Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show was one of the most watched shows of all time. We're taking you inside the biggest day with an exclusive interview from the NFL’s Head of Music sharing how the show was created, talking with the hottest stars about his performance, and more!
What did you think of Kendrick’s halftime show? Let us know in the comments!
What did you think of Kendrick’s halftime show? Let us know in the comments!
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MusicTranscript
00:00A revolution by the means of hip-hop should be at the right time, but the right time is now.
00:05Man, I'm so happy for him overall, man. That's a bad man.
00:08And when you look at an artist like Kendrick, in terms of the talent to be able to execute in a way that very few artists, let alone hip-hop artists, can,
00:15and it's a production and a musical performance that isn't just about understanding music and art,
00:23then how do you display it for broadcast and in media in a way that makes sense on a global scale?
00:29We were on the field and behind the scenes with the creators to find out the real story of Kendrick Lamar's epic halftime show at Super Bowl LII.
00:38That's why we came.
00:40We take you there in Billboard All Access.
00:43Oh, hell yeah, man. Come on, man. I'm humble, just like him. And I hope that's what he opens up with.
00:49The passion I have now is still the passion I had then. And I think that carried on to the Super Bowls.
01:00For this year with Kendrick Lamar, we announced him the first weekend of the season.
01:04We already have a set playground for them to play in.
01:07So when they come with their ideas, they're not coming with staging ideas that can't fit through the tunnel.
01:14And then shortly after that, his creative team, Dave Free, Mike Carson, a few weeks later,
01:19came to us with the initial seeds of what they wanted to do narratively.
01:28Before the Cali legend began the biggest performance of his life, all his celeb fans were excited.
01:33Oh, my God. He's gonna fucking kill it. Oh, can I cuss? I don't know. He's gonna kill it.
01:37Kendrick is a beast. He's a master. I know he's gonna do great.
01:39Of course. I love Kendrick. Love LA.
01:41I'm excited. I hope I see SZA.
01:44Kendrick putting on for the city. And this is awesome. He's badass.
01:47He got love all throughout the world, not just the West Coast, but he got the West Coast love.
01:52And that's really the most important when you got love at home.
01:59One of the biggest limiting factors that doesn't change year over year is just the amount of time that we have to set up the show.
02:06This concept that the PG Lang came to us with is, frankly, one of the biggest, most expansive shows that we've had
02:12in terms of just amount of the field that it covers.
02:15And so ultimately, we really did have to sit down and work through over the months and weeks leading up to the game
02:21to say, how do we build this in the seven and a half minutes that we have
02:24and ultimately strike it in the six minutes after the show?
02:27And it was a spectacle.
02:35We knew from the very beginning that Kendrick and Dave Free were looking at this as a narrative
02:41and a story or at least a real idea from start to finish about the video gamified version of Kendrick's journey through the American dream.
02:49And so we knew there would be a narrator when it comes to recognizable voices,
02:55true iconic figures and an artist in his own right, like Samuel L. Jackson.
02:59Of course, we were nothing but excited and energized once we knew it was him.
03:02And he was joined by superstar SZA.
03:11It really did feel like a natural fit.
03:14And that's something that they brought to us midseason.
03:17I want to say about November as a real idea.
03:20And with her, it really did just fit seamlessly into the overall creative that they were putting together.
03:25There are so many layers to the involvement of Serena.
03:28But first and foremost, her just being from Compton, being somebody in Kendrick's world.
03:33Obviously, she's had her own experience on a global stage like that.
03:38And frankly, with dance moves like that as well.
03:41But at the end of the day, that comes from Kendrick and the PG Lang team.
03:45And another iconic figure in their own right to add to the show that I know only helped drive the conversation even further.
03:58When we look at it, not only being the first solo hip hop artist to do this,
04:03to me, it was also one of the most current artists,
04:06especially when not only in winning all those Grammys the week before
04:09and how much he's dominated the conversation the past year,
04:12but also just the number of tracks from within the past year certainly is unique for a Super Bowl.
04:18Hearing that Mustard from the Super Bowl field.
04:20I hope he performs that. If he performs that, oh my God.
04:22We need him on the thing.
04:23Right, you need to be on there.
04:24I would love that. But even if I'm not and he performs it, I'll be just as happy.
04:28And Mustard said hi to us right before joining K.Dot himself.
04:33I knew that song was going to be in the show.
04:35It was my first thought.
04:37Obviously, we expect him to be there.
04:39But the same way that all these other artists came together,
04:42it's not until Kendrick and Tony, his musical director, and Dave Free tell us
04:48that this is what they'd like to do creatively.
04:50Once that came to us, it was another one that made complete sense.
04:54And of course, we're doing TV Off. You got to have Mustard there.
04:57That's my team, man.
05:0030 incredible individuals.
05:04Five extraordinary executives that work day in, day out
05:09to make sure we are doing something that will long live the culture.
05:14I don't know what he's going to do.
05:16But I know that he's going to end it.
05:19We're not like us.
05:25I know that there was a lot of conversation about Halftime
05:28and would it be a New Orleans artist and how would we represent the city.
05:31And ultimately, when I think about what music means to a city like New Orleans,
05:36it's about art for the sake of art.
05:38True artists who are there for their love of performance
05:42and to be able to express themselves through art.
05:45I don't know if there's any artist that represents that more than Kendrick Lamar.
05:58We got to see him just seconds after he finished.
06:00And all we can say is congrats, Kendrick Lamar.