Kendrick Lamar's 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show Sparks Chatter For The Wrong Reasons (Not Just Drake)

Ahead of Kendrick Lamar's highly anticipated performance during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show, the question on many fans' minds was whether he would really perform his hit diss track "Not Like Us." Unfortunately, the Drake of it all wasn't the only narrative that threatened to eclipse all of the hard work Lamar put into putting on an unforgettable show for his fans.

Lamar's nasty feud with Drake is complicated, so anyone unfamiliar with it probably didn't understand the significance of the lowercase "a" pendant he wore around his neck — a possible nod to Lamar's famous lyric, "Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A minor." It's one of many jibes peppered throughout "Not Like Us" that suggest Drake has had inappropriate relationships with underage girls. It's not a topic that would normally come up during even the most disastrous of Super Bowl halftime shows, and Lamar teased fans by suggesting that performing the track could get him into serious trouble. "I want to play their favorite song, but you know they love to sue," he said before a few beats of the intro of his instantly recognizable smash hit boomed on the speakers at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans.

THE A MINOR CHAIN!!!! pic.twitter.com/raIviEJqTt

— Isla (@islajae) February 10, 2025

This immediately shifted the focus from Lamar to Drake, as evidenced by the social media reactions to the quip. "Drake so mad right noww," tweeted one fan, punctuating their words with a crying-laughing emoji. Another wrote, "Drake really catching L after L ever since last year." But Drake getting disrespected again wasn't enough to distract viewers from their issues with the show.

Kendrick Lamar's halftime show got off to a promising start when "Do the Right Thing" star Samuel L. Jackson made a surprise appearance as Uncle Sam. Lamar then performed a setlist that included "Squabble Up," "Euphoria," "Humble," and "All the Stars," for which he was joined by SZA. Of course, he also wasn't going to let "Not Like Us" go unsung — and the audience was more than happy to sing the words "a minor" along with him. Another living legend who made an unexpected appearance during the show was tennis superstar Serena Williams.

Lamar clearly tried to bring it, but there were a few distractions that took away from his performance. One was an unplanned moment when a cast member held up a Sudanese and Palestinian flag. They even managed to get on top of the car that Lamar stood on at the beginning of the show (which was a GNX, obviously). Then there was the quality of the sound and/or Lamar's rapping — some viewers struggled to understand all those delightful Drake disses. "I couldn't hear a thing he said," read one comment. "I didn't catch even two words of it," tweeted another viewer.

Others felt that the show was simply a snoozefest, and it was even proposed that Drake was the real winner of the 2025 Super Bowl. Wrote one X user, "If the performance wasn't so bad maybe just maybe it would've made Drake look like a fool but it failed." If Drake needs some material for his own diss track, all he needs to do is sift through the reactions to Lamar's performance, which had the unintended effect of garnering sympathy for his nemesis.

Whether they were rooting for the Philadelphia Eagles or the Kansas City Chiefs, many of the fans in attendance at the Super Bowl were likely relieved that Drake wasn't anywhere near their favorite team. But Kendrick Lamar's performance had some viewers wishing that someone else had been given the halftime gig. There were those who felt that Lil Wayne was robbed, despite the rapper being among the musicians who have stormed off stage during a live performance. After all, his "3 Peat" song would have fit the feat that the Kansas City Chiefs were hoping (but failed) to achieve.

Then there were those who were over Lamar playing up his beef with Drake. Some critics opined that his fixation with dragging the "Certified Lover Boy" hitmaker was reaching unhealthy levels. "It's basically bullying at this point," read one tweet. The will-he-or-won't-he furor ahead of the show also served as a reminder that Lamar has Drake to thank for a great deal of his success over the last year, if you think about it. "He is so obsessed. How can ur career revolve around one song?" one person pondered. (But this is a gentle reminder that Lamar boasts an impressive 22 Grammy awards.)

Kendrick Lamar's full #SuperBowlLIX Halftime Show (2025)
pic.twitter.com/lgLZwqSGfX

— Complex Music (@ComplexMusic) February 10, 2025

It was also suggested that Drake was low-hanging fruit in a political climate where there were more deserving figures to take verbal shots at. One user on X, formerly known as Twitter, argued that directly addressing a certain someone in the stadium would have been a far braver move. "Donald Trump who is making life harder for black/brown people as well LGBT community in this country is LITERALLY in the audience," tweeted the critic. "But you want to talk about Drake.............Kendrick u did not eat this and I say this as a fan lmao."