Tag: dfs

You may be searching for a negative review of last night’s Super Bowl halftime show. If that’s your intention with this article, you’re going to be extremely disappointed.

First, I have to mention the game.

As a Georgia Bulldawg/Matthew Stafford fan who has attended every Rams training camp, and dresses his children in Rams gear, and who leaned into Cooper Kupp exposure this season, it was a special night that was the culmination of a special season.

But as much as I loved the game, I’ve played the halftime show 5 times already and haven’t replayed one part of the game.

First, the Chronic 2000 has been in my cd changer/playlist since it was released. Which officially qualifies me as an old-head, but I’m an old-head who looked forward to hearing Kendrick Lamar’s set as much as I wanted to hear Snoop.

Let’s go set-by-set.

First, Snoop reminded everyone of his roots. The Doggystyle album cover picture was a nice touch. Apparently, his wardrobe was a bit too “gang-related” for the NFL folks. It’s notable the league and the haters’ minds went to the Crips instead of the Rams considering how much gold was on his wardrobe. So, for the NFL, and the media, I made a guide to help you

Rams = Gold and blue.

Crips = Blue.

Dre got his first chance on the mic with California Love, which everyone knew was coming. (It’s a Super Bowl in LA-duh!) Dre’s performance led us to an upside-down 50 Cent.

Fifty killed it. Period. The internets have jokes today considering his weight. While I normally appreciate the constant joke machine that is the world wide web, in this case, they are wrong.

First, you never criticize an actor’s weight because chances are good they are either coming off a role or prepping for a role.

Second, I thought he looked swole and trim. He’s not 22 anymore. This is what mid-life looks like.

Next, this is the Super Bowl. Most of America is 48 nachos, 4 slices of pizza, and 12 chicken wings into their meal by halftime.

Lastly, as a die-hard Beat Street fan, the man who wrote “I tagged ‘Spit’ over Ramo’s shit, I’m a vandal.” gets a lifetime pass from me.

Fifty took us to Mary and the Queen didn’t disappoint. Her first number one single, produced by Dre, “Family Affair” was first and she gave the audience a spirited dance to her classic. In 2001 when Family Affair dropped, if you went to a club, you were going to hear that song. Period.

Then she left it out on the vocal field with “No More Drama”.

Kendrick took over where the Queen left off.

His set ad libbed more than the rest and everything about his delivery was on point. The dancers were sharp and some of the overhead shots of their patterns around the city grid was visually stunning.

As soon as it was clear he was performing “Alright” I was simultaneously excited and intrigued on how he would handle some of the lyrics. Notably, the word “po-po” was omitted from his lyrics, “and we hate po-po”.

From the camera angle it was impossible to see if the omission was Kendrick leaving out the word or the censor muting it. I’m certain this was by design.

This omission makes it obvious that this lyric was contested. By the league? By the network? By the FCC? By some of them? By all of them? Who knows?

But the omission was only noticeable to those folks who dig the song. His cadence was so tight around that line that the rest of America had no idea that something was missing.

It was music to the ears to hear the N.W.A. shout out.

And almost immediately Dre cut to a splice of “forgot About Dre” as a way to introduce the biggest selling artist of the 2000’s. Since time is crunched, he went with the biggest solo hit of that time.

I quickly noticed Eminem went with the Jordan 3s for his retro footwear, which is also my retro footwear of choice for “big” occasions as well.

Eminem’s set ended with him kneeling. I’m certain, many folks across the country started cussing as soon as they saw him take that pose. If you think for one second that the curses don’t make Eminem grin from ear to ear, you haven’t listened to any of his music. Ever.

I was focused on Dre playing Tupac’s “I Ain’t Mad At Cha” on the piano.

Maybe Em was kneeling out of reverence for Tupac, maybe it was for Kaepernick, maybe it was for a completely different reason. But whatever the reason, he had Karens all across the country clutching their pearls.

The wealthy have a saying, “what good is having fuck-you money, if you don’t occasionally say ‘fuck you!’” In other words, there’s no reason to be the biggest rap star in the world if you can’t say “fuck you” from time to time.

Dre’s Tupac shout-out morphed into the famous piano riff throughout “Still D.R.E.” and Snoop and hundreds of dancers emerged for the finale.

It is notable that between Snoop’s appearances, he did manage to smoke some cannabis. Which, I have to say, smoking cannabis in the middle of your Super Bowl halftime show is one of the most Snoop  things I could’ve imagined. Kudos to Snoop!

The finale reminded everyone that it is still Dre’s Day.

It is notable that Dre’s lyric “still not loving police” was kept in the song.

Which leads to my favorite part of the show—when all of the performers are on the stage at the end. The Queen is grooving, Snoop is dancing, Kendrick and Fifty are hugging, and they are all there, just to emphasize that it’s still all about the D.R.E.

Fifty’s joyful smile at the end of the show said everything. I was smiling just as wide.