The American rapper put in a memorable Super Bowl half-time performance last night (9 February), and made further headlines for one of the songs on his setlist.
You don’t need to be a genius to figure out which of the ‘HUMBLE’ rapper’s tunes we’re on about.
‘Not Like Us’ was released in May 2024, and it was widely regarded as the song of the summer, despite being the exclamation mark in a rap beef with Canadian rapper, Drake.
And Lamar went on to perform his diss track as part of the show, despite Drake already filing a lawsuit against the record company, though he had to censor his well-known ‘certified p**dophile’ line, for all the kids watching.
For those who aren’t familiar with the line, it goes: “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young / You better not ever go to cell block one / To any b**ch that talk to him and they in love / Just make sure you hide your lil’ sister from him / They tell me Chubbs the only one that get your hand-me-downs / And Party at the party playin’ with his nose now / And Baka got a weird case, why is he around? / Certified Lover Boy? Certified (missed out ‘p**dophiles’ lyric).”
But after performing the song in front of millions and giving the camera a cheeky smile, it turns out that there’s been another dig at Drake that we’ve missed.
The rapper is known for his subliminal messaging (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
Surprisingly, it was video game-related, and it could be seen at the end of the show.
As the crowd cheered and applauded him after appearances from SZA and Samuel L. Jackson, Lamar closed his show by turning the lights down, the words ‘Game Over’ being displayed on the side of the stadium.
On stage though, the iconic Playstation symbols of a cross, circle, triangle, and square could be seen.
More or less a victory lap after triumphing over Drake, this move may have been one to rub salt into the wounds of the Canadian, who is currently in Australia.
Regardless, music and video game fans were elated to see that the stage was seemingly a big reference to gaming after the iconic show that the LA rapper put on.
SZA made an appearance for a couple of Lamar’s songs (Cindy Ord/Getty Images)
One fan took to X to say: “Kendrick Lamar brought out the PlayStation symbols and said ‘Game Over’.”
Another wrote: “Serena Williams, Samuel Jackson, PlayStation references, the GNX, the whole stadium yelling ‘A MINORR’ ugh the dancers in red, white & blue, SZA?! Thank you Kendrick. The revolution will be televised.”
The tune went viral and will undoubtedly go down as one of the tunes of the 2020s, earning the rapper a number of Grammy awards just a week before this performance.
