As week one of the NFL’s regular season kicked off, Kendrick Lamar announced Sunday that he will be headlining the 2025 Super Bowl in New Orleans. In the video released on his platforms and on the NFL’s, Kendrick Lamar is standing in front of a huge American flag, launching footballs off camera, seemingly talking to someone. Viewers immediately speculated some of his words were shots at Drake, as the two rappers had a very public beef this past summer. He says, “Wear your best dressed, too, even if you’re watching from home.” then walks off the screen and says, “…we running real routes, you gon’ be messing up.”
Drake fans have taken the approach of pointing out that Lamar’s career was stagnant for a while and it took for this beef to reignite flame. On the other end, Kendrick Lamar stans are addressing the irony of Drake and J. Cole’s song, “First Person Shooter.” The lyrics say, “Me and Drizzy, this s*** like the Super Bowl, this s*** damn near as big as the, big as the what? Big as the Super Bowl.” Cole later goes on to rap, “Is it K.Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? We the big three like we started a league.” This is seemingly the source of what started the spat, as Kendrick Lamar later responded on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” saying, “m****f*** the big three. N**** it’s just big me.” Chaos ensued from there, becoming an international trending topic, even catching the attention of Oscar-winner Tom Hanks who reached out to his son for a hilarious breakdown of the beef.
No matter which side you’re on (important to note that it’s not illegal to be a fan of both), the bigger controversy surrounding this decision involves another rapper who isn’t Drake. When you think of New Orleans and music, nine times out of ten, one man comes to mind: Lil Wayne. Social media sounded off with many opinions, most of which expressed their feelings towards the Young Money mogul not landing the gig in the city he claims so proudly. Ideally, it would have made perfect sense, as Wayne had expressed his interest in performing at the big game. In an interview posted to his Facebook back in March, the Nola rapper stated, “Now I won’t lie to you, I haven’t gotten a call or nothing like that but we all praying. We keeping our fingers crossed, I’m working hard, I’m gonna make sure this next album and everything I do is killer so… I wanna make it very hard for them not to holla at the boy…”
Cam’Ron recently shed some light on what could ultimately be the reason why Wayne was overlooked for the halftime show. On an episode of It Is What It Is, he says, “It’s not really a secret. Lil Wayne had a problem with somebody before who’s kinda part of the organization running it. This is payback. Who’s Lil Wayne’s artist? Drake.” While he mentions no name of said person, it’s a fair assumption that Cam’Ron is referring to Jay-Z, whose company, Roc Nation, signed a partnership with the NFL back in 2019 in an effort to help with inspiring change. To his credit, big names have been booked on the stage after many were boycotting the NFL following what took place with Colin Kaepernick.
Nicki Minaj came to Wayne’s defense with a few tweets, taking to the platform to vent, saying, “Denying a young black man what he rightfully put into this game for no other reason but your ego. Your hatred for BIRDMAN, Drake & Nicki got you punishing Lil Wayne?!?!!! LIL WAYNE!!!!!!!!!! THE GOAT?!!!!!!!!!!! Nola what’s good?!!!!!!” She does bring up an interesting point: Eminem stood up for 50 Cent when Jay-Z was against having him in the halftime show, even going as far as refusing to perform unless 50 could join. Will more big voices join Minaj in standing up for Wayne?
Aside from social media demanding the program to take a break from rappers and venture to rock and country performers (Taylor Swift actually would have been a solid choice given her recent Chiefs fame), another mild concern was the conversation around Wayne’s music, stating his discography contains lyrics not suitable for TV and younger audiences. That idea is unanimously debunked if you think back to the Super Bowl of 2022 which saw Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, 50 Cent, and even Kendrick, all of which who have content that mirrors Wayne’s (come on, Snoop crip walked on national TV). So what’s the real reason the Cash Money rapper was snubbed the stage of a lifetime in his hometown? Is it politics or could it be the industry fact that all publicity is good publicity, leading Lamar to be the ideal choice given the attention he’s garnered this year?
Another possibility is that Wayne could join the Cali rapper on stage, much like Beyoncé headlined, but also had Bruno Mars and Coldplay join her. But, if we’re being honest, nah, that doesn’t quite hit the same as having Lil Wayne on the marquee in the place he so loudly embodies. Make no mistake that Lamar has bangers that will get the audience on their feet (Will he even perform “Not Like Us” seeing how it’ll give attention to Drake? Will it hit the same a year after its release?). With Super Bowl 59 only five months away, could the outrage lead the NFL to make a change to please the people? It’s highly unlikely, but one thing remains true: no one is more qualified and could deliver a bigger performance in the Big Easy than Lil Wayne.