The halftime Superbowl show was a pure hip hop moment- and while it did not disappoint, it was not perfect. But unlike previous shows, this was all about the hip hop legends like Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and Mary J blige. The show took place at the SoFi stadium with the usual electrifying razmataz. The energy was intense and by all means, the hip-hop show was spectacular but not everyone delivered to expectations.
The Superbowl halftime show was centered around legend Dr. Dre, who has been a pioneer of rap on the West coast with a huge influence on many of the current day rappers. Along with his rappers Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Kendrick Lamar, the four put on a show of a lifetime.
The key reason why the halftime show was entirely of hip hop artists was an NFL move to connect the fans with their favorite musicians and also to show to the world that there was racial injustice and police brutality in real life against minorities.
So here are the worst and best moments of the 2022 Superbowl extravaganza
Snoop Dogg dressed in the Rams blue and gold looked awesome doing his iconic walk to the music, and the fans went wild and the noise became deafening when Dre and Dogg combined to perform “California Love.” Of course, the loudest applause was for Dr. Dre, the king of West Coast rap.
The surprise of the halftime show, despite the 5 titans in hip hop, was the presence of Anderson Paak and 50 cents and the latter did perform a rousing rendition of Dr. Dre’s hit, ‘In da Club,’ and Anderson Paak let the crowd go wild with his drum playing skills during the playing of Eminem song ‘lose yourself.’
The Superbowl was all about nostalgia, reminiscent of the times when hip hop was fun, swanky, and loud. There was enormous talent on the show surrounded by opulence and wealth- indicating that hip hop has evolved into a mega billion-dollar business. The majority of the show was built on Dr. Dre’s influence and legacy, who has helped dozens of careers in the hip hop industry.
To show the world that Colin Kaepernick is not forgotten, Eminem went down on his knee to symbolize the racial inequality in sports- while the rapper did not explicitly say that he was supporting Kaepernick, his taking of the knee during his performance of ‘lose yourself’ sent a powerful message that it is time to ease out racism.
While most performers did showcase their talents, Kendrick Lamar missed his lyric about the police. Since the song alright was released in 2015, it has become a rallying cry against police brutality and is a song often used by black protestors- the song clearly calls out against police brutality, but the line ‘And we hate popo’ was surprisingly omitted- it is not known if this is intentional or censored by the network. Later, Dr. Dre did sing out the line, ‘still not loving police’ from his album ‘Still DRE.’
And sadly Mary J Blige’s talent was not utilized. While she did perform Dr. Dre’s hits, ‘No more drama’ and ‘Family affair’ with class, it was still missing the notes and the backdrop was dull.
For the most part, the halftime show was done well, but too much of it was focussed on rap and Dr. Dre’s legacy- while nothing wrong with that approach, perhaps they could have added a little more novelty by adding something besides hip hop.
