The Super Bowl halftime show: a tribute to hip-hop and Dr. Dre
All the performers at this year’s show were prodigies of Dre’s production and collaboration
Photo courtesy of npr.org (Brenna Carr)
Eminem, Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and Snoop Dogg at the Super Bowl haltime performance
February 28, 2022
The Super Bowl halftime show has been a staple in the Super Bowl games ever since the first one. Although through the years, it has gained more traction. Famous celebrities such as Justin Timberlake, The Rolling Stones, Lady Gaga, The Weekend, Shakira, Beyoncé, Destiny’s Child and even Micheal Jackson have headlined the Super Bowl Halftime Show. This year, the NFL teams that competed in the Super Bowl were the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals, but some people only tuned in to watch the halftime show.
This year, the stars that headlined the halftime show were Dr. Dre, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige, succeeding The Weekend from last year.
Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg opened the show together with “The Next Episode,” which is an original Dr. Dre song that features Snoop Dogg. They also performed “California Love,” a song Dre wrote and performed with the late Tupac Shakur, together after.
Mary J. Blige was up next, and she performed two of her biggest hits “Family Affair” and “No More Drama.”
Kendrick Lamar took the stage next with “m.A.A.d city” and “Alright,” and Eminem after with “Lose Yourself.” At the end of his performance, Eminem took a knee next to the piano while Dr. Dre played “Still Dre,” which many assumed to be a demonstration of show support for Colin Kaepernick and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Some controversy has risen; there was an obvious difference in Mary J. Blige’s performance and the men that performed. All of the male performers just stood around while they sang, and had dancers and such in the background. However, Mary J. Blige was moving around, dancing with her backups and even ended with a drop onto her back. People are wondering if it was a coincidence that the only female performer was the most active, or if it was the pressure that she must go above and beyond to satisfy the viewers because she is a woman.
Personally, I do not like football, but I definitely enjoyed the fifteen minutes filled with music and entertainment that was in between the tackles and the whistles. I think all of the performances were amazing, and they get more impressive each year, but this year, Mary J. Blige really stood out to me.
