‘The revolution ’bout to be televised’: The biggest casualty of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance wasn’t Drake, it was Trump’s America

When Kendrick Lamar was first tapped to headline Superbowl LIX, the hype was instant. Still embroiled as he is in a high-profile beef with Drake, fans expected ceaseless drama at the event, but what they got instead was even better.

Lamar’s halftime performance drew in broad praise from nearly everyone, but he still had his fair share of haters. Plenty of people — including high-profile politicians — shared their distaste for the halftime show, but much of that pushback is rooted in discomfort. Lamar used that halftime performance not (just) to publicize a longstanding beef or get the upper hand in a celebrity standoff, but to deliver a vital message about the state of our country, and it was undeniably successful.

There are too many moments woven into Lamar’s performance to highlight each one individually, but each carefully considered element — from Samuel L. Jackson’s key interludes to a stirring historical reference — elevated the performance to peak levels. It was the stark political nature of the performance, particularly Lamar’s riveting proclamation that “the revolution ’bout to be televised,” that sparked widespread conversation, and people are still digesting all the key messages the 37-year-old delivered across his too-brief performance.

Every decision made across Lamar’s performance carried weight, and American viewers are still trying to dissect the various messages delivered across the show. From his choice of songs — “HUMBLE” felt like a plea directly from Lamar’s lips to Donald Trump‘s ears — to his selection of dancers, the inclusion of “Uncle Sam,” and the key addition of a line about “40 acres and a mule,” there was endless weight to the early 2025 performance.

Lamar still threw a few devastating punches in Drake’s direction — “Not Like Us” found a nice prominent spot in the line-up — but it was his proclamation that “the revolution ’bout to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guy,” that really won the day. The statement is loaded from start to finish, from the reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s 1971 anthem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised” to the bold takedown of Trump while the man himself was in the audience watching.

The line quickly became a talking point among viewers as they dissected the careful artistry on display in Lamar’s coded performance. Lauren Boebert may be confused by the presence of so much Black excellence, but the rest of us just soaked in a halftime show full of glorious references to our political state and national history.

The tic-tac-toe board entreating Americans to play the game, the reference to paltry offerings made to recently-freed slaves after the Civil War, and that key Trump takedown all elevated Lamar’s performance into a biting political art form. Messages about the state of our nation, who the red, white and blue really belongs to, and the power of the people are littered throughout his performance and kept him trending throughout the rest of the game and well into the next day.

Through it all, one message couldn’t be clearer: Donald Trump is a danger to this nation. He’s working overtime to dismantle the democracy this country is built upon, and all because so many Americans picked “the wrong guy.”