Super Bowl LIX took place on Sunday, and I have to set the record straight here. I need to say what everyone is thinking and I’m gonna say it right here, right now.

Man did it feel good to see the Chiefs lose! Congrats to the Philadelphia Eagles for coming out on top and becoming one of two big winners on Sunday night.

Now you may ask, “Evan, who was the second big winner?” That, my friends, was the one and only Kendrick Lamar.

You see, halftime shows for me are usually a bunch of “meh.” They’re overproduced, overhyped and usually not indicative of the talent that is presented. 

But not this year. For the first time since 2022 – which is actually when Kendrick Lamar took the stage for part of the performance – I thoroughly enjoyed the halftime show.

Now, I think this could be an unpopular opinion among our readers. I know it was certainly unpopular for the keyboard warriors on Facebook.

I’ve heard a lot of criticism regarding both the content and the message of the show. Perhaps my personal favorite was “This was a DEI halftime show,” which is an absolutely ridiculous thing to say.

But let me put things into perspective as to why I appreciated this halftime show so much.

Let me start off by saying that I’ve been a fan of Kendrick Lamar for nearly a decade. Some of his work is listed in my personal record book of favorite albums of all time. His ability to convey a message using music and his elite lyricism puts him in a tier of his own. It’s why many consider Lamar to be one of the greatest rappers to ever exist.

Going into Sunday, I expected Lamar to use the imagery skills he is so synonymous with to tell an amazing story. And man, did he.

Let’s start first with the Samuel L. Jackson cameo. Jackson, who dressed up as “Uncle Sam” served as a representation of the well-known American propaganda figure. The character was critical of Lamar’s performance, which was reportedly used to be indicative of how Black culture has widely been treated throughout time.

Next was the American flag imagery. Many noticed that the background dancers dressed up in red, white and blue made up an American flag.

But did you notice how the flag was composed? Look again.

The flag was disconnected and divided from a normal American flag. A common interpretation of this symbolism was to represent how divided America currently stands. Which, in a lot of ways, is accurate.

Perhaps the obvious, not-so-hidden message throughout the performance was a diss to the rapper Drake. For those who don’t know, Drake and Lamar have been engaged in a public feud with both trading “diss tracks” back-and-forth with each other. Lamar’s last two songs on Sunday, “Not Like Us” and “tv off” are considered to be two of those diss tracks, with the former winning five Grammys.

The feud has gotten so severe that Drake reportedly sued Lamar for defamation. This was referenced in Kendrick’s performance on Sunday.

“I want to perform their favorite song [Not Like Us], but you know they love to sue,” Lamar said.

That didn’t stop Lamar from performing the song, in which he actually called out Drake by name. To make matters worse, tennis star Serena Williams was featured as a guest dancer during the performance. Williams is allegedly Drake’s ex-girlfriend.

Yikes.

While that portion of the performance was neither here nor there for me, one thing I can take away from Sunday night was that nobody knows how to tell a story quite like Kendrick Lamar. 

It was elaborate. It was captivating. It was sophisticated. All qualities that I love in storytelling.

I had to go back and watch parts of the performance a few times to truly understand it, which is completely OK! I’m sure there are portions of the performance that I didn’t get either. 

I just can’t stand that the discourse has become, “I don’t understand it, so I don’t like it and I want to bury it.” 

Perhaps instead of discounting it immediately, maybe go back and try to understand it. Try and understand the many significant details that were included throughout the performance.

Music is subjective. Art is subjective. I know not everyone is gonna like Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance. But I loved it, and I encourage everyone who may not have gotten it to go back and look it over again. You might thank me later for it.

Evan Newton is the Managing Editor of The Covington News. He can be reached at enewton@covnews.com.