On the night of Sunday to Monday, February 14, there were as many hip-hop champions on the field at halftime of the 56th Super Bowl as American football champions on the lawn. Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Mary J Blige, accompanied by musicians including drummer (and rapper) Anderson .Paak, indeed provided the show during the 2022 final between the Rams (winners) and the Cincinati Bengals taking place at the brand new SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. A true unprecedented celebration of hip-hop for this sporting event followed each year by 100 million people.
Watch the halftime video on the official NFL YouTube site
It was Dr Dre who opened the 12-minute show, alone at the controls of an impressive immaculate spaceship mixing desk, immediately joined by Snoop Dogg to The Next Episodebefore performing as a duo California Love by Tupac.
In an overheated stadium, in front of a euphoric audience where all the gratin crowded, including Jay-Z, a hooded Kanye West and Matt Damon, it was 50 Cent who then took over to perform his indestructible hit. In Da Club. The rapper first appeared upside down (as in the clip for his song), suspended from the roof of one of the mini-houses installed in the middle of the stadium which served as a backdrop, and in front of which dancers moved between cars styling lowrider typical of Los Angeles.
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Singer Mary J Blige, dressed in a shimmering white disco outfit with seven-league boots rising to the top of the thighs, succeeded him. Surrounded by dancers, the queen of hip-hop soul sang Family Affair and No More Drama on one of the roofs. Without any pause, it was Kendrick Lamar who then emerged from a cloud of black extras with blond heads whose dark suits were crossed out with the words “Dre Day”. Kendrick Lamar, whose fans are desperately waiting for him to follow up on his album DAMN. released in 2017, interpreted the inusable OKsketching a knee on the ground.
Eminem, surrounded by Dr Dre and a slew of musicians including Anderson .Paak on drums, kicked off immediately after to the cheers of the audience, for a fiery version of Lose Yourself.
What Kendrick Lamar had only sketched, Eminem then did ostensibly: he knelt down for a long time, his head bowed, a clear reference to the gesture of Colin Kaepernick. The quarterback and activist had thus protested in 2016 during the American anthem against racist police violence in the United States, triggering the ire of the NFL (the National Football League) which had blackened him, and of Donald Trump, then candidate in the US presidential election. This knee to the ground was a real provocation on the part of Eminem, who has always supported Kaepernick, since the NFL had banned him through the media.
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The show ended with Still Dre which brought together Dr Dre and Snoop Dogg, surrounded by all the artists present. Producer Dr Dre, who was the red thread of the evening (the rappers present being all his foals), sported a radiant smile with good reason.
While hip hop is the most listened to music in the world, including in France, it was time for its representatives to be at the heart of the most followed sports evening in the United States. Chuck D of Public Enemy, the boss of committed rap, did not say anything else in his tweet. “Best NFL halftime show since Prince. It was time…halftime show better than the teams..the league and probably the game“.
Best @nfl halftime show since @prince about time … halftime show better than the teams .. the league and most likely the game
— Chuck D (@MrChuckD) February 14, 2022