To shut the rapid-fire set, DJ Mustard ran onstage and threw his arm round Lamar as GNX’s breakout tune “TV Off”—and its instantly memed second of Lamar screaming his title—blasted over the audio system. In excellent sync, the Compton rapper repeated the road “Flip his TV off” proper because the stadium, and consequently viewers’ TV screens, went black. The digital camera zoomed out to point out the stage formed like a tic-tac-toe board with the phrases “Recreation over” written with lights within the crowd.
Lamar’s firm with Dave Free, pgLang, dealt with the artistic route for the halftime present efficiency. Diversified Manufacturing Providers served as producers for the halftime present telecast with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Jesse Collins as government producers, Hamish Hamilton as director, and Roc Nation appearing “because the strategic leisure advisor of the reside efficiency.”
The halftime present efficiency arrived on the heels of Lamar’s shock November album, GNX, and a spate of victories at the 2025 Grammy Awards. Due to his smash hit “Not Like Us,” Lamar swept all 5 classes by which he was nominated: Song and Record of the Year, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best Music Video. That implies that “Not Like Us” won as many Grammy Awards (5) because the diss monitor’s goal, Drake, has gained in his complete profession (5). To rub it in much more, the gala sang along loudly to the tune, together with its most damning accusation.
The efficiency additionally got here on the heels of a federal lawsuit that Drake filed in opposition to Common Music Group (UMG) over its promotion of “Not Like Us.” The litigation has led to hypothesis about whether or not Lamar would carry out the diss tune on an enormous nationwide stage. Just a few hours earlier than the halftime present, Drake’s authorized crew launched a brand new assertion about “Not Like Us,” writing: “UMG is masquerading as a champion of artist freedom by calling its actions merely ‘leisure,’ however there’s nothing entertaining about pedophilia or baby abuse in the actual world. We’re assured that the proof we’ll in the end current at trial, together with data we’ve already discovered and proceed to obtain since submitting the lawsuit, will expose UMG’s gross prioritization of its personal company income and government bonuses over its completely signed artists’ well-being and the reality.”
Lamar made his Super Bowl halftime show debut, in 2022, in Inglewood, California. He was amongst a number of performers that night time, as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, Anderson .Paak, and Mary J. Blige additionally participated within the SoFi Stadium present.
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