Is This How It Ends?
Is This How It Ends?
Beef & Bell-Bottoms - Kendrick’s Petty Bowl
Forget the touchdowns—this year’s Super Bowl was Kendrick Lamar’s grand petty opera. With SZA in red, Samuel L. Jackson channeling Uncle Sam, and a whole stadium unknowingly dragging Drake in unison, this was not just a performance—it was a statement.
We’re breaking down all the layers: the cryptic symbols (tic-tac-toe? Video game controllers?), the A minor of it all, and the bell-bottoms that had us questioning if Kendrick was dressing for the Super Bowl or a Soul Train line. And of course, we have thoughts on Drake’s never-ending beef—because at this point, even the aunties are tired.
It’s all messy, it’s all petty, and it’s all here. Tap in! 🎧 #SuperBowl2025 #KendrickLamar #PettyBowl #AMinor #WeWereDistracted
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Hey y'all and welcome to. Is this how it Ends? I'm Nels, I'm so, and welcome to a special episode. We're covering the Super Bowl 2025.
Soph:You mean the Kendrick Lamar show? The Kendrick Lamar mini-album, because I'm not paying for those tickets.
Nele:The Kendrick Lamar show, the Kendrick Lamar meeting. I'm not paying for those tickets. I'm using my Klarna for Beyonce, cowboy Carter right, that's Klarna, and Affirm that may be the only way I can go For those that have been living under a rock. Kendrick Lamar performed for the Halftime Show with a featured guest, sza. He also had Samuel L Jackson playing Uncle Sam slash, the character. I forgot the name of the character. I should know this from Django. I think his name was Steven. Yeah, yeah, anyway. So it was pretty, it was. It's a lot to unpack, so, soph, let's just start off. What did?
Soph:you think of the performance. Overall, I liked it. I like Kendrick Lamar. I won't say like I listen to his music all the time, but I really liked it. He's a storyteller, right. So many layers personal history, cultural commentary, industry critiques. Just visually it was really nice. Whoever the camera person was and whoever designed the stage, it was pretty dope. It was pretty dope, Can I say? Tangent Samuel Jackson is probably one of the the richest actors, not because he's the highest pay, but because he does all these like random, like he works so much he's doing capital one credit cards.
Nele:He's at the super bowl. Samuel stays with a job, okay, and his breakout role wasn't even until like maybe he was like 40 something, for it was like jungle fever. That was like his breakout role. So it's just kind of like sam, you stay working and he looks really good he does look really good but to your point, um, about the, just the artistry, right?
Nele:um, you know, kendrick, he has a balance, right? It's like, okay, I'm gonna give you a little history and artistry, but this train is ultimately going to pettyville, um, and I appreciate the destination. So I did kind of look up, um, what some of the symbolism was, you know talk about a little bit. So this is from doublexmagcom, and so, first of all, he started off alright. I don't know if you noticed. He had a little A chain. It was like a small A, a minor.
Soph:Oh, my God.
Nele:He already started. The petty, petty king, also the colors, the red, white and blue representing the flag, of course, and America was built by us Also. What else was there? So again, just the formations that was on the field. In the end he had like the tic-tac-toe like game over. In the end he had the tic-tac-toe game over and then he also had it looked like a controller, like you're playing for a video game, and then it's just, like you know, to Kendrick. This whole thing is a game. We're not ready for it.
Soph:It is a game.
Nele:Yes, and of course, samuel L Jackson dressed up as um Uncle Sam, right, kenji was getting deep. But I also have a little bit of commentary on that. You know I have to. You know I have. It's not a soapbox, but we need to stay woke, all right, but we'll get to that. But yeah, that was some of the symbolism that was in there. Now, as a whole, because I am a fan, I didn't really like the set list. I felt, given the occasion and the crowd and the crowd it wasn't really. It didn't get popping until kind of the end. Honestly, even I was kind of like I don't know about this.
Soph:You know I think he kind of went in there knowing like that's not what it was about.
Nele:Yeah, and you know he plays games. Okay, because he was teasing, he would play a little bit like ding ding, ding ding. Oh, I can't play it. Ding ding, ding ding, because they're going to sue. Ding ding ding, like, stop playing games, kendrick. Stop playing games, because you know there's this whole thing about whether or not he was going to perform that song, because Drake was suing.
Soph:He was suing Everybody.
Nele:Drake was suing. Sit down, you have no room in hip hop. Just go somewhere.
Soph:Can I just say, like the irony of it, right, like, cause people tend to say, like Drake is Drake is false. He's not really for the culture, right, he's this guy from Canada, he was under grassy, he's an actor and, like this, hip hop is another persona, it's another role that he's playing, right, and the irony of him being called out for that and ensuing over a rap beat which is part of hip-hop culture, to me that's wild.
Nele:It's like, instead of putting the pen to the paper, it's like I'm going to go get my lawyer.
Soph:That's the Canadian in him right. That's the Nebraska. That's that side of him.
Nele:That ain't hip hop. I want to talk about the fashions a little bit Now. I was just highly distracted by Kendrick's bell bottoms. I don't know if this is an LA thing. I mean, kendrick got a little cake back there, just a little grab on dude, just yank. Oh my God, I'm just saying he was just skipping around, I was a little bit distracted. I was a little bit distracted.
Soph:I was distracted because I see your toe items. Yes, I was like.
Nele:I was like these flares.
Soph:I was like Kendrick is me in 2003.
Nele:You got them LEI bell-bottom jeans Everybody was rocking.
Soph:Oh my God bell-bottom jeans.
Nele:Everybody was right, oh my god, yes, yes. And also there was symbolism in his jacket as well. It had the word Gloria on it, which is one of the songs he did with SZA on his album as well. So that was cool a sizzle. It's great in her red.
Nele:She did her thing, of course, and Serena, look, I want to be like Serena when I grow up. Here's why I want to be like Serena. I want to be able to be petty To my ex On a national Platform. Okay, actually, sza's also Drake's ex too, so two of his exes. This is his ex as well. Yeah, they date or messed around or something. He says some shady stuff. He's been saying shady stuff about her, so it's just like to come together for like a petty trifecta is great. Oh, I want to be like Serena when I grew up. Okay, I mean, look, who knows what may happen with? No, I know what's going to happen with this. This is how it ends podcast, and I'm definitely going to make sure, every once in a while, I can be petty to the men that I've dated. However, I don't know if I'll be able to do it the way Serena did it, you know.
Nele:So Drake and Serena dated right, they actually dated, yes and then, he was saying how her husband is a groupie or whatever, and it's just like, well, shouldn't your spouse be your groupie? I'm glad Serena didn't wait around for him when he got married, had her babies and just is doing her thing. And who is it Stephen A Smith talking about? Oh, like I would divorce my wife, that I would divorce Serena Over her.
Nele:After doing that no one asked you. So, yeah, I appreciated that as well. Um, overall, I thought it was a good performance towards the end. At least kendrick lamar wasn't like the guy that you dated for a few months and then when you're like, where, where, what are we? He's like oh, I'm not your man. He was like, look, I'm going to tease you, but we're going to commit, we're going to do this, and he definitely did it. You know it was great I was here for I was very much shocked to hear a whole stadium say a minor, all together. Was Drake at home? Was Drake at a Superbowl party?
Soph:I mean, I'm pretty sure he was not at a Superbowl party, like I'm pretty sure he was home alone cause he knew what was coming. I was trying to look to see, like, what his response was to this. First of all, these are two grown-ass men feuding. I need to say that again. I don't really condone this. I'm middle-aged, middle-aged and it's been going back. This is so middle school. It's been going back for a while. I was watching this comedian and he was saying because Drake went after Pusha T, yes, and after Pusha T, yes, and after Pusha T was like well, you got a baby.
Nele:Like leave people alone. Leave people alone when you have a hidden child, possibly children but so I try to do a little.
Soph:You know, try to look into this beef a little. I didn't really do a good job. I was kind of of I was I half-assed it, but so there was. It was like just one day where they were like just releasing all these back and forth, back and forth.
Nele:Yeah, there was a point in time where, like they were dropping one by one and then it was like, hey, you drop one, I drop one. And then all of a sudden, kendra's's like ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba, kendra's, just like one after the other, after the other. You couldn't keep up after a while. Now, I got in there after it was long after the beef had happened. But just watching reaction videos, people breaking things down, and it was like it was a surprise, and you're just like, okay, like how many more bullets can Drake take? But see, drake started it by going in on his family. See, like that's what you get.
Nele:That's what you get.
Soph:We don't do the family.
Nele:Family is sacred, but yeah, and so I guess Drake is also not on social media as well, because everybody's in on this. The elderly pets just black white. There was this one like video of these Indian women just black white. There was this one video of these Indian women dancing to Squabble Up.
Soph:He cannot, you can't escape it. This is not like the 90s beef, the 90s beef it's really contained, because you don't have social media spreading stuff Nowadays. You just can't escape it. Yeah, you can't escape it. People who are not fans, who don't even listen to rap, this they'll know about.
Nele:Yes, yes. And so I mean is this the end? Is this how this beef ends? Shameless plug.
Soph:I wonder, if he said game over, is that like saying he's done with this, or I mean?
Nele:It has to be with the Grammys and with this, like it's done.
Soph:But I mean it's done, but the song is. That's one of those songs, that it's, it's just.
Nele:Yeah, drake didn't say anything to anybody because he could just be like, not like, right and even like something is wrong with Kendrick, because you know there's a part where he goes, say Drake, I hear you like him young, but he like made sure to like look the camera in the eye, like say Drake, like he was just very, I know you are looking and here's the thing, the part of the with the young money, that's what Drake was a part of, or whatever. Like they were crying. What about? What about New Orleans? What about Lil Wayne? Lil Wayne should perform First of all. Ain't nobody gonna see? No, lil Wayne should perform First of all. Ain't nobody going to see? No, lil Wayne. Lil Wayne cannot perform. I'd rather see a broomstick with two lock extensions attached to it on a stage than see Lil Wayne perform at the Super Bowl. Okay, lil Wayne is more than cracked out Like it's sad.
Soph:For real. This man is always, is always like high off of something and I can't stand his mama Like I don't like his mama. I don't understand him. I don't know who writes for him, but it just never makes sense.
Nele:I know like a few Lil Wayne songs here and there. You know, but you know, and those who are rap aficionados Say, like you know, he's one of the I don't know goats, but he's up there Do you listen to his lyrics?
Soph:Do you listen to his lyrics?
Nele:I don't know girl, as mama say, I don't know about that boom bam pop, I don't know about all of that I'm in a foolish Little Because I can't see the bone and he has so many.
Soph:What'd you find? The one I was thinking about, real G's move in silence like lasagna, I mean that's actually kind of like.
Nele:the G in lasagna is silent. I mean, that's kind of clever, wasn't this? I'm not hello, mr Shit G and lasagna is silent. I mean, that's kind of clever, wasn't it something about shit in?
Soph:the bowl.
Nele:Hello, mr Shit, I'm the toilet bowl or something like that from him, something like that.
Soph:Yeah, the G and lasagna is silent, but there are so many other. I love that. That don't go hard, man.
Nele:I don't know. I kind of like that one, but I mean, people doing all this Almost got my eye. People doing all this whining when it's like I think I looked it up the only other time they had the Super Bowl in New Orleans was like 2013, I guess so was anyone campaigning for lil wayne like back then.
Soph:It's just, this has never happened like this has never happened, where, like they announced train yeah, it is. I mean, it was his people, though it was his it's it was little boozy talking about.
Nele:Yeah, there's all these Louisiana people. Boozy, I mean, I loves me, some Wipe Me Down. But you know I could have enjoyed Juvenile, you know, for the 99s and the 2000s, you know. And the Gadget Everybody knew what they were, you know. But yeah, I'm just like, why all this? Oh, it's because the Kendrick hate is really real and at first I thought like maybe he should have incorporated more of like the Louisiana sound in there. However, first of all, the pre-show they had a lot of, exactly. First of all, they had the pre-show. They had a lot of like the bands and stuff like that. And then for the national anthem and the Black national anthem, they had Louisiana artists, baptiste and Lettucey they sung, and so it's like all right, you know, kendrick doesn't have to carry the weight of New Orleans on his back.
Soph:He doesn't. No other artists are being asked to do this.
Nele:Yeah, so they're a whole bunch of haters.
Soph:We are haters. I mean who performed Rihanna performed last year. Where were? I don't remember this, I think it was.
Nele:Usher. Usher was last year. Usher was last year I think so, when Ludacris was, and then I think Rihanna was the year before.
Soph:Oh right, because that's when she announced her Bebe.
Nele:Yeah, but yeah, my favorite Super Bowl performance Will always be as controversial as he is Michael Jackson. It was sometime in the 90, 93, I don't know. It was definitely like it was heal the world and then he had like all the people in the audience with like the faces and yeah, it was pretty cool I think we have to say that when we talk about an artist yeah, what is it?
Soph:Is it Woody Allen? Mm-hmm? Woody Allen married his daughter yeah, that's, but he's still out here doing like no one. No one talks about him like and they say, well, you know, I know he's not like no, they just say like yeah. It's unfortunate that your legacy gets besmirched.
Nele:But everyone's like cancel, cancel. I love you, like this person or whatever.
Soph:I'm kind of that way too. I don't cancel nobody unless I feel like it. Yeah, I don't care. The only person I got on the cancel train was Art Kelly.
Nele:Yeah, that's just. And Diddy too. Oh Diddy, oh my god. But apparently our cancellation does not matter, because the event I went to February 2nd they were definitely playing Diddy, or it was all about the Benjamins, or whatever, and that song came on like it was hard.
Soph:It was all about the Benjamins or whatever and that song came on, Look it was hard.
Nele:It was hard. They were like the part was like you, like Wonder Woman with the beat, huh, like you can't help it. And then there was a part where I was like Puffy, hold me down baby. And all the women were like Puffy, hold me down baby.
Soph:Oh, just only female in my crew and I can't See. See, I can't be there to ask him. I just found a corner.
Nele:It's just like the whole bad boy situation. Like I remember I was at a wedding and they were playing some Peaches and Cream, like let me tell you what I want to do. And I was just kind of like this is not right, oh, like, but I was like oh, my god, that's like.
Soph:Move your body like a steak, because that's one of my favorite. Oh, man, that's like, and that has like such distinct memories for me. Yes, when you were young and at the were we in college, you were in college girl at the mocha parties. I definitely remember playing there, yeah, girl every time I hear that I was like like yeah, you just like give me a body like the guilt on your face.
Nele:Like that, god will deal me later. Hell will be waiting for us oh man so, um, I do want to get on my soapbox just a little bit okay girl so here's the thing, right, maybe because I'm now, I don't care so much about celebrities and I don't have as much like I appreciate them. You're an artist, you perform, this is what you do. Not everything that you do is necessarily for the culture.
Soph:Right.
Nele:And people are talking about, oh, what Kendrick Lamar did and what it means, and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, yeah, but he is performing NFL. You know, at the end of the day, it's done, we go back to our lives. Trump just outlawed paper straws like this is our life.
Nele:And so there was a quote on instagram which kind of summed up how I felt um, really well, it's um by her name, is asiatucoach and um, she said this kendrick's performance was absolutely creative. Creative as F, brilliant and Black representation, but not revolution, as a revolution won't be televised, as Gil Scott Heron said, which shout out to Gil Scott Heron, I have his album. One can't be a capitalist and pro-Black Capitalism requires Black exploitation. Kendrick's performance benefited both Jay-Z, a billionaire, and the NFL. For them to regain the Black audience, a Black entertainer performing at a known anti-Black and misogynistic company while calling out playing the game is ironic AF and that's the truth. And so I was really here for, okay, the pettiness of it all and, yes, the symbolism is dope and it's important, but at the end of the day, it's the.
Soph:Super Bowl, like nothing is really being done, like how does it better our lives?
Nele:Yeah, Sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. Go ahead.
Soph:How does it contribute to the Black cause? Like I don't. I agree with you too, and I remember thinking, even as this whole thing was. This is why I never I'm like, I'm not really, because this benefits the record industry first. Whoever MGM, I think, owns them, make a shit ton of money from this. Whatever Kendrick is making and Drake is making, they're making way more than that. It's still exploitation. They get a piece of the pie, but they're still being used as any other artists are being used to get our money.
Nele:Yeah, I just think. Black people, we can't keep on being bought by symbolism. Oh, this is symbolic, this is what this represents, but, at the end of the day, both men I mean even kanjik lamar, as much of a fan I am of his like he doesn't really practice what he preaches all the time we can't be easily bought. Yes, this is entertaining. Why can't we just accept things for what they are? Um, at the end of the day, he, he is a capitalist, he is an entertainer, and the NFL for the Super Bowl, they don't pay you. However, with the exposure and his tour coming up, he's going to be paid tenfold. His streams have gone up significantly since the Super Bowl, and so it's a win for him, yes, but it's not a win for us.
Nele:No, so they're entertainers and we take them as that yes, appreciate it for the shadiness and pettiness that it was, because that's what I was here for. But again, like I think I quoted before that, uh, drake said kendrick's rapping like he's always trying to feed the slaves or whatever, which is exactly what he did at the Super Bowl and you know he did put his. Sometimes it's okay just to be a conscious entertainer. But yeah, that's it just. It's okay to be a conscious entertainer, but you're not really doing much for us as a whole they're not.
Nele:They're not pushing anybody like, they're not moving anything forward no, like, yeah, like if he didn't do the Super Bowl, if he turned down the Super Bowl, that would have been more of a statement if you asked me. But I can't tell people what to do with their money. My bed is next to my sink. I can't tell people what to do, but I appreciate it for what it is, but appreciate it for what it is.
Soph:Appreciate for what it is, that's it.
Nele:Yeah Well, that's all I have to say about that. Any last words about the performance?
Soph:It was entertaining. I like that he looked at the camera directly.
Nele:Yes.
Soph:But this was just. This was pettiness.
Nele:Yes.
Soph:On the grand stage Definitely.
Nele:And before we go, I want to give a shout out to my auntie, because she was definitely giving Kendrick all the shade for the performance. She was like what is this? She went and took a hot shower. My other auntie, like I don't know, she made food or washed the dishes, I don't know, they weren't here for it at all. But I told her that I will make her a Kendrick Lamar fan. Just yet I sent her Poetic Justice, the music video. We're gonna start her off slow, but she will be a Kendrick Lamar fan soon enough.
Soph:I've never, I don't know a lot of his music. I kind of brushed up.
Nele:He's not for everybody, but he's gonna be for my auntie, so she'll appreciate it I do hope drake gets professional help, maybe because I feel like something like this.
Soph:It's a bit like I won't say it's bullying, because he started it, or you know. Whoever started, I don't know, but they were both kind of added until someone was like, well, I'm better than you, so he took it from me. I do think, though, to have this everywhere in the whole that's tough. A minor like a whole stadium.
Nele:Like is the song accusing you of being a you know.
Soph:Yeah, and it's. And they do that because you know, just if you look at his history, like, yeah, like girl.
Nele:I took that deep dive and it is shifty as hell. I don't know how you can explain some of these things.
Soph:It's weird, it's weird. Yeah, I just know the Billy Bobby Brown thing. This is like a 12-year-old girl and you're fangirling over them. This is weird, but I think, though, this could be traumatic. Yeah, how do you show your face? Like you have a whole body of people just laughing at you, like it's international, like it's just.
Nele:I'm sure they're saying A minor in another language.
Soph:How do you say A minor? In Spanish A menos I don't know A know a menos imagine him showing up somewhere and that's what people and I'm sure it's happened I'm sure it has happened. Yeah, I feel bad for him a little bit like I do feel bad for him, you know like, even if he did start it like I do. But you know why he got all his money to keep him warm.
Nele:Yeah, just dry your tears with a $100 bill, you know.
Soph:Again. The crazy thing is he can't escape anywhere. You know, like back then with Rat Beef, if it got too hot, we could.
Nele:I don't know go somewhere else maybe. Speaking of hot, the block is hot, the block is hot, hot, hot I. The block is hot, the block is hot, hot, hot. I think that's Lil Wayne. The block is hot, the block is hot, hot. It's up there, all right, y'all. Well, thank you for tuning in to this special episode. If you like the vibe, please make sure to like, comment and subscribe. Until next time, deuces.
