“Salutations!,” the actor Samuel L. Jackson, dressed as Uncle Sam introduced Kendrick Lamar at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome for the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show — a powerful, commanding creative choice by the first solo hip-hop artist to ever headline the coveted slot.
As if there were any doubts of the Pulitzer Prize winning rapper’s ability to put on a show.
He started with “GNX” moving into “Squabble Up.” For just under 13 minutes during the halftime show sponsored by Apple Music and Roc Nation, Lamar commanded the field.
Dancers dressed in red, white and blue joined Lamar. But even in their patriotic colors, they were labeled “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” by Jackson’s Uncle Sam, who reminded Lamar to “play the game.” Then, he launched into “Humble.,” “DNA.,” “Euphoria” and “man at the garden.”