super bowl halftime show

Eminem Kneels In Solidarity With Colin Kaepernick During Super Bowl Halftime Show Despite The NFL’s Orders

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Eminem Kneels Super Bowl Halftime Show
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After reports leaked that Eminem had been forbidden to kneel in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick’s protest campaign, during today’s halftime show he decided to go his own way. Eminem’s contribution to the star-studded show was focused mainly on his massive hit, “Lose Yourself,” which featured a cameo from none other than Anderson Paak on the drums, but at the end of that song, he chose to kneel down onstage and highlight Kaepernick’s protests.

Some might think it’s too little too late for white artists and athletes to begin supporting Colin’s movement, which ended up with him struggling to find a place when it came to the draft, others will definitely find it commendable that Eminem used his own position to shine a light. Currently, Ava Duvernay and Netflix are working on a six-episode series about Colin called Colin In Black And White.

It might’ve been a little bit more impactful if the activist himself had been invited onstage, either by Dr. Dre and his cohort, or by the NFL themselves, who seemed intent on silencing or ignoring the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback during the height of his protests, which were primarily enacted as the peaceful act of kneeling during the National Anthem before games. Check out some reactions to Eminem’s choice to kneel below.

Kendrick Lamar Is Rumored To Be Debuting A New Single Before He Performs On The Super Bowl Halftime Show

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Kendrick Lamar Austin City Limits
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Kendrick Lamar has a history of dropping new music in a live setting. Well, sort of… Back in 2014, when producer Flying Lotus closed out LA’s FYF Festival Lawn Stage on Sunday night, he dropped the Kendrick Lamar collaboration “Never Catch Me” for the first time ever in the middle of his performance, set to a dizzying three-dimensional visual display. For those who were there, it was a sublime moment hearing what would soon become one of the best tracks of the year. But back then, Kendrick Lamar wasn’t in attendance and his voice on the track more than did all the heavy lifting. Now at this Sunday’s Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show, when he takes the stage alongside Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, and Mary J. Blige at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, things could look a lot different.

According to radio host Ebro Darden, who co-hosts Apple Music’s Rap Life Review, Lamar might very well have a new song out in time to perform it on the biggest of all stages. In yesterday’s episode, Darden and co-hosts Nadeska and Lowkey were speculating about a new single from the “Humble” rapper when Darden begins to speak on what he’s just been informed. “What I’m reading here provided by our producer Sasha… the way this reads, it sounds like it’s confirmed that we will get a single from Kendrick Lamar before his performance,” Darden begins. “It says: ‘With the release of his single to be debuted ahead of his performance, what we know so far is that his next project will be the last project that he will release under Top Dawg Entertainment,’ which, we already knew that.”

It sounds like a press release was sent to the popular hip-hop show to put the information out there ahead of the Super Bowl and that come Sunday, Lamar could indeed be playing the song on stage.

Kendrick Lamar’s Rumored New Single Might Be Dropping Before The Super Bowl Halftime Show

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Kendrick Lamar Austin City Limits
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The Super Bowl Halftime Show has become one of the biggest events in music. Last year, The Weeknd cited his booking at the big game as something that possibly drove The Grammys to snub him for his most successful album to date, After Hours, that’s how important it’s become. This year, the NFL has assembled an all-star crew, tapping Dr. Dre to lead Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and Mary J. Blige. And even though all those veterans on one stage together — or rather, one football field together — is a huge deal, it’s inevitably still Kendrick that’s going to steal the spotlight.

Why? Because fans are starving for new music from the sometimes dubbed “greatest rapper alive,” who hasn’t released much of anything since his electric Damn back in 2017. That’s three years deep into a pandemic with no new bars from Kung Fu Kenny to help us get by. At this point, fans are grabbing onto any hints at all that the SUper Bowl will be a runway ramp for Kendrick’s new album release, and Billboard has got those straws, no matter how flimsy they might be.

Asking fans to vote in an R&B/hip-hop poll about anticipated music yesterday, they dropped these lines in about Kendrick: “sources tell Billboard a Lamar single may arrive on Feb 4. or Feb. 11 before he plays the Super Bowl halftime show.”

I’ll take it! Okay Kendrick, after months of teasing that the new album is done, it’s time to release it.

The 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show Trailer Combines Hits By Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, And Mary J. Blige

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A few months ago, hip-hop fans’ dreams came true when it was announced that Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige would all be performing together at the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show on February 13. Now, as the big day is less than a month away, Pepsi has shared a cinematic new teaser video for the performance.

“The Call,” a near-4-minute video helmed by Straight Outta Compton director F. Gary Gray, features each artist getting an important call, prompting them all to head to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California for the big game. Through the cinematic clip, snippets of the legends’ iconic songs set the stage for the show, as the ad features “Rap God,” “The Next Episode,” “Family Affair,” “Humble,” “Still D.R.E.,” and “California Love.”

Gray says of the video in a statement (via The New York Post), “Each time I collaborate with Dre, it seems to mark an important moment in entertainment history, from projects like Friday, Set It Off, Straight Outta Compton, to now the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show. As a super fan, I consider it an honor and privilege to authentically build and create this moment with five of the most legendary artists in music history.”

Todd Kaplan, VP of Marketing at Pepsi, also said in a statement, “Now that we are just weeks away from the most anticipated Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show performance of all time, we’re bringing fans closer to the magic of what will certainly be a colossal moment in pop culture history.”

Watch “The Call” above.

The First Trailer For The Weeknd’s Super Bowl Halftime Show Documentary Goes Behind The Scenes

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Not long after his spectacular Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year, it was revealed that The Weeknd’s performance would be the subject of a Showtime documentary called The Show. Now, we’ve gotten our first look at the film via a new trailer.

The minute-long video includes footage of and soundbites from people, who are mostly not The Weeknd, working behind the scenes of the production. The Show is set to premiere on September 24.

Todd Kaplan, VP of marketing at Pepsi, previously said of The Show, “The Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show is undoubtedly the world’s biggest stage, producing the most viewed and talked about moment in music every single year. The pressure to deliver an iconic, memorable and entertaining performance is felt well beyond the artist, as there are a number of people — behind the scenes — who are vital to its success. With our new documentary coming to Showtime, we are taking fans on the emotional and thrilling journey of what it takes to make the biggest show of the year — with the added complexity of doing so amidst a global pandemic. With Jesse Collins and a number of super-talented creatives at the helm, The Show chronicles all the drama and hard work that goes into successfully pulling off a show of this magnitude.”

Check out the trailer above.