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I wanna talk about some vitally important symbolism in Kendrick’s performance this evening.

Follow me.

Kendrick had an entirely Black dance cast for this performance, all dressed in red, white, blue, and some in black. But, I specifically want to focus on this arrangement, at the beginning of the show.

The dancers create the appearance of an American flag. A flag, the symbol of American history and heritage, formed out of Black bodies.

The legacy of America is that of the state that was built on the work of Black bodies. Enslaved Black bodies.

But it’s deeper than that.

Kendrick puts himself at the center of the flag. Now, yeah, part of it is performance; it looks better with your performer surrounded by the “supporting cast,” so to speak. But, with Kendrick, it’s never that simple.

Kendrick centers himself, imo, to demonstrate that he is functionally America. His experiences, his life, is America. He grew up poor, urban, the son of working parents. He was nearly led astray as a youth, but turned to art and philosophy and dedicating himself to his craft, and found both fulfillment and success. In the popular myth of the American dream, that’s the ultimate goal.

And he never once did it by selling his soul to capital (again, in the ‘mythos of Kendrick Lamar’). He never betrayed his culture, or took the quick money, or let his art be co-opted by the vultures that feed on Black culture for mass (white) consumption.

Again, this is just a quick and dirty analysis by one person who only developed an appreciation for hip-hop recently. For deeper, more informed analysis, seek and study the Black academics who know far, far more than me.

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Crowd of 70,000 fans singing "a minor" during Kendrick Lamar's halftime performance

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in middle school i knew a guy named alexander hamilton because his parents just thought it would be nice to name their son after a historical figure but then this poor guy went through hell because he was 13 years old in 2015 and his name was alexander hamilton

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Some wild shit goes on in ppls lives

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KENDRICK LAMAR

⎯ Super Bowl LIX

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btw yes it is amazing to celebrate drake's ruin and being a hater etc etc but i want everyone to come away from tonight remembering that this is about far far more than one evil man.

everything about this performance was a celebration of the black american culture that drake commodifies. kendrick went on stage in the middle of the country's largest sporting event with trump in attendance and stated, very clearly, that black culture is not going anywhere.

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there’s probably someone way smarter than me who can explain it better but kendrick lamar’s halftime show was an amazing performance piece that goes beyond a “super bowl halftime show”

the american flag motifs? uncle sam telling him his art is too ghetto and essentially too “black”? praising him for doing a censored disney song instead? AND DOING IT ALL IN FRONT OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES???

and oh yeah he called drake a pedophile in front of the entire nation

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this is also like the funniest super bowl for Kendrick Lamar to play at. Donald Trump is there for some fucking reason. the Chiefs are getting their ass kicked because they cheated their way through the other games. Taylor Swift is in the audience, probably, watching her boyfriend get his ass kicked.

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Kendrick Lamar 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show

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Listen, I have seen many a posts to the tune of "Hozier is a fae god!" Or "Florence is a fae god!" And I am here to tell you that neither of them are fae gods. Paramours, probably, maybe members of an Entourage, but gods? No.

You want to know who an actual fucking fae god is???

Kendrick Lamar.

The pettiness. The creativity. The persuasiveness. The accuracy. He had 110 million people across the nation today singing "a minooooor" like it was fucking nothing. This man has cast a thousand-year curse on Aubrey Graham's bloodline that cannot be undone through mortal means.

Now, THAT is some fae god level shit.

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Hey remember that a boycott if actually MORE effective under capitalism if you profess you would actually end the boycott under certain conditions.

“Nothing this company does can make up for their bad actions, I will never buy from them again!” Okay so they’ve lost you as a customer and have no reason to try and get you back. You can HOPE to drive them into bankruptcy but Chic-Fil-A is evidence of how well that works.

“This company did something bad. I would not consider buying their product again, UNLESS, they publicly apologized and made up for it by … [donating money to a cause, promoting different content, offering better care to their employees, etc.]” This is actually MORE likely to be effective because if enough people say this, the company m sees them as potential customers of a certain demographic, and is willing to make changes to get those customers back and, long term, make money from them.

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