Beyonce and Bruno Mars saved the day yesterday, as Coldplay seemed to be devoid of all groove despite the multi-platinum, international superstars performing at a spectacle straddled along the fault lines of race, sex, and economic inequality. For all the bluster, the outrage swirling around the city of San Francisco dedicating $5 million dollars to host the game, there were talks of tent cities, rampant homelessness, and housing shortages affecting the citizens of the Bay. The effects of gentrification are well-documented, though drastically underestimated, and San Francisco’s situation is no different. No doubt. And, somehow, Beyonce seemed to be representative of all that angst. She wore black leather clad in gold regalia like bullets strapped to her chest, and she used the games to promote her newest song “Formation,” whose video featured her on top of a police car sinking below the waters.
The messages were all in her visuals. From the “stop shooting us” adorning a graffitied wall to a cover of Martin Luther King Jr., with the headline “Not Just A Dreamer,” the video lit up the Saturday before the Bowl. Then the performance brought grit to the game itself. Social media was filled with Beyonce’s dancers, afro’d out and proud, holding signs demanding justice for Mario Woods. And then in formation, if you will, posed in afros and berets, seemingly in solidarity with the Black Panthers. Hers, though, wasn’t the only allusion to straight up Hip Hop. Bruno Mars came decked out in Run-DMC-styled black leather outfits with gold chains. Their routine was also filled with old-school Hip Hop references. I swear I saw a gaggle of 90s moves get done up there in parallel to Queen Bey hitting the whip and the milly rock. But there was no actual rap in sight. Rap that has spoken to these issues, sometimes unabashedly, for just about the last 30 years.
The Super Bowl has had rappers up there, before, though rarely in leading roles. No one will forget Nicki Minaj and Cee Lo astride Madonna at Super Bowl XLVI. Nor can we forget Puff Daddy performing “Mo Money Mo Problems” and “Diddy” before the “nipplegate” debacle at Super Bowl XXXVIII. Or even the Black Eyed Peas performance from the 2011 game or Queen Latifah’s singing performance at the 1998 celebration of Motown. But none of these great artists were up there to perform as emcees.
This past year, I could think of at least three emcees that would have garnered an equal amount of attention to the game. K. Dot’s To Pimp a Butterfly would have done the fractured city of San Francisco some justice, as he too took to the top of a police car in typical fashion. Drake, whose T-Mobile commercial was probably the best of the evening, has a bag of audience friendly hits he could have spun out at a moment’s notice. And then there’s one of the most creative and electrifying performers that we have right now in any form of music in Kanye West. That’s just to name a few.
So how long will we have to wait for a true-blue rap halftime show? This year’s performance largely showed that the audience of other-worldly acts like Beyonce and Bruno Mars are more than receptive to Hip Hop themes out of their artists. Especially as Beyonce spits lines like “Y’all haters corny with that Illuminati mess” and “My daddy Alabama, Momma Louisiana / You mix that negro with that Creole make a Texas Bama” as well as the unforgettable “I like my baby hair, with baby hair and afros / I like my Negro nose with Jackson 5 nostrils.” Especially, as well, as Bruno Mars celebrates Hip Hop’s pioneers and Trinidad James hears coins fall every time he sees “Uptown Funk” performed. Let’s not forget Paris, also, who’s often called the straight up Black Panther of Hip Hop.
When will it be? I guess I’ll have to wait until next year for that TDE halftime show.
Shut the fuck up.
Guess we’ll have to wait next year for Eminem to headline.
I didn’t like this years half time show or last years at that. They used to have great timeless half time performers who were respected by the public like Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder etc if any rapper did perform I’d want it to be Nas
I don’t even have to read the byline to know Andre Grant’s writing when I see it. All the usual hallmarks are present in this insufferably pretentious article, just as they’re present in every insufferably pretentious article this guy writes. His spelling, grammar, and syntax is not even at an 8th grade level. His poorly phrased, faux-intellectual musings on the state of rap music make me cringe with disgust. HipHopDx is one of the few semi-reputable sources for music and editorials on hip-hop, and they can’t even bother to proofread this shit? Do you realize the disservice you are doing to a rich, unfairly maligned genre with this juvenile bullshit? Say what you will about Complex, but at least their writing staff understands what a run-on sentence is. At least their writing staff doesn’t confuse sophomorically inane word vomit with jazzy, free-associative insight. Andre reminds me of that kid in English class who discovers what a thesaurus is and wakes up thinking he’s the poet laureate of your high school. Loquaciousness and good writing are two very, very different things, and I don’t think Andre Grant knows the difference. I think he writes a smart-sounding phrase like “straddled along the fault lines of race, sex, and economic inequality”, gives in to undue self-congratulation, and then blatantly disregards every rule and mechanism of the English language in the name of maintaining his “signature” writing style. I wrote like you write now before I turned twelve, when I would use words like “vexatious” instead of “annoying” because I thought conducting a Google synonym search automatically made me a literary talent. NEWSFLASH: You are lowering the standards for hip-hop journalism. You are pushing an endangered species face first into extinction with every asinine click of the keyboard. Recently, I’ve seen Justin Hunte answer a few riled-up commenters on the message board with sarcasm and wit. Will you, then, please answer this: as the editor of an online magazine I’m assuming you think deserves credibility, how can you abide with the nonsensical, multisyllabic clusterfuck that is Andre Grant’s writing? How can you check off article after article for publication without even taking the most minimal gander at the sheer stupidity of what you’ve been handed? Look back at this guy’s writing, bro. Seriously, put any of his shit on a Word document and wait for the squiggly green and red underlining to magically populate your screen. If you can’t see the perfumed garbage Andre is peddling, you’re just as much of a fucking amateur as he is. I am repulsed at the lack of attention to detail and professionalism at this website. Hip-Hop deserves better than your sorry asses.
Damn Son….
I get why you are mad, but would you write for this website? Let’s see what you can do. Pitch to Justin and to Dre.
i love the genre but it often sounds a lot worse live.