Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime performance captivated 133.5 million viewers with its powerful messages intertwined in a 13-minute rap spectacle. Using symbolic imagery, including references to 'Squid Game' and gaming culture, Lamar critiqued the American dream narrative, evoking themes of social struggle and competition. The initial scene featured symbols reminiscent of video game controls, underscoring the concept of the dream as a gamified challenge, while drawing on literary references, such as Langston Hughes’s poem 'Harlem,' highlighting the oft-deferred aspirations of marginalized communities.
The performance began with an aerial shot of the darkened football field illuminated by alternating symbols: a square, a circle, a triangle and an X.
Mr. Lamar provided a layered spectacle of cultural and political allusions, encoded in and percolating through propulsive rap, 13 minutes of profound protest art.
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