too busy stuffing Big Macs and KFC in his face to notice.

I did not enjoy it (at the time). I don't listen to much modern rap and so i had trouble catching the lyrics. Sounded like mumble-rap and the same song four times, then the slower song and Not Like Us, which i did actually recognized. But at the same time i realized there was something important going on. I felt a little old and white for missing it. And in retro now it was a brilliant and unapologetic performance. I think i need to watch it again from my new perspective. I'm sure i missed a lot.

Choreography gave Kaepernick vibes, lowercase ‘a’ (one might even refer to it as a ‘minor’) on the necklace was quite the subliminal, Serena Williams cameo, Alright video reference w/ the lightposts, fans got a lot to chew on. Hopefully folks go back to Untitled Unmastered and TPAB to understand this was the first half time show by a Pulitzer winner, don’t front

This educator's composition class of 15 to 18-year-olds on the imagery, symbolism, and messages: https://www.threads.net/@heymrsbond/post/DF6Q5Y7yCy3?xmt=AQGzVQjAOuGHElvElDPfOiyVOOzSognzNW3wiuQcq0lqAg

Kendrick Lamar’s performance was as Black and subversive as all get-out (gift link).

Jackson as Uncle Sam was brilliant. Back in 2012, he played the role of a house slave, Stephen, in Quentin Tarantino's "Django Unchained," who protects his master at all costs and tries to thwart the uprisings against the White masters led by the character Django. During the Super Bowl performance, his Uncle Sam chides Lamar for being too Black, "too ghetto," and asks him to tone things down — trying to dictate the boundaries for Blackness in White spaces.

He tells Lamar to not play that song that buried Drake — and by extension, everyone who traffics in Black culture for profit. And wearing a lowercase "a" necklace — a reference to his accusation, hotly denied, that Drake had relationships with underage people ("struck a chord / but it's probably a minor") — absolutely diabolical. After Drake dissed retired tennis superstar Serena Williams, Lamar had her onstage, crip-walking — a shot back at Drake and, honestly, at the whole country for disrespecting Black women at the tops of their games.