I have watched the Super Bowl every year for as long as I can remember, and every year, in the weeks leading up to the big game, I have consistently looked forward to the halftime show. Some people might find this odd, because halftime shows are usually relatively short. However, this year, Kendrick Lamar proved to America that in just 13 minutes, one person can take the millions watching the show on a journey across American history.
America has unrealistic standards about how black people are supposed to live their lives.
In bringing the character “Uncle Sam” to life, and having him order Kendrick around, the show called attention to the fact that America has unrealistic standards about how black people are supposed to live their lives. These standards were created to suppress black people in America. They were based on a false belief that black people are loud, reckless, and ghetto. In this year’s halftime show, Kendrick Lamar put on a display which symbolized life in America as a “game” that is meant to be played in a way that complies with white people’s values. Kendrick showed us that this “game” was set up based on white people’s ideals, and America believes black people are playing the “game” wrong.
There were many hidden references throughout Kendrick’s halftime show, and callbacks to certain notions that Kendrick was trying to highlight. Kendrick symbolized the origins of America’s exploitation of black people, Uncle Sam’s role in this exploitation, and thenotorious “American Game”.
So what was the point of all this? Was Kendrick’s halftime show just over-hyped, or was there a deeper meaning that he tried to convey? If so, what was Kendrick trying to say… and most importantly, what was the point of this revolution?
The Game
The most obvious reference to the “game” is when the show opened, and the stage was set up like a play station console. Uncle Sam (Samuel L. Jackson) introduced the show by announcing, “Salutations! It’s your Uncle Sam, and this is the great American game!”. This idea of an American game was the foundation of the entire show, and was referenced again and again. The show was essentially a representation of how one is supposed to live their lives as a person in America. Unfortunately, this way of life was established by the American government, to benefit the white population, and exploit black people. This began when enslaving people was legal and the white population had more control, privilege, equality, and freedom in America. Part of Kendrick’s message in the show was that the white population still have more control, privilege, equality, and freedom in America.
Samuel L Jackson as Uncle Sam
After Kendrick performed his first two songs, he was interrupted by Uncle Sam, who said to him, “No, no, no! Too loud, too reckless, too ghetto. Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!”. Uncle Sam has inherently been a personification of the United States government. In this line, Kendrick was informing the audience that the United States government is not only constantly telling black people what to do and how to act, but also shoving black people into stereotypes. These stereotypes influence the rest of America to see black people not for who they are, but for these stereotypes that have been put on them. The next big “game” reference happened when Kendrick performed his song, “DNA”. By this point, Kendrick was departing from his initial position on the stage. Projected in the audience were the words, “WARNING WRONG WAY”. At first, these words can be perceived as a way of saying that Kendrick was walking in the wrong direction. While this was true, if you first consider what Kendrick speaks about in his songs, you might interpret the written message differently. Kendrick is known for rapping about his previous hardships, his life in the ghettos, and speaking up about racial injustice in his music. American industries and governmental institutions are infamous for disliking things like this. If the American government is able to economically benefit from the stereotyping of black people, why would they want a black American rapper like Kendrick Lamar to expose them? Kendrick was not simply walking in the wrong direction. He was going the wrong way all together, playing the “game” wrong. He was (and still is) slowly, but surely, exposing the American government of their systemic racism and exploitation of black people, which is therefore “wrong”, because it is not what “America” wants.
While performing “man at the garden”, Kendrick had a group of dancers behind him, vibing to the music. Uncle Sam walked back in frame, and said, “Ohhh see you brought your homeboys with you. The old culture cheat-code.”- Uncle Sam looked at the camera – “scorekeeper, deduct one life”. In a video game, you lose lives when you mess up. In this case, Kendrick lost one of his lives, but he never really “messed up”, did he? Well, in the eyes of Uncle Sam (personifying the government), Kendrick was constantly messing up, and playing the “game” wrong. But this is life we’re talking about. So, the questions we should be asking ourselves are these: Is there really a wrong way to play the “game”, or is it just that we as a country have an unrealistic model that all people are supposed to conform to? More relevantly, is this ideal based on a standard created by powerful white leaders when they had complete and absolute control over what people thought about every other racial group? Do powerful white leaders still have complete and absolute control over what people think about every other racial group?
We as a country should be making an effort to put things right, and to end systemic racism.
The most notable difference between the halftime Uncle Sam and the more familiar one, is that in the halftime show, Uncle Sam was played by a black person. Uncle Sam has almost always been depicted as white. Since it has been established that Uncle Sam is meant to personify the American government and arguably the whole of America itself, the fact that he has been predominantly white uncovers the truth: America was intended to be a predominantly white country. Additionally, making Uncle Sam a white character contributes to systemic racism by putting a delusion into the minds of American people that America is a fully white country. This version of Uncle Sam being black reveals that America is not all white. Black people have played a significant role in American history, and rather than ignoring the fact that they exist, and continuously seeking to take advantage of them, we as a country should be making an effort to put things right, and to end systemic racism.
SZA’s appearance
SZA’s performance was one that touched the audience’s hearts. Compared to the rest of the show, SZA’s performance was definitely more standard. Uncle Sam brought this to attention by saying “Yeaha, that’s what I’m talking about, that’s what America wants, nice and calm. You’re almost there…” This is interesting, because Kendrick only ever talked about issues while he was performing his other songs. This song being the only thing that Kendrick did “right” tells us that America just wants an entertaining display. American people are used to the sugarcoated version of things. Many Americans just don’t want anything to do with issues that don’t directly involve them. This is problematic because it is impossible to solve any of our problems this way, including that of systemic racism. If the American government continues to instill this mindset into the heads of Americans, problems like these will be inevitable.
The Ghettos
The black American ghettos are often treated as a topic that shouldnt be discussed. From my experience, people fabricate three major ideas about the ghettos. The first: ghettos are a result of all black people being criminals. The second: All people who come from ghettoized areas are bad. The third: Ghettos should not be discussed because they are too uncomfortable of a subject. The actual cause of America’s ghettos is not what many people might think. In fact the reason for America’s ghettos is none other than the American government itself.
Mr Cook
To understand more about the American ghettos and their significance in Kendrick’s halftime show, I spoke with Mr. Cook, a history teacher at New Paltz High School. Here is what I learned:
A ghetto is constructed when a minority group gets concentrated and segregated into an area (of a city or place). Enslaved black people were brought over to the Americas to do the work that nobody wanted to be doing. As horrible as it was, people in power needed a justification for their atrocious acts against human beings, so they backed their inhumane treatment of black people with pseudo sciences that aimed to make people associate physical features with internal things such as: criminality, intelligence, athletic ability, etc. “That’s why you create a race construct to define these people as the workers,” Mr Cook said. As time went on, slavery became illegal, but it was replaced with things like sharecropping and convict leasing. During WW1, black people in the south saw an opportunity to escape these exploitative circumstances (and racial injustice and violence) by filling the jobs of factory workers, in urban areas in the north, who had gone to war. Unfortunately real estate agencies, federal government as well as local government did not want to integrate black people into their cities, because this would, “create a certain level of equality…” Mr Cook said. Black people then got concentrated into these areas, and while property values were already low, they became even lower. People didn’t want to purchase property in areas with a high black population because of their attitudes towards black people. “Our schooling and education is based upon property values…” Mr Cook affirmed. Poor schooling makes it harder to get an education, and when people cannot get an education, it is harder to get higher level jobs. Because of this, people living in ghettos end up working jobs that nobody else wants. This is how America has been economically exploiting black people, even after the abolition of slavery
In discussions I had about the halftime show, I heard from many that Kendrick could have performed more of his hits which would have made the show better. Phrases like “It’s Kendrick Lamar we’re talking about,” were circulating around. I can’t help but think that not putting on a show of his most popular songs was intentional. The show was Kendrick’s way of saying that he was not afraid to upset people over his music. Kendrick has shown us that he is not going to conform to America’s standards, because he wants America to rethink these standards. If the ideal American lifestyle can so easily be symbolized by a game with distinct rules, maybe it isn’t ideal after all.
“Don’t give up, and don’t assimilate for the sole purpose of making other people comfortable”
Dissing Drake was Kendricks way of showing us that he is not ashamed to be from the ghetto. In Kendrick’s masterpiece, “Not like us” Kendrick raps about how Drake does not understand the trials and tribulations Kendrick had to go through to get where he is today. The lyric, “they not like us” says that they (privileged people) are not like us (Kendrick and others who started at the bottom and worked their way up). Kendrick invited Serena Williams to Crip walk in the halftime show. At first thought, I saw it as a way to really twist the knife in Kendrick and Drake’s dispute, considering that Serena Williams is allegedly Drake’s ex-girlfriend. But this wouldn’t explain the Crip walk. The Crips are a gang in Compton, California, where both Kendrick Lamar and Serena Williams grew up. Compton is “One of the worst and most tragic ghettos in America,” according to Mr Cook. If a person is promising, and from Compton, the Crips will make sure they don’t get into trouble so they can get out. Doing the Crip walk to Kendrick’s music is kind of like Serena and Kendrick’s ways of saying, “We got out, and we are proud of what we’ve accomplished”. The Crip walk isn’t just a meaningless dance. It shows community, and bravery. The fact that Serena and Kendrick were not afraid of what people would think about the Crip walk shows that they are not afraid to speak up. I think the Drake diss wasn’t only Kendrick’s way of speaking up about his past, but also a way of speaking to other black artists in the industry, and telling them, “Don’t give up, and don’t assimilate for the sole purpose of making other people comfortable”
I have watched the Super Bowl every year for as long as I can remember, and it is safe to say that I have never thought more about a halftime show, or any show for that matter, than I did about this one.
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