Kendrick Lamar didn’t hold back his global smash Drake diss track “Not Like Us” from the set list of his Super Bowl Halftime Show performance last night (Feb. 8) at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, saving it for the second to last of his 11 songs and specifically mentioning his Canadian rival by name.
The rapper began his set perched on a vintage black Buick GNX, which shares its name with Lamar’s surprise 2024 album, and prowled a stage laid out like a game board and populated by dancers wearing vibrant red, white and blue outfits. Actor Samuel L. Jackson appeared at multiple points in full vintage patriotic costume as “Uncle Sam,” declaring, “this is the great American game.”
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Decked out in jeans, a blue varsity jacket and several glittering chains, Lamar put his singular verbal dexterity on full display as he ran through a brief portion of unreleased GNX song informally dubbed “Bodies,” “squabble up,” “HUMBLE,” “euphoria,” “man at the garden” and “peeakboo,” the latter two of which had never been performed live.
SZA, who will join Lamar on an extensive global stadium tour this year, made an unannounced appearance for “luther” and their hit Black Panther collaboration “All the Stars,” but the anticipation was building toward “Not Like Us,” which came next.
The rapper had earlier teased the drama, which caused Drake to file a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music in the wake of the summer release of “Not Like Us.” “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” he said as the song began, proceeding to skip the controversial term “pedophile” but inducing an audible audience singalong for the lyric “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.”
To add insult to injury, the camera cut to a quick shot of Drake’s ex-girlfriend, tennis legend Serena Williams, dancing on the side of the stage. Hammering the point home, Lamar closed the performance with “tv off,” as lights at the top of the stadium unmistakably spelled out “game over.”
THEY NOT LIKE US @KendrickLamar #AppleMusicHalftime pic.twitter.com/86nyDhmXkS
— NFL (@NFL) February 10, 2025
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