It was the most highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime show of all time. You just knew it was going to be epic – and without a doubt it was. All 14 minutes of it on the field of LA’s new SoFi Stadium, where the hometown team later scored the Lombardi Trophy.
But it was Dr. Dre’s team of close collaborators from the past 30 years that really had the score. Performing some of the biggest wrapped hits of the past 30 years. Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J Blige and Eminem all have deep ties with Dre, the seminal artist of the early days of West Coast hip-hop.
You also knew there would be a surprise guest.
Sure enough, 50 Cent entered upside down to perform his iconic hit “In Da Club,” which Dre co-produced.
In the face of accusations of institutionalized racism within the NFL, the show was a spectacular celebration of Black artists and snowcased Dre’s home turf of Compton with replicas of places like Tam’s Burgers, Dale’s Doughnuts and the Compton courthouse– all within a few miles of the gleaming, new stadium in Inglewood.
The show opened with Dre and Snoop performing “The Next Episode” and segueing into “California Love,” Tupac Shakur’s smash hit from the mid-90s that shouts out Inglewood, Compton and Watts.
Blige, clad in all-white with thigh-high boots and long blonde hair, did “Family Affair” and “No More Drama,” finishing with a flourish of her trademark R&B vocals.
Lamar performed “Alright,” leaving out a couple lines about gangs and police killings, omissions reportedly requested by the NFL.
When it came time for Eminem, he blasted out his Oscar-winning anthem “lose yourself,” backed by a band that included Anderson .Paak on drums. At the end of his performance, ‘Nem took a knee for more than 30 seconds, a nonverbal tribute to Colin Kaepernick’s stances during the national anthem about five years ago.
Closing out the spectacular show, the six hip-hop heavyweights convened at the 50 yard line for a swaggering run through “Still D.R.E.”
