By Anton Dedvukaj
Hello everyone, and welcome back to Mic Drop. Today, we’re here to talk about one of the biggest music events of the year: The Super Bowl Halftime Show.
The annual Super Bowl Halftime Show drew lots of attention because of its superstar lineup that primarily consisted of hip-hop and R&B artists. The headliners were Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Mary J. Blige. 50 Cent also came out to perform, complete with a now-memetic upside-down entrance, and Anderson .Paak was seen playing drums during Eminem’s set.
This particular performance seems to have been quite well-received by fans, many of whom were quick to highlight that a primarily rap-led halftime show is something virtually unheard of for the NFL. The massive rise in streams for songs like “Still D.R.E.”, “The Next Episode”, and “Lose Yourself” also shows how well this particular halftime show has been received by the general public.
This begs a couple of questions. For one thing, how was the halftime show as a representation of hip-hop music? Was the show as a whole well-executed? How will this halftime show hold up as time goes on? Well, these questions are tough to answer, especially so soon, but here’s my view on the situation.
First off, I really enjoyed this year’s halftime show. I thought that all of the performers were very well-utilized, the show as a whole was very well put-together, and everyone involved delivered during their sets. So, overall, I would consider this halftime show to be quite well-executed.
Now, as a representation of hip-hop music, how did it hold up? Well, while I do consider myself quite knowledgeable on the rap music of today, I can’t say I’m the best source of information on this question. However, based on what I do know, I think that this was a good representation of rap and R&B.
I did like the mix of decades that we saw. Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg represented the ‘90s side of hip-hop, sticking primarily to their classics from the era, such as “Still D.R.E.” and “The Next Episode”. Dr. Dre also performed his verse on 2Pac’s “California Love”, widely considered a ‘90s hip-hop classic.
Then, the 2000s, which were represented by Eminem, 50 Cent, and Mary J. Blige. Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” has gone down as a staple in 2000s rap, being one of the most recognizable rap songs of the era. The same could be said for 50 Cent’s “In da Club”, which he performed as a surprise guest early on in the show. Finally, Blige performed a set of songs that included her song “Family Affair”, a massive early-2000s R&B hit. I thought that her segment allowed for a nice bit of contrast between the rappers, as she was the lone R&B performer in the show.
This leaves Kendrick Lamar as the sole 2010s representative. Given that this was mainly a celebration of classic hip-hop, I was surprised to see him in the lineup, but he did not disappoint. Plus, I’d argue that with the huge amount of success, influence, and talent that he has, Kendrick Lamar has a real chance to have a good number of his songs become classics, including “m.A.A.d city” and “Alright”, both of which he performed.
Overall, with the wide range of performances spanning multiple decades of hip-hop and R&B, I would say that this halftime show was a good representation of rap music. However, this leads us to our final question: how well will the show hold up?
Well, this one is going to be the toughest to answer. At the time of this writing, we’re about a week removed from the show, and there’s no way to tell how history is going to view it in hindsight.
However, I think that since the reception to the show has been so positive, it will go down favorably amongst other halftime shows. Past halftime shows in recent memory don’t usually attract this much positive attention, whether the typical response is a middling view of the performance or the show is outright panned by the public. This performance doesn’t seem to fall into either category, and as such, I think, for the time being, that it will be remembered positively.
I was very impressed with the halftime show that was put on this year. In a year like 2022, which has so far been quite sparse in terms of its major musical events, this show was very enjoyable to watch, and in my opinion, it was a great way to celebrate hip-hop and R&B as art forms.
