We gone be aiight. ... Especially when Kendrick Lamar Duckworth performs the halftime show for the College Football Playoff National Championship between Georgia and Alabama at Atlanta’s Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Monday—the first-ever halftime-show performance in championship-game history.
No, it’s not the NFL (nor is it Taylor Swift, the rumored performer before Lamar was chosen), but anyone who thinks that Kung Fu Kenny is not going to somehow address the sociopolitical nadir that the country now finds itself in—well, I wouldn’t bet money on that.
This is the man who provided the anthemic “Alright” when social unrest against police brutality was at its peak; who took us back to Africa during the BET Awards; whose intense, melodic work and dark performances often touch on mass incarceration, murder and media mayhem; and who notably had a bunch of jubilant, rowdy niggas outside the White House on the cover of his second album, To Pimp a Butterfly.
Speaking of, The Guardian reports that President Donald Trump will attend Monday’s game, which should be interesting, to say the least.
However, Lamar will not be performing in the stadium, according to an ESPN press release, which bills the special performance as a free, nonticketed event in the park, just outside the stadium. “Lamar’s performance will be integrated into halftime of ESPN’s telecast of the College Football Playoff National Championship Presented by AT&T,” it reads, which says to me that there will be some sort of delay, just in case it gets TOO black.
The Compton MC and his TDE camp are making money moves for 2018. Lamar’s most recent album, Damn., was certified double platinum and has been nominated for both Album of the Year and Best Rap Album for the 2018 Grammys. And just this week, Lamar dropped the first single from the Black Panther soundtrack, “All the Stars,” with labelmate SZA. We should expect to see a clip from that magnum opus of blackness during the game as well.
To say I’m excited about this college football game performance is an understatement. I cannot wait.