Super Bowl LVI - Here for the Halftime Show

by Gene Clemons

Super Bowl LVI took on an HBCU feel this season. Congratulations to the LA Rams and all of their mercenary players who were able to turn this team into a winner. It has been said that the Rams have justified moving back to LA because of the success they had. The truth is that they had the same type of success in St. Louis. Ultimately this was a money play and fortunately for them, it worked. SoFi Stadium was packed to capacity and on full display. It’s over five-billion-dollar price tag was spent on every amenity that a high dollar fan would ever want but only a fraction of a percent was spent to protect players as the synthetic turf claim yet another victim. It was the type of game that most of us are used to a back-and-forth chess match where referees made calls and no calls on both teams that helped impact the outcome. We waited to watch offensive innovation and once again the spotlight was stolen by defensive brilliance. Stars were stars and the Rams had more than the Bengals. In the end that was the difference. It was OBJ, Cooper Kupp, Vonn Miller and Aaron Donald walking away champions and shedding tears of joy.

But did anyone really care? From the moment it was announced everyone was buzzing about the Super Bowl halftime show. The idea of Dr. Dre, Snoop Dog, Eminem, Mary J, and Kendrick Lamar all gracing the stage together for the night seemed like an homage to the West Coast. The halftime show commercial was released almost three weeks before the big game and garnered over 15 million streams on YouTube. It was clear that everyone was hyped up about the halftime show more than the game. But what made this halftime show different? What made this one unique?

For me and for many others like me, it was personal. We have seen performers grace the Super Bowl stage that we have grown up with but the aggressive, outlandish, outlaw nature of Hip Hop, especially Hip Hop in the 90’s, that we fell in love with and that defined our generation was something we never believed would get the opportunity to headline that event. It was too raw, too real, too rebellious. Hip Hop artists might get a song on the set of another Pop artist set but never the stage to itself. Hip Hop has finally had the opportunity to do what many of its artists have not been able to do throughout the years due to untimely death or incarceration, mature.

Never forget Dr. Dre was once a part of a group that openly defied police and their practices and was arrested repeatedly for performing “F The Police”. Snoop Dogg was on trial for murder. These two guys have grown up to be luminaries of the genre. Dre is a billion-dollar mogul and Snoop Dog is every artist’s cool-ass uncle. Mary J was the round the way girl that grew up to be the unquestioned queen of Hip Hop Soul. Eminem went from being the enigmatic caricature vulturing black culture for profit, to one of the most socially conscious performers of the time. Now they were able to receive their flowers in the light reserved for the hall of famers.

The performance was everything and certainly lived up to the hype. Dre and Snoop kicked it off and both performed the songs we would expect to hear. They didn’t sound run down or old, they were definitely more mature but also still masters of the craft. In true hip hop fashion, the surprise performer was, another hip hop artist and 50 Cent hung upside down doing his smash hit “In Da Club”. Mary J was glammed out and did her thing although I admittedly thought there were a couple other songs that would work better than the songs, she performed but that’s just me nitpicking. The fly thing about the halftime performance is that you were able to see the torch being passed from those luminaries to one of the hottest performers today, Kendrick Lamar. He embodied everything we love about the performance aspect of the genre. Then came Eminem with high energy and raw emotion. Even a star like Anderson Paak was there on the drums smiling from ear to ear because you could only imagine that he too grew up like we did listening to this music and now he was a part of making history. How many artists do you know would be humble enough to play the background like that?

The audacity of Hip Hop to embrace its brand right there for everyone to see. It was reported that Dr. Dre was told to not say “still not loving police” and he did it anyway. Eminem was told to refrain from kneeling, and he did it anyway. Why would we expect anything less from this genre? It was epic and the perfect respect paid to the ones who came before them.

This halftime performance ranks third for me. Number one will always be Prince because how do you top singing Purple Rain in the rain; it was epic! Second is the Beyonce performance because it really was one of the most action-packed half-time shows ever, it just kept coming. I felt tired after it was over. Then comes this show followed by Michael Jackson and then the Bruno Mars show. I originally said Katy Perry on the podcast but my guy Brandon Howard who I travel down memory lane with on the podcast made me change my mind.

From a nostalgic aspect, it hit all the bells and really left me feeling good about the opportunities for hip hop going forward. It has broken through the glass ceiling and now the sky's the limit. It has renewed my hope that we will see more hip-hop headliners and keep alive my dream of an Outkast Super Bowl halftime show.

Let’s make this happen Jay Z!

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Gene Clemons is a Sports Analyst and Contributor to CWN Sports. His weekly column and podcast - Gene Therapy focuses on Sports, Politics and Social/Urban issues.