The Napkin In Between
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The Napkin In Between
Unpacking Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime Protest
Join me in today's episode as we do an in-depth analysis of Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime performance—my current "Roman Empire" that I can't stop thinking about. This wasn't just entertainment; it was revolution televised. From the opening red "detonator button" signaling disruption to the PlayStation controller representing how America "plays games" with its citizens, particularly Black Americans, Lamar's performance was layered with profound symbolism. Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam, the symbolism of "40 acres and a mule," and the powerful positioning of dancers all conveyed a message about refusing to "shut up and dribble."
Have you noticed how often we're encouraged to play by rules designed to maintain existing power structures? Kendrick's performance brilliantly exposed this dynamic, inviting us to question whether we're playing the game or being played.
Is this thing on? Hello hello. Uh-oh, another yapper with a mic. Ha ha ha ha. Hello everyone, and welcome back to the Napkin In Between Podcast. I'm your host, Daijné Jones. I hope everyone has been having a good week, except for that orange drink lady. As always, I want you guys to tell me what happened this week for you that kept you grounded, made you happy, just something that you feel like was the peak of your week, the best part of your week, the peak of my week. Um, your girl's podcast is monetized. Yes, we're up on my Momma.
Daijné:So the other day I got a notification on one of my distributing platforms for my podcast that I met the qualifications for monetization. And when I got that notification, bitch, I was feeling like her because, mind you, I've only had this podcast for a little over two months, and so I was like damn already, like y'all fuck with me heavy y'all are tuning in, and I appreciate it so, so much. So I'm gonna break this down full transparency, because I always want to be fully transparent in my content creation journey, and that includes the monetization side of it. So I'm gonna tell y'all exactly what it means to be "monetized for the audio listeners, I kind of say in quotes, so y'all understand in a second, because, like I I, when I first seen the notification, I hella excited. I didn't really understand what the monetization meant, though. So, to distribute my podcast, I use three different distributors the first is YouTube, the second is Spotify and I also use Buzzsprout. So Buzzsprout is what I use to distribute my podcast on everything other than YouTube and Spotify. So if you listen to that podcast via Apple Podcasts, iheartradio, amazon, anything other than YouTube and Spotify, it comes through Buzzsprout. So all three things that I use in order to distribute my podcast have different criteria that you have to meet in order to monetize the podcast, and so I met the qualifications to monetize my podcast through Buzzsprout, and when I got that notification, I was like bitch on my mother, we are up. I was so fucking excited. I was surprised, honestly, a little bit because it happened so quickly, but I texted my mom she was the first person I texted, because she's the first person I text for any news and I was texting a few of my content creator friends, and I was like I monetize, like I was so excited, whatever, whatever.
Daijné:So, by monetizingizing, it meant that I could now play ads in my podcast, and so Buzzsprout has been sending me like different ads and I can listen to them, approve them, deny them, whatever. So I got a notification like here's a couple ads that you can put in your podcast. And so I listened to a couple of the ads. I approve some of them and one of them goes through for the approval so it gets added to my podcast and I was like, oh my god, like I'm, I'm really up, like I was dead ass. I was like I'm up bitch, like you hoes can't tell me fucking nothing. And so one ad gets approved. It goes into my podcast, starting with last week's episode.
Daijné:And so after the ad was approved and went into the podcast, I saw that it had a percentage thing that kept going up and up and up as people were downloading the podcast and I'm like I wonder what this is. I didn't think too much of it though, I was just like, ok, it's going up. I don't really know what that means. Come to find out, the percentage that was going up on the ad was the number of downloads that the ad would be played in, which means that there was a cap on the number of downloads that the ad would play in. Therefore, there was a cap on the amount of money that I could make off of that ad. Keep in mind I'm being paid 1.4 cents for every time the ad is run in an episode.
Daijné:So it turns out the max amount of money that I was able to make off of the ad was a dollar and nine cents. Right, right, bitch, I can't even buy a fucking mcchicken with that, like I like. But like I'm not complaining. I'm not complaining because everyone has to start from somewhere. And that's a dollar and nine more than I had yesterday. You know what I mean. But when I got that notification that it was monetized, I was like, oh, bitch, we're up, we're up, and we are up, we're up a dollar and nine cents. And so you know what small wins a win is a fucking win. But your girl definitely had too much dip on her chip. I thought that it was going to be streams period that I was going to get paid off of, but it's like a maximum amount of downloads per ad.
Daijné:But I'm still very, very grateful for that regardless because, like, content creation is something that I've always wanted to do, it's something that I've always loved, it's something that I've always admired of people, you know putting themselves out there in a way that can educate people or make people smile or, you know, just uplift someone who might be having a bad day, and so the fact that I can do that and also potentially make it my full-time job, it's truly a dream come true, and I I feel like I'm watching in real time my dreams and my goals and my aspirations become my reality, and I am so, so grateful for that. I'm so, so grateful for all of you, because I would not have any of it if you guys were not tuning in, and it just made me feel so much gratefulness, like, even though it's not much that I'm making, it's still something and it can only go up from here. You know what I mean everyone has to start from somewhere, and I am just so, so grateful for all of you and, like I just genuinely feel like I'm watching my dreams come true in real time, and so this is your sign if you want to post content, post your content. Everyone has to start from somewhere. I'm literally sitting on my bed with a mic, a camera and two lights. You know what I mean. Like when I first started posting on YouTube, I was filming fully from my phone, editing on a refurbished iPad. Like, everyone has to start from somewhere. So don't let the fear of starting keep you from starting, because you don't have to have this elaborate setup, this grand thing, in order to do what you want to do and to go and reach for your goals and your aspirations. Like, yes, right now it's just me sitting in my room on my bed with a mic, but someday it could be a tv show, you know what I mean, with a full production and a couch and a live audience, and like, like that's the goal. Honestly, I would love to have a tv show where I can just interview people. Like that would. That's absolutely the dream. But everyone has to start from somewhere. So I say all that to say just start, do your thing, don't let anybody hold you back.
Daijné:And something that I feel like is also very important is just be yourself. There are far too many people who are creating these fake personas online for likes and views, and once you start creating a fake persona, you have to keep up with that fake persona, because that's what people know and that's what people are there for. And after a while of pretending to be something that you're not, you're gonna get burned out, you're gonna get tired and you're not gonna want to do it anymore. So just be yourself. That's something that I have always done in my content. That's something that I always will do, because it's just. It makes it easy. If you're just yourself, you don't have to try. You can just do it. You can just pick up your mic, pick up your camera and go and don't try to be anything other than yourself and let your audience find you.
Daijné:Two biggest pieces of advice that I could give to anyone who wants to start their content creation journey because as long as you do those things, as long as you don't try too hard, you're just yourself. It'll never feel like a chore, it'll never feel like a job. It'll just be something that you enjoy doing, and isn't that the beauty of finding something that you could Potentially make your full-time job? If you truly enjoy your job, then it's like you're not even working. You know what I mean. So, anyway, I just wanted to say thank you so so much. I appreciate all of you. You guys are genuinely helping my dreams come true, and that means more to me than I could ever, I could ever put into words.
Daijné:And also, once I finally get there and I'm really up, y'all better not switch up on me. If y'all switch up on me, I swear to god I will hack into each and every one of your spotify's, your apple music, whatever you listen to music on. I will block every artist except for JLo, and that is the only person you'll be able to listen to for the rest of your life. Because I swear, as soon as the bitch is up, some of y'all be praying on the downfall and I don't like that. That's. That is hating, but not in a good way, because I'm a d1 hater, but that's not hating in a good way. So y'all better not switch up on me.
Daijné:But also, don't turn into the. They can never make me hate you crowd either. There's a very fine line with social media don't. Don't cross the line like stay, stay walking the plank, stay normal. You know what I mean, because they can never make me hate you crowd is so fucking toxic and so weird. Like that was supposed to be like a silly, fun little thing, but like it's gotten to the point where your fave can say something problematic and they'll get called out. Or people want to hold them accountable for spewing problematic shit to their massive fucking audiences.
Daijné:And here go people in the comments. Y'all can't make me hate them no one's trying to make you hate them but, like you have to be accountable for the things that you do with your platform. You know what I mean and I try really, really hard to make informed takes and do my research before speaking, which I feel like people don't do. Enough conversation for another day. But I'm human and so there might be a time where I say something that is wrong or problematic and if it gets to the point where people are holding me accountable, y'all better not get in a comment section talking about some. Y'all can't make me hate her. I am not above critique. I am not above being held accountable. I am not above any of that, as is no one. So if I say something that's problematic and someone is holding me accountable, that is okay. And also y'all hold me accountable as well because, like I said, I'm human. Even though I try to make informed takes and different things like that, I'm still human at the end of the day.
Daijné:So there might come a time where it happens and if it does, please don't get weird please don't. They can never make me hate you. You know what I mean. Like I just, I really hate that. I really I don't want no parts of that. But obviously it depends too. Like if I say something and the main group of people who are upset is like men or white people, I don't care, I'm just gonna be real, I don't care, because it was probably me calling out racism or misogyny or something and you know how that white guilt is. They want to be victims and like, if it's, if it's genuinely me just calling out racism or homophobia or something and they get upset. I genuinely I could not care less. If you felt hit, then you were who I'm talking to. You know what I mean. But if I ever do say something problematic or wrong, like, hold me accountable and don't try to brush it under the rug, because that only negates and defeats the purpose of my content. You know what I mean. So don't switch up on me. But also don't get. They can never make me hate you.
Daijné:But anyway, I just wanted to say I'm so, so grateful for all of you and thank you for your support and just being here, like I genuinely appreciate all of you so so much and, as always, I hope that my content is educational and informative and entertaining and all of the above. I want to hear what the peak of your week was. Please leave it in the comments. I want to know what you did this week that made you smile, that kept you grounded, that made you feel present in the chaos that is the world. So what we gonna talk about today.
Daijné:I know it's been about a month since Kendrick Lamar's super bowl halftime performance, but I told y'all that I would be there for a very long time and I might tell y'all a joke, but I will never tell you a lie. I swear Kendrick Lamar's halftime performance has become my roman empire. It is like the thing that I watch before going to bed at night. I think about it throughout the day and part of me has been watching it so much because I feel like the performance was so iconic and so moving and just the message of it is so important. But I also wanted to do a full breakdown episode of the entire performance and talk about all of the symbolism and the hidden messages and all of that. So have written down a step by step of all of the messages and the performance, or at least all of the ones that I feel like I caught. I still feel like I missed some, which is why, also, I've been watching it over and over, because I wanted to do a breakdown and highlight every single message. I'm sure I still probably missed some. So if I did, please leave them in the comments, because this is just such an important message and I feel like we can't just move on from it like I. I'm still there and I will still be there for a very long time. This breakdown is a combination of me just watching this performance over and over some of your comments on my videos that I've put on tick tock just all of the messages that I feel like I have found, or you guys have found, in the performance.
Daijné:So let's get into the full breakdown of Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime performance. Okay, so first in the performance, we start off with the introduction of the performance where we have the camera that's panning to the top of this red superdome and it says the National Football League welcomes you to the Apple Music Halftime Show. So, like I said, we see this red circle that looks like a detonator button and, if you're not familiar with a detonator button. It's like a button that's used to cause an explosion or an eruption or something like that, and so what I took from that is it was like Kendrick Lamar saying I'm about to disrupt everything with this performance, like I'm about to blow y'all shit up. I'm about to expose so much that is wrong with society and with America and with how America treats its citizens and also how America treats its Black citizens and its Black entertainers and its minorities. I watched the performance over and over and I didn't really catch that symbolism as the introduction to the performance. Until I went back and watched other Super Bowl halftime performances, I didn't realize that the start of every performance was a little bit different, and so I feel like that was a very calculated start to his performance. That Kendrick Lamar I feel like he's just such a fucking genius, a lyrical genius, a visionary genius, like I feel like every single thing that he does in all of his performances is very intentional, and so that's why I felt like it was like a detonator button, like okay, I'm about to expose y'all, I'm about to blow y'all's whole plan up.
Daijné:So after we get past the red dome and we're into the performance. Now we see an aerial view of the field and it looks like a controller. You can see different buttons lighting up. There's like an x, a triangle, a circle and a square. It's a PlayStation controller.
Daijné:There's a couple pieces of symbolism in this. So the first one is that it's a controller, and one of the main messages in Kendrick Lamar's performance is that America is playing a game. Number one is playing a game between US citizens and the government and how the government controls the citizens, but it's also playing a game with black American culture, both games of which are meant to keep people in a specific place so that one group of people is winning and another group of people are losing. So, as we're seeing the game controller, we see a sequence of buttons being pressed on the controller. Someone had commented and said that the sequence that buttons being pressed is a cheat code in a game that restores you to full health. And as the buttons are being pressed, you can see in the crowd it's lighting up and it's going from 0 to 100%, like this bar is filling up from 0 to 100. My takeaway from that is that Kendrick Lamar again was about to explode or blow up their game and show us how we can reach our full potential, how we can play the game in a way that we could be restored to full life and not be controlled by the government. And, as we know, throughout the whole performance Kendrick Lamar weaves in and out on his beef with Drake, and so some people were also saying that it was a playstation controller, because Drake has a partnership with playstation and so that was kind of like a diss at drake as well of using the playstation controller.
Daijné:Then we get into Samuel L Jackson, who is dressed as Uncle Sam. Now Samuel L Jackson narrates throughout this entire performance. Uncle Sam is a symbol that is used to represent the American government. It's used a lot in American propaganda, specifically military propaganda, and it's basically just a personification of how the government expects its people to behave, which is in compliance with the government, right. And so Samuel L Jackson starts by saying salutations, it's your Uncle Sam, and this is the great American game. We are not talking about football here, okay. We are talking about the game that the government plays with its citizens to keep them controlled, and also the game of life in America as black people. So let's talk about the importance of using Samuel L Jackson to play Uncle Sam for this performance. So Samuel L Jackson is a very well-known black american actor. He he's very well-loved in the black community.
Daijné:Samuel L Jackson played in the movie Django Unchained. He plays a character named Stefan who is the head slave on the plantation. So as the head slave, he's very loyal and close to the slave master. He's essentially the slave master's eyes and ears on the plantation, lets the slave master know if anyone's getting out of line and Uncle Ruckus, if you will. Samuel L Jackson was also very important as the role of Uncle Sam because Samuel L Jackson has been very vocal in his opposition to Donald Trump. He has called Donald Trump a racist and in a 2023 interview with Rolling Stone, he said that Donald Trump reminded him of the same racist rednecks who taunted him during his childhood. And keep in mind Donald Trump is at the Super Bowl, so he is watching this performance live. Not that he really understood or gave a fuck about the message behind the performance, but he was there to see it live. So after Samuel L Jackson says welcome to the great American game.
Daijné:We go to Kendrick Lamar and he's kneeling on a Buick GNX In the crowd you can see it says start here, which, as we know, is a very common thing that you can see on a board game. It's like telling you where to start. You know what I mean. So it's just like another nod to the fact that we are playing a game. So Kendrick Lamar is on top of the GNX, he's kneeling down on on the GNX and the GNX has personal symbolism to Kendrick Lamar. Um, he has said in an interview that his dad drove him home from the hospital when he was born in a GNX. Also, GNX are also very symbolic to black culture as it's another example of a low rider which we see a lot in west coast hip-hop, black movies, HBCU homecomings, like it's just a nod to black culture.
Daijné:So Kendrick Lamar starts performing and as he's performing we can see dancers piling out of this car. It looked like they were coming out as if it was a clown car, which I took as a nod to people see black culture and black people as entertainment. It gave very much shut up and dribble to me. You know what I mean. Like you're here to tap dance for us. They don't want us to be speaking out about race issues, about social issues, about the climate of the world. They genuinely see us as entertainment. They see us as people who should shut up and dribble. So, with all the dancers piling out of the car and it looking like a clown car, like I took that as him saying like this is what y'all want us to be, y'all just want us to be entertainment or you know, here for your benefit and as we're here for your benefit, you're constantly taking away from us.
Daijné:Like black culture is not appreciated, it's appropriated. You know what I mean. Like when we do it it's. It's seen as loud, reckless and ghetto, which we'll get to in a little bit, um, but it's. It's seen, it's demeaned, it's looked down upon, it's seen as something negative. But when other people do the exact same things that we do in our black culture, it's seen as edgy or fun or spunky or whatever. So that was the first thing that I I caught from the dancers piling out of the car.
Daijné:I also saw people say that it could be symbolic of the underground railroad, because the dancers were coming like from underground, of the way that the stage was set up. They were coming. They obviously weren't all fitting in that car, they were coming from other parts of the stage and so people were saying that it could be a symbolic of, you know, freedom and escaping slavery. And a nod to Harriet Tubman in the underground railroad, because as the dancers are coming out of the car, you see Kendrick Lamar starting to like move in a way that kind of looks like he's telling them to like go forward. He's like moving back and forth. You know what I mean? Um, I also saw people say that it could be symbolic for mexican culture of people just piling out of the car and being freed as well. So then kenji lamar performs a little bit more and then we hear him say the revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time but the wrong guy.
Daijné:So there's a few points of symbolism in this, the first one being it is a nod to Gil Scott Heron's song the revolution will not be televised, a song that encouraged people to take actions and change their minds to create social change. Gil Scott Heron also encourages people not to listen to mainstream media if they want change, because mainstream media will tell people what they want them to believe, not what is necessarily true or fully accurate. Gil Scott Heron also encourages people not to be passive in their one for social change, and if you actually want change, you have to actually get out in the field and do something, rather than just sitting at home or complaining about you know what's going on. You have to actually do something, and so this was Kendrick Lamar's way of saying the revolution is about to be in your face. We are here to make a statement, we are here to call for change and, whether y'all like it or not, we're not going to play the game the way that you want us to. We're not gonna be complicit and we're not gonna be silent.
Daijné:I also took the right time, wrong guy to mean that, like this is the right time for a revolution, given the state of our country and who was just elected, so it's the right time. But they picked the wrong guy because Kendrick Lamar isn't going to just shut up and dribble. He's not going to just be there for their entertainment or play the game the way that they want them to. I also kind of maybe thought that this was maybe a subtle little dig at the people who didn't want Kendrick Lamar to perform when he was initially announced as being the performer for the Super Bowl, people thought that he was not the right choice, and I remember specifically, people were saying that Lil Wayne should have been asked to perform rather than Kendrick Lamar, and so I took this as kind of like him saying, like, had you have picked someone else, they probably would have just been here to entertain you as you wanted, because in the past, lil Wayne has shown support for Donald Trump and talks about how Donald Trump was here to help the black community Total fucking bullshit. And so I took that as Kendrick Lamar saying, like had you picked someone else, they would have just shut up and dribble. They would have just been here to entertain. That's not what I'm here to do. I'm here to put out a message because social change needs to happen.
Daijné:So then he goes into performing squabble up, which I took as him saying like again, I'm here to fight, I'm here to resist, also as a way to tell people like we all need to be here, we all need to be fighting back, we all need to be not playing the game the way that the government wants us to if we want actual social change something that was also really symbolic to me in the performance of squabble up is the position of the dancers in the choreography which I feel Kendrick Lamar used a lot in this performance. So, as we can see in the squabble up part of the performance, we're getting ready to fight, right, we're getting ready to revolt, for battle, like that's what I'm taking from the squabble up, and you can see, on the front of the battlefield or the revolution, all of the dancers are men and in the back are the women, which I took as Kendrick Lamar saying like men need to step up, y'all need to do better, y'all need to get in the field and and lead the revolution, like oftentimes and this is just my opinion, but I do kind of see and feel that a lot of the time when things are being spoken out against or, you know, people are trying to make social change, a lot of the time it does appear to be women and I think this was Kendrick Lamar's way of saying like men, you need to step it up, y'all need to get in the field too. So then, after squabble up, we see Samuel L Jackson come back and he says no, no, no, no, too loud, too reckless, too ghetto, and I took this as him saying, like revolting and going against the government. He was demonizing that as he's just as the symbol of the American government. That was the government saying that is wrong. You should not be going against what we say and revolting and trying to bring about any change. You need to stay in your place. You need to play the game the way we want you to play the game. And that's also why Samuel L Jackson says do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up. Basically, just him saying stop what you're doing, play the game the way that we want you to play the game, so that we can stay in our place and the government can continue to control us.
Daijné:So then Kendrick Lamar goes into humble, and there's a few different parts of symbolism in going from Samuel L Jackson telling him to tighten up into humble. Number one the song talks about you know, sit down and be humble. That is what the american government wants us to do. They don't want us to revolt, they don't want us to, to challenge them, because if we challenge them and we try to make real social change, then they will lose. And like lose I put, I say in quotes, because it's not really about them losing, but it's like they don't want us to benefit. Us benefiting feels like a loss to them.
Daijné:I also thought that it was really symbolic for him to go into humble, because humble is one of his biggest songs, it's one of his most well-known commercial songs, which I felt like was a nod to this is what you want. You want us here to be your entertainment. You want us to specifically entertain you and, being as though it's one of his biggest songs you know it was it was like a nod to okay, you want us to just be entertainment. Also, again, the formation of the dancers and Kendrick Lamar while he's performing humble. So they're in the formation of an american flag, but it's divided and Kendrick Lamar is standing in the middle, which I took as symbolic of how divided our country is. And not only is the country divided, but as our country is divided and we can all see that it's divided, we, we can all tell that it's very, very divided. He's performing humble because the American government is telling us to sit down and shut up, even though we can very clearly see that our country is extremely divided. And so I thought that it was really symbolic of him to be performing this song which, again, which is one of his biggest songs meaning you need to just be here to entertain us and also the lyrics of sit down and be humble. He's performing this as a way to say, like you know, it's literally in our face how divided our country is and y'all are still expecting us to not do anything about it.
Daijné:Also, in some of the choreography, during this point you can see on both sides of the division the dancers are nodding as Kendrick Lamar is saying like sit down and be humble, which I took to mean there is complicity on both sides. Right, both sides are not standing up against the government in the ways that they should. There's complicity on both sides and both sides need to change in order to make a statement and make social change. But then Kendrick Lamar is basically saying like this is not what we're going to do, we're not just going to sit down, we're not just going to be humble. And so in the choreography the dancers start to march forward and come together. The division of the dancers as they're marching forward, they're moving in so that there's not a divide anymore, and I took that to mean both sides coming together to revolt against the government, and that's how it should be like it shouldn't be right versus left, it should be up versus down.
Daijné:And I it also made me think of the Pixar movie A Bug's Life and the speech that Hopper gave. When the other grasshoppers are talking about, like maybe we should just not go back and and get the food or whatever, and they're like oh, it was just one ant who stood up to us, like it doesn't really matter, it wasn't a big deal. And Hopper goes into the speech of like, if one ant stands up, then they might all stand up. I felt like in that movie that was symbolism of you know, if we, if we all, really came together and stood up against the government, we could make real social change. And so that's why they try to keep us so divided, with right versus left, because if they keep us fighting amongst each other, then we're not fighting against them, which is what we should actually be doing, but instead we're fighting right versus left.
Daijné:So then, as the dancers are marching forward and they're coming together, we hear drumming, which I feel like kind of sounds like gunshots, and then that's when all the dancers scatter. I kind of took that as symbolism, as you know, once we do come together, or if we were ever to eventually come together, the government would create some sort of chaos to again keep us separate and keep us fighting each other. And that's why all the dancers, after they came together, the drums started. Ie, the government caused some sort of chaos and everyone runs away and dissipates and we're not united as we should be. But after all the dancers, you know, are scattered and there's a little bit of chaos. Then we get into a different layout of the field and it looks like a street, right?
Daijné:I felt like this was Kendrick Lamar's way of saying don't let the government keep us separate. We still, even if they create chaos, we need to stay together. Like this was Kendrick Lamar's way of saying don't let the government keep us separate, we still, even if they create chaos, we need to stay together. We need public demonstration, we need marches, we need protests in order to fight against the government. So while they're performing in this like street view that we see, we see in the crowd, it's lit up and it says wrong way.
Daijné:Again, this is a game reference. Sometimes, when you're playing games and you're going the wrong way, it'll tell you. And if you go the wrong way too much, there's games that will, like hint at you, like if you go the wrong way too much, it can have negative consequences or you could even die. And we see wrong way after you know the street performance or in the middle of the street performance of people protesting in the streets. And so I took this as symbolic of the government saying like hey, you're going the wrong way. If you continue to play the game the way you're playing the game ie protesting and going against what we say, it could have negative consequences. But I also took this as a way of of Kendrick Lamar saying the country is going the wrong way by electing Donald Trump. Like it's literally set us back years with his ending of equal employment opportunities and different things like that. Like we're, we're physically going the wrong way as a country. Instead of moving forward, we're moving back.
Daijné:But even though it's saying that we're going the wrong way, Kendrick Lamar continues to march forward. He continues to like protest and go into battle in his performance. I mean, and again we see as he he's marching. The men are in the front and leading the revolution. We see this several times in Kendrick Lamar's performance. So then we go into the performance of man at the garden and we see Kendrick Lamar at a street light with a bunch of his friends. Right, one of his friends is laying on top of the street light. I kind of took that as like he was a friend that was killed or passed away or you know. He's no longer here and he's like watching over all of the other friends. He's like a guardian angel. So let's get into a little bit of the lyrics from the song man at the Garden.
Daijné:One of the lines that Kendrick Lamar says is do you want the famous me or the dangerous me? I took this to mean like the famous him would be the one that's strictly just the entertainer. Right, he's there to shut up and dribble, he's there to entertain. The dangerous him isn't, in fact, actually like a danger, but it's a danger to the government or the system because he's continuing to speak out about racial issues and social injustice and the things that the government does as a way to control the US. The government does as a way to control the US citizens and as a way to control the way that black people, specifically, are viewed by the world and the ways that black people are constantly told to shut up and dribble, to be there to entertain and to not bring attention to racial issues. And so this is Kendrick Lamar's way of saying you're going to get the dangerous me like. I'm not here to just shut up and dribble. I'm not here just for your entertainment. I am here to make a statement because a revolution will be televised and a revolution is needed.
Daijné:And so after this we see Samuel L Jackson come back and say oh, you brought your homeboys with you, the old culture cheat code. And so I took this as a way of of Samuel L Jackson saying like once we are in community and once we all come together, the government sees that as a cheat code, because when you have too many people standing up against you and fighting back and bringing attention to race issues, social issues, different things like that, it can bring real change. Again. Going back to the bugs life movie, if one of them stands up, they might all stand up, and if we all up, then there will be actual change. And so we hear Samuel L Jackson say scorekeeper, deduct one life.
Daijné:I took this as symbolic of police brutality because, as we know, we've seen, you know, if people are protesting, sometimes the police show up and they bring tear gas or you know anything like that in a way to try to stop people from protesting the government or race issues or advocating for social change, especially in like the civil rights movement. For example, when people were marching or protesting, you know they would bring the dogs, the water hoses, just different ways to try to keep people in a place, to keep one group losing and another group winning. So it's essentially symbolic of the government punishing people for coming together to advocate for social change. And then, right after this, Kendrick Lamar goes into the performance of peek-a-boo and as he's performing peek-a-boo, it looks like a prison yard, which I felt like was also symbolic of. You know, once you go against the government, once you advocate for social change, another tactic that they use is jail and imprisonment. Several civil rights activists were jailed and imprisoned Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King. They were thrown in jail as a way to try to keep them from advocating for social change. So I took this as a way of saying, like you know, sometimes they try to silence you with death and then other times they try to silence you by putting you in prison, anything that they can do to try to keep you from speaking out or bringing attention to racism and other discriminatory, oppressive tactics. So then after peek-a-boo, we get into the tease of not like us.
Daijné:Now, personally, this is one of my favorite uses of symbolism that Kendrick Lamar uses in this performance. So throughout the entire performance, Kendrick Lamar is very confident. He knows what he's going to do next. He everything is very well thought out. But when he gets to, you know whether or not he wants to perform not like us. He he's like going back and forth on whether or not he wants to perform it right. Both times when he was thinking about performing not like us, he goes to black women. He goes to black women to help him make that decision. So let's talk about the black women that he goes to.
Daijné:Number one, it's four black women. Four as a number represents stability, balance and hard work. It's also a number that signifies direction. There's four points on a compass north, south east, south east and west. Meaning four is the number of guidance, right. There's also the four elements fire, air, earth and water. So I took this as a symbol of you know when guidance is needed and when you're struggling and you you need help making a decision. The people who are going to help you and help guide you through making difficult decisions will be black women. Right, I felt like he was saying that black women are a sign of guidance and stability and hard work and people that you should go to in your time of need for guidance or anything like that.
Daijné:Also, the four women was a reference to his song king kunta, which he was not allowed to perform at the super bowl. King Kunta is Kendrick Lamar's song, which is about the rebellious slave Kunta Kinte. It was just about, like you know, essentially another nod to revolting and not staying in the place that the government wants you to stay in. And so I think that's also why we hear Samuel L Jackson say oh, you done lost your damn mind. Because it's a way of him saying like you know, I'm still going to continue to rebel, I'm not going to stay in the place that the government wants me to and going to stay in the place that the government wants me to. And so Samuel L Jackson, who was again Uncle Sam, a representation of the government, is like oh, you've lost your mind, like you're doing something that you're not supposed to be doing.
Daijné:Also, with the tease of not like us, Kendrick Lamar says I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue. This was number one, a diss at Drake, because Drake has threatened legal action against Kendrick Lamar for performing not like us. But I also took it as a symbol of Kendrick Lamar talking about censorship, which we know happens a lot in mainstream media and with the us government, of them not bringing attention to situations that need to be brought attention to, um, because if too much attention is brought to these situations, it could create social change and they don't want that. They want us to shut up and dribble. They want us to play the game the way that they want us to play the game, so that they can continue winning and we continue losing.
Daijné:So, as we know, Kendrick Lamar decides not to perform, not like us. He says he's gonna slow things down, which is where we get into the part of the performance with my girl, SZA. Oh my god, I love her so much. My girl, I love SZA much. So, number one we see SZA is dressed in red, which I took as symbolism of the sacrifices that Black women have made for Black liberation and for the advancement of Black people. Also, the entire part of the performance that includes SZA is very calm and it's much slower, which I took as symbolic of that's what Black women need right now, right? Black women have been on the forefront and the front lines for a very long time and right now what they need is a slower and a calming and rest.
Daijné:I just kind of took that as Kendrick Lamar's way of saying like I'm not gonna put too much on SZA, who I felt like was a representation of black women in this performance and his way of saying like we should not be putting too much on black women because they've done so much for us as it is. Like let's let them be slower and calmer and more relaxed. You know what I mean. Also, I thought it was really interesting that he refers to SZA as Solana while they're performing. That just felt more personal and deeper to me, because everyone refers to SZA as SZA Solana is her real name but everyone just uses her stage name and so, with Kendrick Lamar using her real name and saying Solana, it just felt like it was his way of saying like I'm here for you on a deeper, more personal level. I will protect you and you know I see you as more than just an entertainer or I see you in a deeper way than the world sees you. I just took it as a way of him saying like me, as a black man, I am going to be here to protect you, a black woman, and that's what black men should be doing is being there and protecting black women. I felt like that was kind of his way of saying like, as black men, as a community, black men could do better in protecting black women.
Daijné:So one of the songs that SZA and Kendrick Lamar performed together is All the Stars, which number one, all the Stars we hear in the Black Panther movie, which obviously is a superhero movie, but also the Black Panther Party, which was there to help protect and aid the black community against police brutality. Also, all the Stars is one of Kendrick Lamar's biggest commercial songs as well, very similar to humble, and so after they perform it, we see Samuel L Jackson come back and say see, that's what america wants, nice and calm, which I felt like was another nod to you know, you're here to entertain us, you're supposed to just be our entertainment. And I felt like it was interesting that when we see kendrick lamar, when he performed humble, he performed humble right after Samuel L Jackson tells him to tighten up, essentially saying like you're here to be our entertainment, entertain us. And then they perform all the stars and right after that, Samuel L Jackson says this is what america wants. Basically, in both instances, he's saying you are here to entertain us, just entertain us. That is what america wants, that is what the government wants, because they don't want us to be talking about racial issues and and advocating for social change. So Samuel L Jackson says this is what america wants. Nice, calm, you're almost there, don't mess this up. And as he's saying, don't mess this up is when Kendrick Lamar interrupts him again with not like us. And so Kendrick Lamar is back with, you know, his four black women who are helping guide him into whether or not he wants to perform this song.
Daijné:And before he starts to perform it, he says some very important things. So, first and foremost, he says it's a cultural divide I'm gonna get it on the floor. This was a nod to again how divided our country is. And then he says 40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music.
Daijné:40 acres and a mule was a promise that was made to black Americans after they freed themselves from slavery, which basically said that they would be getting land and resources as a way to help them rebuild after slavery. This was a broken promise made by the government to black people. The land was taken back from black people and given back to their previous slave owners. So I took it as a call for reparations and the repairing of all of the broken promises, because there have been countless broken promises made to black americans. So then he says they tried to rig the game, but you can't fake influence. So number one, I feel like this was another diss to Drake, because again, Drake had threatened to sue. So that was Drake's way of trying to rig the game, trying to censor him.
Daijné:But I also took it as a way of him saying, like they're, they tried to rig the game, meaning mainstream media and censorship and the propaganda that the American government wants its people to believe so that they can remain playing the game the way that the American government wants us to. But this was Kendrick Lamar's way of reminding them yet again that he is not here to play the game, that the way that they want him to, and the revolution is here and it's in your face, whether you like it or not. So then he decides to perform, not like us, decides I say in quotes, because he was, I feel like he was always going to perform it, but for the sake of the performance, he's like going back and forth on whether or not he should perform not like us. And I took this as another symbol of going into battle because, as we know, not like us was a diss track released against drake in the midst of their rap beef, and so I took this as like a double entendre of like the rap battle, but like actual battle too, and like revolution against the government. And so once he decides like okay, like yes, we are going to revolt, we're going to go into battle, he starts to march forward first, and then the black women who have helped guide him into making this decision, they follow him into battle. So again he is on the front lines, he is the one leading, and again I feel like he is a symbol for black men of like black men should be the ones leading the revolution. Like yes, black women should also be a part of the revolution. We should be there like helping and and guiding, but when it comes to, you know, actually going into, like the protests and different things, like that, black men should be on the front line. That was the symbolism that I felt like he was trying to portray in him going first and then the black women following behind him. So then, as he's performing not like us we can see all of the dancers are all together, right. Like for the majority of the performance, the dancers were like in their own separate categories, like the red dancers with the red dancers, the blue with the blue, the white with the white right. As he's performing not like us, because this is again when we've decided to go into battle, all the of the dancers are together, which I took as the unification of the right and the left coming together to protest and revolt against the government. And, of course, during Not Like Us, we got the Serena Williams cameo, which lives in my head, rent-free.
Daijné:I remember my exact reaction when I first saw Serena Williams on screen, but Serena Williams coming after Crip Walk was also very symbolic number one. She was criticized heavily in 2012 for crip walking at the summer olympics. After she had won, she did a little crip walk in celebration and people said that she was glorifying gangs and said that it was inappropriate, like she almost got fined for doing it. And, as we know, there's a long history with Serena Williams being demonized by media and people, and so I felt like that was like a reclamation for Serena Williams as a way of saying like there's nothing wrong with me doing this. This is a celebration of black culture and y'all are trying to demonize that. So it was a way of reclaiming as well. Also, there is a little bit of history with Serena Williams and Drake. They were rumored to be dating for a little bit, and he has taken shots at Serena Williams and her husband in his songs ever since you know they broke up. So it was also just like another dig at Drake.
Daijné:And then, finally, we get into TV Off and Kendrick Lamar does a lyric change. When he's performing TV Off, Kendrick Lamar says turn this TV off right and mind you. As he's performing tv off, Kendrick Lamar says turn this tv off right and mind you, as he's performing tv off, like everyone is in the streets, all the dancers are unified and I'm seeing this as like a protest, like we're getting in the field, we're getting in the streets and protesting. But he's also encouraging people to protest not only in the streets but also with their money. He's literally saying turn this tv off. That it was a direct command to turn the tv off to not support the super bowl, because obviously one of the biggest parts of the super bowl are also the commercials and there was a lot of american propaganda in this year's super bowl commercials and so that was kind of Kendrick Lamar's way of saying turn it off, don't, don't listen to what they're saying, don't give them your money by tuning in, turn this tv off.
Daijné:It was like literally, he was literally telling us turn the tv off. Also, while he's performing tv off, we get another aerial view of the field and we can see that all of the dancers are on each one of the controller buttons. And I took this as a way of him saying if we all come together and if we unify, we can then control the game. We are the ones who are pushing the game, we are the ones who are pushing the buttons. We are the ones who are controlling our outcome and in the future of not only the country but also the future for black people specifically, if we were to all come together and band together and not fight each other, not fight left versus right, but fight up versus down, we can then control the outcome of the game. And so then at the end of tv off, in the crowd, we see it says game over, which I took as saying this game that the government is trying to play with us it's over. We're not playing the game that they, that they want us to play. We're not going to shut up and dribble. We're not just here to entertain, we are here to make a statement, we are here to make real social change. And so that was the end of the performance.
Daijné:Kendrick Lamar just saying like this game is over, number one, like again telling telling us to turn the tv off because nothing else matters, because we're not going to give them our money that's another way that we can protest. But also of him just saying, like you know, the game that the government wants us to play, we're not playing it, it's over, we're not going to do it. What a fucking performance like. I just cannot get it off my mind. It's just so. There's so many messages, there's so much to unpack in the performance, but all of it truly boils down to number one we're not going to play the game and we're not going to stay in line that the way that the government wants us to all as US citizens, but also as Black people. They continue to want to use us for their entertainment and for their benefit, but then we in turn don't benefit from that. And it was just Kendrick Lamar's way of saying like we're not going to continue to stay in the boxes that you want to see. We're not just here for your entertainment, we are here to make real social change.
Daijné:Also, a little bit about his outfit Number one, his cute little bootcut jeans that he was slaying the girls down in. Bootcut jeans are a longstanding statement of protest. Fashion in general has been used as a statement of protest, further going to show like I am here as a way to protest. I am not here just to entertain you. And then he was wearing the A necklace, which was a symbol for his brand, pg Lang. I also kind of thought maybe it was like a little A minor necklace, a little diss towards Drake, and I also kind of think that maybe there was a little bit of like dissing America with that as well, because it was a lowercase a, just basically saying like America is not that girl the way that she thinks she is, because a lot of times when you see like USA. The A is capitalized With him, it was lowercase, which could maybe be a way of him saying like America is not that girl the way that she thinks it is. You know what I mean. Like you're you're not eating the girls of the way you think you are.
Daijné:And then he had on the Gloria jacket, which was a reference to his album, GNX, and then also a reference to his journey as an artist in the music industry, essentially representing his lyrical style, his pen game and also just like his journey through the music industry. Also the word Compton was on his jacket, which was a nod to his hometown and also, I feel like, maybe a nod to black culture, as me personally, when I think of Compton, I think of black culture and west coast rap and different things like that. So, performance packed full of symbolism. I probably still miss some, even though I've watched this performance so many times, tried to catch all of them. I'm sure I missed some. So if I missed anything, please leave it in the comments.
Daijné:This performance was a statement. It was a statement and we need to make sure the statement continues to get out, because the only way for us to bring real social change is to be that change. If we want real social change. We cannot be passive. We cannot just blindly comply with what the government wants us to do. We have to be vocal and we have to be in the streets and we have to be the change that we want to see. We have to, we have to go against the government and we cannot play the game that they want us to play, because if we continue to play the play the game that they want us to play, because if we continue to play the game the way that they want us to, they will continue to win and we will continue to lose.
Daijné:I hope that this episode was educational. I hope that it helped better understand the performance. It was really important to me to put all of the pieces in one episode because there are so many, and I just hope that it'll bring about real social change and we can put Kendrick Lamar's message into real action and bring about real social change. Thank you for tuning in today. I hope again that it was educational. I hope everyone is having a good day, except for that orange drink lady, and I will see you guys in the next episode. Peace and love. Talk to you later.