Following up the hip-hop extravaganza that was this year’s Super Bowl halftime show, another superstar crew got together for a second major sports event. Basketball fans don’t have to wait long after the biggest football game of the year is over to get their own fix, as the NBA’s annual All-Star weekend usually comes right after. And though this might be the first time the Super Bowl has ever fully embraced rap, that’s not the case for the NBA at all. The league has a much better relationship with hip-hop artists than the NFL has in recent history, so it’s no surprise that they booked a packed stage for 2022.
DJ Khaled returned for a third time to orchestrate the whole medley of performers, occasionally overstepping his bounds as an overeager hype man, and helped ring in sets from Lil Wayne, Lil Baby, Gunna, Ludacris, Migos, and even Mary J. Blige herself, who was the only performer involved in both of these massive sporting events. If that doesn’t cement her legendary status, at this point, I don’t know what will. Check out the whole performance above and get more of Uproxx’s NBA All-Star weekend coverage by following along with Dime Magazine.