Watch Kendrick Lamar Perform “Not Like Us,” Bring Out SZA and Serena Williams for 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show

Kendrick Lamar performed the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show tonight at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome, making him the first rapper to headline the event as a solo artist. After a special introduction by Samuel L. Jackson, in which the actor called the halftime show “the great American game” while dressed as Uncle Sam, the Compton rapper opened with “Bodies”—which first appeared in the teaser for GNX—while standing atop the album cover’s car. Lamar then segued into the single “Squabble Up,” among a number of other career-spanning hits in medley form. Watch a replay of the halftime show below.

Jackson returned to the field to criticize Lamar for being “too loud, too reckless, too ghetto,” adding, “Do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!” Lamar quickly launched into crowd-pleasers like DAMN. classic “Humble.” while all-Black backup dancers dressed in red, white, and blue outfits took formation resembling a huge American flag. He then switched to DAMN. single “DNA.” and last year’s standalone track “Euphoria” while walking over a mock field and past an enormous light post. That didn’t stop Jackson from taking shots at Lamar once again, though, this time with the actor calling his crew a “culture cheat code.”

Red lights lit up a box as Lamar performed GNX’s “Man at the Garden” and “Peekaboo,” both live debuts, and dancers continued to circle around while he strut about the relatively plain stage design. (During the outro of “Peekaboo,” Lamar took the opportunity to briefly tease “Not Like Us” but stopped it short, despite instant cheers from the stadium crowd. “I wanna perform they favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” he half-sung.)

As revealed in advance, his longtime collaborator SZA joined him on the field to perform together, singing GNX’s “Luther” and their Black Panther soundtrack contribution “All the Stars.” Patriotic apparel sparkling, Jackson hopped back in front of the camera to finally praise Lamar, yelling, “That’s what America wants! Nice and calm! You’re almost there, now don’t mess this—” before getting cut off by the hook from “Not Like Us.”

Backup dancers in black-and-red bobs asked Lamar if he was really about to do this, to which he replied by staring confidently into the camera and rapping a new “Not Like Us” verse. “This is bigger than the music,” said Lamar. “They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.” Stadium speakers erupted with “Not Like Us” while dancers moved around him in rotating concentric circles and tennis legend (and Drake’s ex) Serena Williams danced side-stage to the massive hit – including while Lamar and thousands of people in the crowd sang the diss track’s infamous, lawsuit-prompting line.

To close the rapid-fire set, DJ Mustard ran onstage and threw his arm around Lamar as GNX’s breakout song “TV Off”—and its immediately memed moment of Lamar screaming his name—blasted over the speakers. In perfect sync, the Compton rapper repeated the line “Turn his TV off” right as the stadium, and consequently viewers’ TV screens, went black. The camera zoomed out to show the stage shaped like a tic-tac-toe board with the words “Game over” written with lights in the crowd.

Lamar’s company with Dave Free, pgLang, handled the creative direction for the halftime show performance. Diversified Production Services served as producers for the halftime show telecast with Jay-Z’s Roc Nation and Jesse Collins as executive producers, Hamish Hamilton as director, and Roc Nation acting “as the strategic entertainment advisor of the live performance.”

The halftime show performance arrived on the heels of Lamar’s surprise November album, GNX, and a spate of victories at the 2025 Grammy Awards. Thanks to his smash hit “Not Like Us,” Lamar swept all five categories in which he was nominated: Song and Record of the Year, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best Music Video. That means that “Not Like Us” won as many Grammy Awards (five) as the diss track’s target, Drake, has won in his entire career (five). To rub it in even more, the gala sang along loudly to the song, including its most damning accusation.

The performance also came on the heels of a federal lawsuit that Drake filed against Universal Music Group (UMG) over its promotion of “Not Like Us.” The litigation has led to speculation about whether Lamar would perform the diss song on a huge national stage. A few hours before the halftime show, Drake’s legal team released a new statement about “Not Like Us,” writing: “UMG is masquerading as a champion of artist freedom by calling its actions merely ‘entertainment,’ but there is nothing entertaining about pedophilia or child abuse in the real world. We are confident that the evidence we will ultimately present at trial, including information we’ve already learned and continue to receive since filing the lawsuit, will expose UMG’s gross prioritization of its own corporate profits and executive bonuses over its exclusively signed artists’ well-being and the truth.”

Lamar made his Super Bowl halftime show debut, in 2022, in Inglewood, California. He was among several performers that night, as Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, Anderson .Paak, and Mary J. Blige also participated in the SoFi Stadium show.