The effects of last summer’s rap feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake continue to reverberate through the music industry, and the careers of its two combatants. Earlier this month, Drake made headlines for bringing a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group for its role in the back-and-forth, while Lamar prepares for the biggest gig of his life—headlining the halftime show at Super Bowl LIX on February 9.
It's hard to imagine how the 37-year-old Lamar, who for much of his career has been seen as a critical darling with a cult-like following, would have been chosen by halftime show executive producer Jay-Z and his Roc Nation for music’s biggest stage were it not for the beef and series of diss tracks it produced. “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s anthemic takedown of hip-hop’s best-selling artist, hit more than a billion streams on Spotify in 2024 and spent a record-setting 21 consecutive weeks atop Billboard’s hot rap songs chart.
Read the full story on Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2025/01/31/why-kendrick-lamar-wont-get-paid-for-the-super-bowl-halftime-show/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
0:00 Introduction
0:40 Roc Nation & NFL Super Bowl Halftime Show Partnership: Past Guests, Beyonce, Rihanna
3:37 How Much Kendrick Lamar Is Getting Paid From The Super Bowl Halftime Show
7:43 GNX, Kendrick Lamar's New Album And Merch
9:47 Super Bowl Sunday: Kendrick Lamar and PGLang's Marketing Opportunity
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
It's hard to imagine how the 37-year-old Lamar, who for much of his career has been seen as a critical darling with a cult-like following, would have been chosen by halftime show executive producer Jay-Z and his Roc Nation for music’s biggest stage were it not for the beef and series of diss tracks it produced. “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s anthemic takedown of hip-hop’s best-selling artist, hit more than a billion streams on Spotify in 2024 and spent a record-setting 21 consecutive weeks atop Billboard’s hot rap songs chart.
Read the full story on Forbes:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattcraig/2025/01/31/why-kendrick-lamar-wont-get-paid-for-the-super-bowl-halftime-show/
Subscribe to FORBES: https://www.youtube.com/user/Forbes?sub_confirmation=1
0:00 Introduction
0:40 Roc Nation & NFL Super Bowl Halftime Show Partnership: Past Guests, Beyonce, Rihanna
3:37 How Much Kendrick Lamar Is Getting Paid From The Super Bowl Halftime Show
7:43 GNX, Kendrick Lamar's New Album And Merch
9:47 Super Bowl Sunday: Kendrick Lamar and PGLang's Marketing Opportunity
Fuel your success with Forbes. Gain unlimited access to premium journalism, including breaking news, groundbreaking in-depth reported stories, daily digests and more. Plus, members get a front-row seat at members-only events with leading thinkers and doers, access to premium video that can help you get ahead, an ad-light experience, early access to select products including NFT drops and more:
https://account.forbes.com/membership/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=display&utm_campaign=growth_non-sub_paid_subscribe_ytdescript
Stay Connected
Forbes newsletters: https://newsletters.editorial.forbes.com
Forbes on Facebook: http://fb.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/forbes
Forbes Video on Instagram: http://instagram.com/forbes
More From Forbes: http://forbes.com
Forbes covers the intersection of entrepreneurship, wealth, technology, business and lifestyle with a focus on people and success.
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00Feuding with Drake may have turned Kendrick Lamar into hip-hop's hottest artist, and now
00:08he'll take music's biggest stage in New Orleans for free.
00:11Here to discuss what to expect from this year's Super Bowl halftime show is Forbes reporter
00:15Matt Craig.
00:16Matt, thanks so much for joining me.
00:17Thank you, Brittany.
00:18It's been a while.
00:19Glad to be here.
00:20It has been a while, but I'm excited to talk today, especially about the Super Bowl.
00:24What we know, the Eagles are playing the Chiefs.
00:27What we also know is Kendrick Lamar is the halftime performer.
00:30Aside from the game, many people tune in just for that show.
00:34So why was he picked?
00:36Dive into that choice, especially in light of his recent feud with Drake.
00:40Absolutely.
00:41I mean, I think you could make a strong case that he would not have been picked for this
00:45show if it weren't for the feud with Drake.
00:48How he was picked, of course, since 2019, Jay-Z and his company, Roc Nation, have been
00:53the executive producers of the Super Bowl halftime show.
00:56And, I mean, Apple Music and the NFL tasked them with kind of choosing the performers.
01:03And since then, we've gotten younger performers, obviously more diverse performers, a lot of
01:07hip-hop artists.
01:08And Kendrick is kind of seen as the hottest artist in hip-hop right now.
01:13But the reason for that is because of his beef with Drake.
01:15I mean, Drake is probably the most successful commercially of any of the rappers and hip-hop
01:20artists right now.
01:22And Kendrick went back and forth with him.
01:24And I know a lot of people, it's not unanimous, but a lot of people think that he won that
01:27exchange.
01:28And since then, that's kind of put him in front of new audiences and launched him to
01:32another level.
01:33And of course, the Super Bowl show will take that even up another level from that.
01:37To your point, it's not like by any means he was a niche artist, but this feud really
01:41blew him up.
01:43Not Like Us is one of those songs that came out of the feud.
01:46Even I Cover Politics, that was played at the DNC when California was talking, or when
01:50the California governor was talking.
01:52So talk about just how significant this feud was to his influence.
01:57Absolutely.
01:58I mean, I think hip-hop feuds have been around for as long as there's been hip-hop.
02:02I mean, Jay-Z and Nas have a legendary one, of course, like the East Coast, West Coast
02:07rap battle that took out Tupac and Biggie in the 90s.
02:12So this has been a part of hip-hop since its inception.
02:17I mean, I even think Drake in 2015, he had a beef with Meek Mill and Back to Back, one
02:22of his songs came out of that, and that really elevated him to another level.
02:25So Drake knows what a good beef can do for you commercially.
02:31But Kendrick was always kind of seen as like the critical darling.
02:33He had won 17 Grammys, Drake has only won five, for example, and was kind of like seen
02:39by other artists in the field as kind of like the next great one and had always been respected
02:44on that level.
02:45But you're right, from a commercial standpoint, he's never done what Drake has done.
02:50He's never sold that amount of records.
02:51He's never played stadium shows before.
02:53So he is kind of a unique choice for the Super Bowl halftime show, because usually it's like
02:57a coronation of a lifelong, career-long ascension.
03:03You know, you got Rihanna and The Weeknd and, of course, the kind of legacy show of Dr.
03:08Dre and Snoop Dogg a few years ago.
03:10But Kendrick feels like on his way up, or at least having just reached the pinnacle
03:16of his career.
03:17And in that way, it feels kind of new and fresh, and so I think it's a pretty good choice.
03:20We know what a good beef can do for your career, as you said.
03:23We also know what the Super Bowl halftime show can do for your career, but he's performing
03:28for free.
03:29So walk us through that decision.
03:31Why do artists like Kendrick Lamar, like the greats that you were just naming, perform
03:34for free?
03:35And what do they typically gain from that opportunity?
03:37Yeah, so this is going back many, many years.
03:41Off the top of my head, I don't know exactly when it started, but the NFL does not pay
03:44an appearance fee to these halftime artists.
03:47They have to pay like a mandated union minimum.
03:50Like I know last year, Usher was the halftime performer, and he made like $671, okay?
03:55So if you're someone like Usher, that's basically nothing.
03:58But yet, every single artist wants that stage at the halftime show.
04:03And the reason for that is it's literally the biggest TV audience of the year.
04:07I mean, really, it's like we're setting new records every year of like among the biggest
04:11most watched telecasts of all time.
04:14Last year, I think it was like 115 million people in the United States watched that show.
04:17So imagine having basically the most lucrative 15-minute commercial for yourself.
04:24And that's what it is.
04:25And so every year we see, like Usher, I mentioned performed last year, his Spotify streams went
04:30up 550% after performing.
04:34Of course, that allows him to promote a tour on the back end of that.
04:37If you have a product line like Rihanna, she did a promotion for her Fenty Beauty brand,
04:42and that was valued at like $44 million in free advertising for that brand.
04:46And so you're basically, all of your projects, all the things that you're doing as an artist
04:51are elevated significantly by you performing at the halftime show.
04:55And on top of that, you're one of, you know, how many halftime shows have there been?
04:59There's a Super Bowl 59, so there's only been 59, and I don't even think that they did it
05:03in the first few years.
05:04You're one of the very few artists who can say that you're a Super Bowl halftime performer, too.
05:08So of course, it's like a career achievement.
05:10And it's an elite club, as you said.
05:12Only a handful of artists can say they did that.
05:14And the stage is elaborate.
05:15I mean, I'm thinking of Rihanna a few years ago.
05:17She came down at the suspended stage.
05:20There was other dancers.
05:21She announced her pregnancy that way.
05:24It looks like there's no expense spared, so I want to talk about that.
05:27But Forbes, let's talk about the money, because the NFL and Apple Music will cover the production costs.
05:32What do those look like?
05:33Yeah, so I mentioned the shows are only about 15 minutes long, sometimes less than that.
05:37And usually the shows cost about $10 million to produce.
05:40So think about it.
05:41For a 15-minute show, that's quite a bit.
05:43And the NFL and Apple Music cover those costs.
05:46So they don't pay the performers, but they do, you know, build out these lavish sets.
05:51And of course, there's always fireworks and lights and people descending.
05:54I remember Lady Gaga flying down from the top of the stadium, of course.
05:59But what's interesting is that some artists actually choose to pay in addition to that,
06:03like adding to the money that the NFL and Apple Music do pay for.
06:09So I know, for example, The Weeknd said that he spent $7 million of his own money.
06:12Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, I think it was $7 million as well.
06:16So you're talking about performing for free for people that are not used to performing
06:20for less than millions of dollars, and on top of that, paying their own money.
06:24And that just shows you how valuable that exposure and that marketing potential can be.
06:29Because, yeah, you're talking about the biggest spectacle and the biggest show in all of music.
06:34And you're talking about the biggest stars.
06:35Just off the top of my head in my lifetime, I can think of Beyonce, The Rolling Stones,
06:40Bruno Mars, Usher.
06:42And they have these catalogs of just great music.
06:45As you said, Kendrick Lamar's a little different.
06:47He's on his way up right now.
06:49I don't think he's at the level of those greats that we just described, just based on catalog
06:53wise.
06:54But how has the show evolved since Jay-Z took over as producer a few years ago?
06:59Yeah, absolutely.
07:00I think, you know, back in the day, I remember Paul McCartney or, you know, there's country
07:05artists.
07:06I mean, I think it's pretty obvious when you think about the last handful of artists that
07:11music has gotten more youth focused.
07:14You know, like hip hop, of course, is much more popular among young people than, you
07:19know, the audience for a Paul McCartney, right?
07:21The audience for, you know, The Rolling Stones and nothing against, of course, those artists,
07:26but it's a different audience.
07:27And I think that the NFL, in addition to all this great marketing and brand elevation for
07:33the artists, the NFL is benefiting from having someone as culturally resonant and as cool
07:39as Kendrick Lamar.
07:40I mean, quite frankly, it makes the NFL seem cooler.
07:43It does.
07:44You can't really name a cooler artist right now, I think, than Kendrick Lamar.
07:48So what are you expecting him to bring to this performance?
07:51Yeah, well, another reason why I think he's a very unique choice for the Super Bowl is
07:55that his songs are a little bit more personal and a lot of them have a little bit more substance
08:00to them.
08:01You know, he talks about things even outside of his rapping.
08:04He, you know, he cares about, like, uniting the bloods in the crypts in Los Angeles.
08:08And he's talked about his mental health a lot.
08:10I mean, these are songs that have, you know, some substance to them.
08:14And I think that he'll be introducing himself to a lot of people that watch the Super Bowl
08:18who, maybe they know who he is, maybe they heard about the beef with Drake, but they
08:22don't know about some of his songs and some of the things he's doing outside of music.
08:26I think it's incredibly resonant that, you know, he's a Los Angeles artist and we just
08:30had the Los Angeles wildfires.
08:32So I'm certain that there will be some tribute to that in this performance as well.
08:36And so, yeah, I think that this is a pretty cool opportunity for him to, you know, bring
08:41his style of music that's a little more personal.
08:44People feel a very strong connection to it and bring that really to the masses.
08:48Now, the one thing I will say is that, you know, the Super Bowl halftime show is a pretty
08:53they want to be kind of brand safe.
08:55You know, if you think back to, like, the Justin Timberlake, you know, Janet Jackson.
08:58Ever since then, of course, the Super Bowl is not really trying to take chances.
09:02And so there's been rumors.
09:03There's nothing substantiated for sure.
09:06But there's been rumors that Jay-Z has mentioned, you know, maybe trying to change some of the
09:10lyrics of Not Like Us or other songs that are calling out Drake that could, you know,
09:15potentially put liability on the NFL or whatever, because these diss tracks are not holding
09:22any punches back.
09:23I mean, they're really, really going after Drake.
09:24So that will be interesting to see as well.
09:26I don't know how that's going to play out.
09:27No one even listening to the lyrics of Not Like Us.
09:29I mean, you're kind of like, oh, like the knowing that this is in the Drake pedophile
09:34is.
09:35Yeah, I mean, he really doesn't.
09:37He does not hold back.
09:39And he's he faces a lawsuit over this song.
09:42Does the NFL face any liability in case he sings that and something comes up?
09:46Yeah, I mean, I think that that is something that would have to be, you know, settled in
09:51court, right?
09:52Figured out in court.
09:53I think Drake has shown that he can be very litigious.
09:56You know, he just filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group, which interestingly
10:01represents him and Kendrick Lamar.
10:02I mean, they're the biggest label in hip hop by far.
10:06And so, yeah, Drake is not letting this feud go.
10:09And so if there were to be some big display at the Super Bowl, I certainly think that
10:15he would challenge it.
10:16And then it would be up to lawyers in the courts to figure out where that liability
10:20would stand.
10:21And if you're in the NFL, sure, you have all the money in the world, right?
10:24But you don't want to have to, you know, deal with that and face the millions of dollars.
10:28So how that balances with, you know, Kendrick is known for his authenticity and not compromising
10:34his vision and not, you know, sanding down who he is for a big audience.
10:39Yeah, I would love to be in those conversations because I certainly think that there has been
10:45probably plenty of back and forth about how that show should look, how much you should
10:49balance having a good time versus representing, you know, his his album that just came out
10:54and songs like Not Like Us that are just straight diss tracks.
10:59There's no other way to put it there.
11:00They are there to insult Drake.
11:03And a spotlight on this feud will really be on the national stage.
11:07A spotlight on Kendrick Lamar will also be on the national stage.
11:10This is can't be overstated that this is a big moment in his career, arguably the biggest
11:14moment in his career.
11:16But looking into the future past Super Bowl Sunday, how will this performance impact the
11:20trajectory of his career?
11:22Yeah.
11:23So, right.
11:24I mean, this this happens every year with the Super Bowl artists, but he is launching
11:27off in April on a stadium tour.
11:29So I mentioned he never really played stadiums before.
11:32He had performed a two minute spot in that Dr. J and Snoop halftime performance at the
11:36Super Bowl in 2022, but has never headlined a stadium show.
11:40Now he's going on a 19 stop tour of stadiums with SZA, who will be guesting in this performance.
11:48So that will be huge.
11:49He also has a movie coming out.
11:51We don't really know too much about it.
11:52We know he collaborated with Matt Stone and Trey Parker of South Park on this movie that's
11:57going to come out in July.
11:59That will get a boost from this, you know, if he puts out there's like his fans are kind
12:04of crazy about, you know, when he's going to drop music.
12:07It's always a surprise.
12:08We didn't know an album was coming in December, for example.
12:10Fans are like, oh, he's got another one waiting.
12:12You know, there could be a surprise album drop potentially this year.
12:17So yeah, whatever projects he has going now is the time to really like press, put those
12:23things out because, again, you're not going to get a better commercial for yourself than
12:26the Super Bowl.
12:27Well, Matt Craig, per usual, I always appreciate our conversations.
12:31It's so good to have you in studio.
12:32Thanks for joining me.
12:33Thanks, Brittany.