Dr. Dre and his crew of all-stars—Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige, plus a surprise appearance from 50 Cent–delivered a G-Funk homecoming at the Super Bowl 56 halftime show, with a dash of controversy: Eminem took a knee despite reportedly being told not to by the NFL, Kendrick left out a key line about the police from the Black Lives Matter anthem “Alright” (while Dre kept one in “Still D.R.E”), and the camera zoomed away every time Snoop looked like he might Crip walk. The setlist of nostalgic hits felt like a final coronation for rap, which has never taken center stage at the Super Bowl before, as the dominant force in pop music.
On an elaborate all-white stage, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg stood atop a row of White Houses full of L.A. rap insignia, with a line of Cadillac cars across the way. They opened things up with “The Next Episode” before going into “California Love,” complete with some pristine Crip walking from Snoop. Things then jumped up with 50 Cent who tried to recreate the music video for “In Da Club” by hanging upside down from the top of one of the house sets–it didn’t particularly look comfortable for him.
Mary J. Blige was next to appear, resplendent in all-white. She performed “Family Affair” and 00inexplicably “No More Drama,” which besides being a little bit of a downer, is hopeful thinking when it comes to the NFL. Kendrick Lamar made for the biggest tonal shift of the performance, wearing an all-black suit for a more hip and militant set with a cadre of backup dancers. Kendrick performed a “MAAD City” medley before going into “Alright,” mysteriously missing “we hate po-po” from the song’s pre-chorus.
Eminem was next up to rap “Lose Yourself” with backing from Anderson Paak on drums. At the end, he chose to kneel despite supposedly being told that he couldn’t–it wouldn’t be a proper tribute to the 90s if Eminem didn’t behave like a rascal, though. The show came to a close with Dre and Snoop rapping “Still D.R.E.” It was interesting how much they chose to focus on the Chronic 2001 singles as opposed to absolute classics like “Gin & Juice” and “Nuthin but a G Thang,” but there’s really nothing to complain about here. It was a fun trip through hip-hip memory lane with a lot of spectacle to it. In fact, a lot of it resembled Kanye’s set design for his Donda album release concerts, down to the use of a parade of dancers circling the stage and the giant home structure in the middle of everything.
Prior to Super Bowl 56, rappers had never been the headlining event for a halftime show. In fact, rappers have only made a few sporadic appearances over the years. For the most part, they’ve tended to be afterthoughts to a much bigger and involved show—think Missy Elliott during Katy Perry’s 2015 set, or Nicki Minaj and Cee-Lo Green during Madonna’s 2012 set, or Puff Daddy and Nelly at the infamous Janet Jackson show in 2004. It’s wild to consider that The Weeknd got to play his songs about inhaling cocaine at the Super Bowl before a rapper got to headline.
The closest thing was 2019, where the NFL had the gall to make Big Boi a special guest to Maroon 5’s headlining event in his own city. Maroon 5 also brought out Travis Scott—a great idea in terms of booking a popular star, but a missed opportunity to recognize the city’s history. In fact, it was such a bad look for the league that Jay-Z called it out in a meeting with New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who was also chairman of the league’s media committee: “The problem with the N.F.L. is you all think hip-hop is still a fad when hip-hop has been the dominant music form around the world for 20 years,” Hov said.
That meeting between Kraft and Jay-Z eventually led to the NFL’s partnership with Roc Nation, with the goal of producing a more culturally representative show. While it’s hard not to be cynical about how little has changed with regards to how the NFL deals with the racial makeup of its ownership and coaching staff—and especially difficult to forget that Jay-Z declared that “we’re done kneeling” in reference to Colin Kaepernick’s protests—they did manage to turn it around for this year. From a marketing perspective, getting things started with a G-Funk celebration was a great move: a way to be triumphantly and firmly hip-hop while remaining within the safe confines of nostalgia. The elder artists are still making new music, but come on, Snoop is besties with Martha Stewart. A lot has changed.
Whether future Super Bowl halftimes will venture into anything more adventurous is hard to know, but for now, hip-hop has formally aligned itself within the good graces of our most American sport. Give it up one more time for the power of mutual business interests.