Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Wasn’t a Performance—It Was an Insurrection

How Kendrick Lamar Just Staged the Most Radical Protest in Super Bowl History—And Why Most People Missed It

I. The Illusion of Black Success in America

Black America has always been expected to entertain, not educate. Dance, but don’t disrupt. Be loud in the arenas, but silent in the boardrooms.

This is the deal they’ve handed us since the plantation days:

• We can sing, but not own the stage.

• We can rap, but not own the masters.

• We can dribble, but not own the team.

• We can run the fastest, hit the hardest, make the most money for the system—but the moment we start questioning it, they remind us we were never meant to be in control.

That’s what Kendrick Lamar just exposed at Super Bowl LIX.

The people calling it “boring” or “mid” were exactly who he was talking about.

If you missed the message, that wasn’t an accident.

The system has worked on you.