NFL football is the reigning sport in America’s popular culture. So is hip-hop and its many musical and cultural derivatives.
So the biggest music spectacle meets sports cultural touchpoint would include the most significant homage to hip-hop in the announcement of the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime lineup.
The @NFL has announced the lineup for the Super Bowl LVI halftime show and it's 🔥🔥@drdre | @kendricklamar | @Eminem | @SnoopDogg | @maryjblige | @RocNation pic.twitter.com/u0Jrrmz8v9
— FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) September 30, 2021
Yesterday, the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show will feature Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.
Roc N The House
The event will take place at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022, air on NBC and Telemundo, and be streamed live on Peacock.
Marking the third year of the collaboration between Pepsi, the NFL, and Roc Nation, Roc Nation serves as the strategic entertainment advisers of the live performance.
50 Cent watching Eminem and Dr. Dre perform at the Super Bowl halftime show pic.twitter.com/n73K9jsrWM
— brown 🧣⁶𓅓 (@BrownRapFan) September 30, 2021
“On February 13, 2022, at the Super Bowl LVI in Inglewood, CA, in the new SoFi Stadium, Dr. Dre, a musical visionary from Compton, Snoop Dogg, an icon from Long Beach and Kendrick Lamar, a young musical pioneer in his own right, also from Compton, will take center field for a performance of a lifetime,” said Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter.
“They will be joined by the lyrical genius, Eminem and the timeless Queen, Mary J. Blige. This is the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show. This is history in the making.”
Mr. Young’s Opus
Amazingly, this will be the first time these five multi-award-winning artists will perform together on stage. However, the significance is deeper than that.
Dr. Dre is widely considered hip-hop’s foremost producer. From his polarizing beginnings as a member of NWA to his crafting of the ’90s G-Funk era, Dre has birthed multiple movements under the hip-hop banner.
So they bringing the Up In Smoke tour to the Super Bowl? pic.twitter.com/mW4Jr4Bla8
— Crook 🏴🏳️🏴 (@CrookedIntriago) October 1, 2021
“The opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime show, and to do it in my own backyard, will be one of the biggest thrills of my career,” said Dr. Dre.
“I’m grateful to JAY-Z, Roc Nation, the NFL, and Pepsi as well as Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar for joining me in what will be an unforgettable cultural moment.”
The show also pays respects to the foundations laid by those before him. George Clinton’s Parliament and Funkadelic musical collage is the bedrock of G-Funk. Dre gave new momentum Clinton and his unique sound by weaving it into the narrative of Los Angeles street life.
Extensions Of Dre
From there, the extensive career of Snoop Dogg was birthed. He extended the lifeline of the G-Funk genre and created a lane all his own.
Dre, Snoop and Kendrick pulling up to the Super Bowl halftime show pic.twitter.com/R6i78n2Dgo
— Josiah Johnson (@KingJosiah54) September 30, 2021
Eminem is Dr. Dre’s true testament to versatility. His alignment with the Detroit spitter transformed the way we envisioned rap music. They took chances, handled mental illness and drug culture, and expanded other voices within hip-hop culture.
Kendrick Lamar is the latest evolution of Dr. Dre’s tradition. His youthful insight melded with an old soul’s vantage point has transformed hip-hop culture. A profoundly introspective voyeur of Los Angeles gang culture, Lamar is the West Coast’s Nasir Jones in Dickies, side braids, and a pair of Chuck Taylors.
Additionally, the season of giving people their flowers while they are alive is ablaze, and the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime show cements the sentiment.
The Queen
Mary J. Blige is a soulful force of nature. Her vulnerability and around-the-way girl charm are everlasting, and she embodies the marriage of hip-hop and R&B.
Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige and Snoop Dogg will perform in Los Angeles during the Super Bowl LVI halftime show 🔥 pic.twitter.com/Hebaa5PWKq
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 30, 2021
However, the Super Bowl platform is as much about celebrating the foundation-laying brilliance of Dr. Dre as it is about cementing the legacy of Mary J. Blige.
Blige is the essence of Black feminity in all its raw forms. Part sweet and part sour, Blige has always represented the underrepresented. In addition, her traumas are relatable to Black America in ways no other contemporary artist has ever connected.
The fact that her unique brand of magic will be canonized on the world’s biggest stage is nothing short of America saluting one of its cultural Founding Mothers.
Closing The Loop
Additionally, Pepsi and the NFL have also joined together to support the launch of Regional School #1, a magnet high school in South Los Angeles. The high school is modeled on the USC Iovine and Young Academy, founded by Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young.
https://twitter.com/fentyxxshady/status/1443735049723990016?s=20
However, the school will offer a unique educational model focused on integrated design, technology, and entrepreneurship. It will develop and deliver community-inspired applied learning experiences and industry internships.
It is a full-circle moment for all involved. However, none more so than the culture itself. Hip-hop’s elevation has come through celebrating legacy while fostering the next generation of dreamers and doers.
