In light of the recent halftime performance with Kendrick Lamar featuring SZA, Serena Williams, and Samuel Jackson playing Uncle Sam, here is some context to preface it and some hidden messages you may have missed.
Kendrick performed some of his hit songs including “Peekaboo,” “Not Like Us (pump fake),” “Luther” (feat. SZA), “All The Stars” (feat. SZA), and “Not Like Us.” His most controversial of the bunch is “Not Like Us (pump fake)” because the hateful lyrics target fellow artist Aubrey Graham, famously known as Drake.
These two rappers’ stories began in 2011 when Drake featured Kendrick Lamar on his album Take Care. As an upcoming artist, Drake saw Lamar as a good addition to the album to help boost his name and shut down any doubts people may have had about him as a new producer. The following year, Drake invited him to open along with A$AP Rocky on his Club Paradise Tour after receiving positive feedback regarding this new collaboration on the album. Nine months after the tour, the most successful and final collaboration between Kendrick and Drake appeared on Kendrick’s song “Poetic Justice,” which peaked at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite their success as a promising duo, Kendrick decided to continue growing alone, while dissing his peer Drake in Big Sean’s song “Control” to publicly claim his independence. Drake responded within the same month during an interview, stating he was not scared of Kendrick’s current success and that time would tell who the better rapper was.
The feud died down for the next ten years after both singers no longer felt threatened by each other, with only passive song lyrics being exchanged. Finally, in October of 2023, Drake and J. Cole released a song that made their first number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100. In this song, J. Cole unknowingly reignited Kendrick’s wrath with his line claiming that he, Drake, and Kendrick were “the big three” in the current rap game. Instead of finding this complimentary, Kendrick was insulted to be lumped in with anyone. To clear his feelings up, Lamar released a song the following year saying, “There was no big three, it’s just big me.” This rekindled a more passionate feud between the two, which eventually led to the creation and notable performance of his most recent diss song, “Not Like Us,” as mentioned previously.
Lamar teased performing this highly anticipated song during “Peekaboo” by doing Drake’s signature “Hotline Bling” dance, one of Drake’s older hits. Lamar also wore a large diamond necklace, with a lowercase letter “a” sitting sideways on a chain. This “a” is a reference to the most inflammatory lyric in his song “Not Like Us,” which has a double meaning- “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.” This line not only insults Drake’s ability to sing (a minor meaning the musical note) but also implies Drake has had inappropriate interactions with children in the past. He then performs his songs featuring SZA, who was confirmed to have had a fling with Drake in 2009. By choosing her as his feature artist, he was subtly rubbing salt in the wound for Drake as well.
Kendrick’s final tease of this song was just before he finally sang it. He did this by saying, “I wanna perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue.” This was a jab at the lawsuit recently enacted by Drake on Kendrick’s marketing company UMG (Universal Musical Group) for defamation and “prioritizing corporate greed.” Drake claimed that this advertisement and performance of the song “Not Like Us” is slandering Drake’s name, as the lyrics are implying that it is untrue. Not only did SZA make an appearance, but Serena Williams was also there, seen happily crip walking on the side while Kendrick performed his big song. Serena was also rumored to have had a relationship with Drake in 2015, with things ending messily. He then name-dropped Serena in his song and said, “Better not speak on Serena,” warning Drake not to get hurt about her appearance, even though Kendrick knows this guest will get a rise out of him.
Many more easter eggs are hidden within Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance regarding his beef with Drake, but these were some major ones to know if you want to be up to date on the drama.
