There was a moment during the Super Bowl LVI Pepsi Halftime Show when Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre looked at each other like bewildered teenagers, as if they were wondering how they got there.
It’s been 30 years since Dr. Dre first introduced Snoop to the world on “Deep Cover (187)” and the Super Bowl stage seemed like a hard-won victory. After all, Hip Hop didn’t always have a seat at the table, especially West Coast gangsta rap.
But the two pop culture icons made history at the SoFi Stadium on Sunday night (February 13) with Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent and Mary J. Blige all playing their part in the most Hip Hop-centric halftime show in National Football League history.
The NFL started to include musical performances in 1967, years before the word “Hip Hop” had even been coined. Over the last 35 years, legendary acts such as Ella Fitzgerald, Michael Jackson, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Diana Ross, The Temptations, Janet Jackson and Prince have graced the stage. But, Super Bowl LVI (that’s 56 for anyone not up on their Roman numerals) proved to be Hip Hop through and through (with a tinge of R&B).
Every Song Performed During Super Bowl LVI Pepsi Halftime Show
Naturally, Hip Hop came out in droves on social media to applaud Dr. Dre (who produced the show), Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and surprise guest 50 Cent for their unwavering contributions to the culture.
Ice-T, for example, shared a clip of Dr. Dre sitting down at the white baby grand piano and playing the first few notes of 2Pac’s 1996 single “I Ain’t Mad At Cha” and wrote in the caption, “If you don’t understand how Great a moment this was for HipHop ask somebody. Unbelievable 12mins! I’m so proud of my homies. Y’all did the damn thing! RESPECT to all of you!”
Ice-T’s sentiments were echoed across the board. Not long after the Los Angeles Rams secured their 23-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals, Nas shared a photo of the six Hip Hop/R&B luminaries and wrote simply, “GREATNESS,” while Kanye West called it, “LEGENDARY.”
Busta Rhymes, Big Daddy Kane, J.J. Fad, Busta Rhymes, Russell Simmons, Xzibit, Royce Da 5’9 and Kurupt were just a handful of people showing respect to their peers. Check out some of the posts below.
For someone that isn’t a rapper, like me (yes, I’m white and grew up in Coney Island) I look at this like the evolution of rap from its beginnings to becoming the mainstream form of music it is today.
I liked it on a few angles. But mainly how it started with Dre and moved to Eminem who discovered 50 cent. Which was a very cool way of showing Dre’s impact.
He hasn’t exactly been a public figure (despite being… I think a billionaire) so seeing the things he has done, for music in general because he has been behind the desk for some of the best songs for artists across the board, and gives him a kind of recognition that producers like him rarely ever get.
And let’s be honest, a lot of Rappers have come out, but based on his last LP and his work on the new Dre stuff, is there a guy maybe aside from Papoose and only a small small handful of rappers even stand side by side with Eminem?
Eminem is still putting up an argument for best rapper alive due to his ability to transform his music into almost a story. Sometimes he is slim shady, sometimes marshal mathers, sometimes Eminem.
I just don’t want to include this part, but when 50 came out, 50 was a guy who would have massive arms with a wifebeater on. Not a massive stomach. He could have worn a shirt.
But extremely well directed by Dre, people might not even know how cool it was to use a double sided stage. I thought it was genius. It was like there were 6 stages with things going on everywhere, but not bad enough where it was overwhelming.
1 thing I would have liked to see… maybe a young rapper, even if he is backing someone up, kind of showing a “passing of the torch” moment of Dre to Eminem to a new guy.