The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show featuring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar and 50 Cent, earned an Emmy according to reports. The Creative Arts Emmys bestowed the award for best live variety special.
Surprise: 50 Cent pulls up to the #SuperBowl halftime show. pic.twitter.com/j4ILHEe85G
— The Recount (@therecount) February 14, 2022
The superstar crew performed a medley of their hits, including, “California Love,” “No More Drama,” “Lose Yourself” and “Still D.R.E.”
Super Bowl LVI was held at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles, California, where the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals.
This award was significant for the hip-hop community, as it marked the first time the genre earned a live variety special Emmy award.
Usually the category is dominated by the Tony Awards telecast, which makes sense as it recognizes excellence in live Broadway theater. This is what they do. Live musicals also tend to do well in this category, so this shows the growth of hip-hop as performance art.
This is also the first time the Super Bowl halftime show has won an Emmy. Also winning an Emmy as an executive producer of the program was Shawn Carter.
As you may remember, it was seen as the move of an apex predator capitalist when Hov and his Roc Nation decided to get into bed with the NFL to produce halftime shows, etc. Many people said he sold out blackballed quarterback Colin Kaepernick with this move.
“I think we’ve moved past kneeling and I think it’s time to go into actionable items,” Hov said at the time the partnership was announced. “I think everyone knows what the issue is — we’re done with that. We all know the issue now. OK, next. What are we moving (on to) next?”
Hov said this partnership would allow Roc Nation to use the NFL’s platform to address injustices in a real way, through events and social activism.
That was in 2019. OK, you get a pandemic excuse. But is painting “end racism” in the endzone and winning an Emmy all this partnership has produced so far?
Does the NFL legitimately want to address racial injustice and systemic oppression? If so, it should start in its own house.
The league is currently being sued by Pittsburgh Steelers assistant coach Brian Flores for racial bias in its hiring practices. Kaepernick still hasn’t been invited for a legitimate tryout, despite teams in the league carrying awful quarterbacks on their rosters.
Oh well.
The NFL and Roc Nation partnership is doing its intended job. It’s generating huge revenue, earning accolades for its executives, and when the biggest names in hip-hop and R&B are performing on the league’s biggest stage it signals to fans that all is well and it’s OK to like the NFL.
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