March 16, 2025 • 48 mins
Join me in today's episode as we do an in-depth analysis of Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime performance—my current "Roman Empire" that I can't stop thinking about. This wasn't just entertainment; it was revolution televised. From the opening red "detonator button" signaling disruption to the PlayStation controller representing how America "plays games" with its citizens, particularly Black Americans, Lamar's performance was layered with profound symbolism. Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam, the symbolism of "40 acres and a mule," and the powerful positioning of dancers all conveyed a message about refusing to "shut up and dribble."
Have you noticed how often we're encouraged to play by rules designed to maintain existing power structures? Kendrick's performance brilliantly exposed this dynamic, inviting us to question whether we're playing the game or being played.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Daijné (00:00):
Is this thing on?
Hello hello.
Uh-oh, another yapper with amic.
Ha ha ha ha.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to the Napkin In Between
Podcast.
I'm your host, Daijné Jones.
I hope everyone has been havinga good week, except for that
(00:22):
orange drink lady.
As always, I want you guys totell me what happened this week
for you that kept you grounded,made you happy, just something
that you feel like was the peakof your week, the best part of
your week, the peak of my week.
Um, your girl's podcast ismonetized.
Yes, we're up on my Momma.
(00:42):
So the other day I got anotification on one of my
distributing platforms for mypodcast that I met the
qualifications for monetization.
And when I got thatnotification, bitch, I was
feeling like her because, mindyou, I've only had this podcast
for a little over two months,and so I was like damn already,
like y'all fuck with me heavyy'all are tuning in, and I
appreciate it so, so much.
(01:03):
So I'm gonna break this downfull transparency, because I
always want to be fullytransparent in my content
creation journey, and thatincludes the monetization side
of it.
So I'm gonna tell y'all exactlywhat it means to be "monetized
for the audio listeners, I kindof say in quotes, so y'all
understand in a second, because,like I I, when I first seen the
notification, I hella excited.
(01:24):
I didn't really understand whatthe monetization meant, though.
So, to distribute my podcast, Iuse three different
distributors the first isYouTube, the second is Spotify
and I also use Buzzsprout.
So Buzzsprout is what I use todistribute my podcast on
everything other than YouTubeand Spotify.
So if you listen to thatpodcast via Apple Podcasts,
iheartradio, amazon, anythingother than YouTube and Spotify,
(01:52):
it comes through Buzzsprout.
So all three things that I usein order to distribute my
podcast have different criteriathat you have to meet in order
to monetize the podcast, and soI met the qualifications to
monetize my podcast throughBuzzsprout, and when I got that
notification, I was like bitchon my mother, we are up.
I was so fucking excited.
I was surprised, honestly, alittle bit because it happened
so quickly, but I texted my momshe was the first person I
(02:13):
texted, because she's the firstperson I text for any news and I
was texting a few of my contentcreator friends, and I was like
I monetize, like I was soexcited, whatever, whatever.
So, by monetizingizing, it meantthat I could now play ads in my
podcast, and so Buzzsprout hasbeen sending me like different
ads and I can listen to them,approve them, deny them,
whatever.
So I got a notification likehere's a couple ads that you can
(02:35):
put in your podcast.
And so I listened to a coupleof the ads.
I approve some of them and oneof them goes through for the
approval so it gets added to mypodcast and I was like, oh my
god, like I'm, I'm really up,like I was dead ass.
I was like I'm up bitch, likeyou hoes can't tell me fucking
nothing.
And so one ad gets approved.
It goes into my podcast,starting with last week's
(02:55):
episode.
And so after the ad was approvedand went into the podcast, I
saw that it had a percentagething that kept going up and up
and up as people weredownloading the podcast and I'm
like I wonder what this is.
I didn't think too much of itthough, I was just like, ok,
it's going up.
I don't really know what thatmeans.
Come to find out, thepercentage that was going up on
the ad was the number ofdownloads that the ad would be
(03:20):
played in, which means thatthere was a cap on the number of
downloads that the ad wouldplay in.
Therefore, there was a cap onthe amount of money that I could
make off of that ad.
Keep in mind I'm being paid 1.4cents for every time the ad is
run in an episode.
So it turns out the max amountof money that I was able to make
off of the ad was a dollar andnine cents.
(03:42):
Right, right, bitch, I can'teven buy a fucking mcchicken
with that, like I like.
But like I'm not complaining.
I'm not complaining becauseeveryone has to start from
somewhere.
And that's a dollar and ninemore than I had yesterday.
You know what I mean.
But when I got thatnotification that it was
monetized, I was like, oh, bitch, we're up, we're up, and we are
(04:07):
up, we're up a dollar and ninecents.
And so you know what small winsa win is a fucking win.
But your girl definitely hadtoo much dip on her chip.
I thought that it was going tobe streams period that I was
going to get paid off of, butit's like a maximum amount of
downloads per ad.
But I'm still very, verygrateful for that regardless
because, like, content creationis something that I've always
(04:28):
wanted to do, it's somethingthat I've always loved, it's
something that I've alwaysadmired of people, you know
putting themselves out there ina way that can educate people or
make people smile or, you know,just uplift someone who might
be having a bad day, and so thefact that I can do that and also
potentially make it myfull-time job, it's truly a
dream come true, and I I feellike I'm watching in real time
(04:51):
my dreams and my goals and myaspirations become my reality,
and I am so, so grateful forthat.
I'm so, so grateful for all ofyou, because I would not have
any of it if you guys were nottuning in, and it just made me
feel so much gratefulness, like,even though it's not much that
I'm making, it's still somethingand it can only go up from here
.
You know what I mean everyonehas to start from somewhere, and
(05:12):
I am just so, so grateful forall of you and, like I just
genuinely feel like I'm watchingmy dreams come true in real
time, and so this is your signif you want to post content,
post your content.
Everyone has to start fromsomewhere.
I'm literally sitting on my bedwith a mic, a camera and two
lights.
You know what I mean.
Like when I first startedposting on YouTube, I was
filming fully from my phone,editing on a refurbished iPad.
(05:36):
Like, everyone has to startfrom somewhere.
So don't let the fear ofstarting keep you from starting,
because you don't have to havethis elaborate setup, this grand
thing, in order to do what youwant to do and to go and reach
for your goals and youraspirations.
Like, yes, right now it's justme sitting in my room on my bed
(05:56):
with a mic, but someday it couldbe a tv show, you know what I
mean, with a full production anda couch and a live audience,
and like, like that's the goal.
Honestly, I would love to havea tv show where I can just
interview people.
Like that would.
That's absolutely the dream.
But everyone has to start fromsomewhere.
So I say all that to say juststart, do your thing, don't let
(06:17):
anybody hold you back.
And something that I feel likeis also very important is just
be yourself.
There are far too many peoplewho are creating these fake
personas online for likes andviews, and once you start
creating a fake persona, youhave to keep up with that fake
persona, because that's whatpeople know and that's what
people are there for.
(06:38):
And after a while of pretendingto be something that you're not
, you're gonna get burned out,you're gonna get tired and
you're not gonna want to do itanymore.
So just be yourself.
That's something that I havealways done in my content.
That's something that I alwayswill do, because it's just.
It makes it easy.
If you're just yourself, youdon't have to try.
You can just do it.
You can just pick up your mic,pick up your camera and go and
(07:07):
don't try to be anything otherthan yourself and let your
audience find you.
Two biggest pieces of advicethat I could give to anyone who
wants to start their contentcreation journey because as long
as you do those things, as longas you don't try too hard,
you're just yourself.
It'll never feel like a chore,it'll never feel like a job.
It'll just be something thatyou enjoy doing, and isn't that
the beauty of finding somethingthat you could Potentially make
(07:28):
your full-time job?
If you truly enjoy your job,then it's like you're not even
working.
You know what I mean.
So, anyway, I just wanted tosay thank you so so much.
I appreciate all of you.
You guys are genuinely helpingmy dreams come true, and that
means more to me than I couldever, I could ever put into
words.
And also, once I finally getthere and I'm really up, y'all
(07:49):
better not switch up on me.
If y'all switch up on me, Iswear to god I will hack into
each and every one of yourspotify's, your apple music,
whatever you listen to music on.
I will block every artistexcept for JLo, and that is the
only person you'll be able tolisten to for the rest of your
life.
Because I swear, as soon as thebitch is up, some of y'all be
praying on the downfall and Idon't like that.
That's.
That is hating, but not in agood way, because I'm a d1 hater
(08:11):
, but that's not hating in agood way.
So y'all better not switch upon me.
But also, don't turn into the.
They can never make me hate youcrowd either.
There's a very fine line withsocial media don't.
Don't cross the line like stay,stay walking the plank, stay
normal.
You know what I mean, becausethey can never make me hate you
crowd is so fucking toxic and soweird.
Like that was supposed to belike a silly, fun little thing,
(08:34):
but like it's gotten to thepoint where your fave can say
something problematic andthey'll get called out.
Or people want to hold themaccountable for spewing
problematic shit to theirmassive fucking audiences.
And here go people in thecomments.
Y'all can't make me hate themno one's trying to make you hate
them but, like you have to beaccountable for the things that
you do with your platform.
You know what I mean and I tryreally, really hard to make
(08:56):
informed takes and do myresearch before speaking, which
I feel like people don't do.
Enough conversation for anotherday.
But I'm human and so theremight be a time where I say
something that is wrong orproblematic and if it gets to
the point where people areholding me accountable, y'all
better not get in a commentsection talking about some.
Y'all can't make me hate her.
I am not above critique.
(09:19):
I am not above being heldaccountable.
I am not above any of that, asis no one.
So if I say something that'sproblematic and someone is
holding me accountable, that isokay.
And also y'all hold meaccountable as well because,
like I said, I'm human.
Even though I try to makeinformed takes and different
things like that, I'm stillhuman at the end of the day.
So there might come a time whereit happens and if it does,
(09:41):
please don't get weird pleasedon't.
They can never make me hate you.
You know what I mean.
Like I just, I really hate that.
I really I don't want no partsof that.
But obviously it depends too.
Like if I say something and themain group of people who are
upset is like men or whitepeople, I don't care, I'm just
(10:01):
gonna be real, I don't care,because it was probably me
calling out racism or misogynyor something and you know how
that white guilt is.
They want to be victims andlike, if it's, if it's genuinely
me just calling out racism orhomophobia or something and they
get upset.
I genuinely I could not careless.
If you felt hit, then you werewho I'm talking to.
You know what I mean.
But if I ever do say somethingproblematic or wrong, like, hold
(10:25):
me accountable and don't try tobrush it under the rug, because
that only negates and defeatsthe purpose of my content.
You know what I mean.
So don't switch up on me.
But also don't get.
They can never make me hate you.
But anyway, I just wanted to sayI'm so, so grateful for all of
you and thank you for yoursupport and just being here,
like I genuinely appreciate allof you so so much and, as always
(10:48):
, I hope that my content iseducational and informative and
entertaining and all of theabove.
I want to hear what the peak ofyour week was.
Please leave it in the comments.
I want to know what you didthis week that made you smile,
that kept you grounded, thatmade you feel present in the
chaos that is the world.
So what we gonna talk abouttoday.
I know it's been about a monthsince Kendrick Lamar's super
(11:09):
bowl halftime performance, but Itold y'all that I would be
there for a very long time and Imight tell y'all a joke, but I
will never tell you a lie.
I swear Kendrick Lamar'shalftime performance has become
my roman empire.
It is like the thing that Iwatch before going to bed at
night.
I think about it throughout theday and part of me has been
watching it so much because Ifeel like the performance was so
(11:30):
iconic and so moving and justthe message of it is so
important.
But I also wanted to do a fullbreakdown episode of the entire
performance and talk about allof the symbolism and the hidden
messages and all of that.
So have written down a step bystep of all of the messages and
the performance, or at least allof the ones that I feel like I
caught.
I still feel like I missed some, which is why, also, I've been
(11:53):
watching it over and over,because I wanted to do a
breakdown and highlight everysingle message.
I'm sure I still probablymissed some.
So if I did, please leave themin the comments, because this is
just such an important messageand I feel like we can't just
move on from it like I.
I'm still there and I willstill be there for a very long
time.
This breakdown is a combinationof me just watching this
performance over and over someof your comments on my videos
(12:16):
that I've put on tick tock justall of the messages that I feel
like I have found, or you guyshave found, in the performance.
So let's get into the fullbreakdown of Kendrick Lamar's
Super Bowl halftime performance.
Okay, so first in theperformance, we start off with
the introduction of theperformance where we have the
camera that's panning to the topof this red superdome and it
(12:39):
says the National FootballLeague welcomes you to the Apple
Music Halftime Show.
So, like I said, we see thisred circle that looks like a
detonator button and, if you'renot familiar with a detonator
button.
It's like a button that's usedto cause an explosion or an
eruption or something like that,and so what I took from that is
it was like Kendrick Lamarsaying I'm about to disrupt
(13:00):
everything with this performance, like I'm about to blow y'all
shit up.
I'm about to expose so muchthat is wrong with society and
with America and with howAmerica treats its citizens and
also how America treats itsBlack citizens and its Black
entertainers and its minorities.
I watched the performance overand over and I didn't really
catch that symbolism as theintroduction to the performance.
(13:21):
Until I went back and watchedother Super Bowl halftime
performances, I didn't realizethat the start of every
performance was a little bitdifferent, and so I feel like
that was a very calculated startto his performance.
That Kendrick Lamar I feel likehe's just such a fucking genius
, a lyrical genius, a visionarygenius, like I feel like every
single thing that he does in allof his performances is very
(13:43):
intentional, and so that's why Ifelt like it was like a
detonator button, like okay, I'mabout to expose y'all, I'm
about to blow y'all's whole planup.
So after we get past the reddome and we're into the
performance.
Now we see an aerial view ofthe field and it looks like a
controller.
You can see different buttonslighting up.
There's like an x, a triangle,a circle and a square.
It's a PlayStation controller.
(14:05):
There's a couple pieces ofsymbolism in this.
So the first one is that it's acontroller, and one of the main
messages in Kendrick Lamar'sperformance is that America is
playing a game.
Number one is playing a gamebetween US citizens and the
government and how thegovernment controls the citizens
, but it's also playing a gamewith black American culture,
both games of which are meant tokeep people in a specific place
(14:28):
so that one group of people iswinning and another group of
people are losing.
So, as we're seeing the gamecontroller, we see a sequence of
buttons being pressed on thecontroller.
Someone had commented and saidthat the sequence that buttons
being pressed is a cheat codein a game that restores you to
full health.
And as the buttons are beingpressed, you can see in the
crowd it's lighting up and it'sgoing from 0 to 100%, like this
(14:52):
bar is filling up from 0 to 100.
My takeaway from that is thatKendrick Lamar again was about
to explode or blow up their gameand show us how we can reach
our full potential, how we canplay the game in a way that we
could be restored to full lifeand not be controlled by the
government.
And, as we know, throughout thewhole performance Kendrick
(15:15):
Lamar weaves in and out on hisbeef with Drake, and so some
people were also saying that itwas a playstation controller,
because Drake has a partnershipwith playstation and so that was
kind of like a diss at drake aswell of using the playstation
controller.
Then we get into Samuel LJackson, who is dressed as Uncle
Sam.
Now Samuel L Jackson narratesthroughout this entire
performance.
(15:35):
Uncle Sam is a symbol that isused to represent the American
government.
It's used a lot in Americanpropaganda, specifically
military propaganda, and it'sbasically just a personification
of how the government expectsits people to behave, which is
in compliance with thegovernment, right.
And so Samuel L Jackson startsby saying salutations, it's your
Uncle Sam, and this is thegreat American game.
(15:58):
We are not talking aboutfootball here, okay.
We are talking about the gamethat the government plays with
its citizens to keep themcontrolled, and also the game of
life in America as black people.
So let's talk about theimportance of using Samuel L
Jackson to play Uncle Sam forthis performance.
So Samuel L Jackson is a verywell-known black american actor.
He he's very well-loved in theblack community.
(16:20):
Samuel L Jackson played in themovie Django Unchained.
He plays a character namedStefan who is the head slave on
the plantation.
So as the head slave, he's veryloyal and close to the slave
master.
He's essentially the slavemaster's eyes and ears on the
plantation, lets the slavemaster know if anyone's getting
out of line and Uncle Ruckus, ifyou will.
Samuel L Jackson was also veryimportant as the role of Uncle
(16:42):
Sam because Samuel L Jackson hasbeen very vocal in his
opposition to Donald Trump.
He has called Donald Trump aracist and in a 2023 interview
with Rolling Stone, he said thatDonald Trump reminded him of
the same racist rednecks whotaunted him during his childhood
.
And keep in mind Donald Trumpis at the Super Bowl, so he is
watching this performance live.
Not that he really understoodor gave a fuck about the message
(17:04):
behind the performance, but hewas there to see it live.
So after Samuel L Jackson sayswelcome to the great American
game.
We go to Kendrick Lamar and he'skneeling on a Buick GNX In the
crowd you can see it says starthere, which, as we know, is a
very common thing that you cansee on a board game.
It's like telling you where tostart.
You know what I mean.
So it's just like another nodto the fact that we are playing
(17:26):
a game.
So Kendrick Lamar is on top ofthe GNX, he's kneeling down on
on the GNX and the GNX haspersonal symbolism to Kendrick
Lamar.
Um, he has said in an interviewthat his dad drove him home
from the hospital when he wasborn in a GNX.
Also, GNX are also verysymbolic to black culture as
it's another example of a lowrider which we see a lot in west
(17:47):
coast hip-hop, black movies,HBCU homecomings, like it's just
a nod to black culture.
So Kendrick Lamar startsperforming and as he's
performing we can see dancerspiling out of this car.
It looked like they were comingout as if it was a clown car,
which I took as a nod to peoplesee black culture and black
(18:08):
people as entertainment.
It gave very much shut up anddribble to me.
You know what I mean.
Like you're here to tap dancefor us.
They don't want us to bespeaking out about race issues,
about social issues, about theclimate of the world.
They genuinely see us asentertainment.
They see us as people whoshould shut up and dribble.
So, with all the dancers pilingout of the car and it looking
(18:30):
like a clown car, like I tookthat as him saying like this is
what y'all want us to be, y'alljust want us to be entertainment
or you know, here for yourbenefit and as we're here for
your benefit, you're constantlytaking away from us.
Like black culture is notappreciated, it's appropriated.
You know what I mean.
Like when we do it it's.
It's seen as loud, reckless andghetto, which we'll get to in a
(18:51):
little bit, um, but it's.
It's seen, it's demeaned, it'slooked down upon, it's seen as
something negative.
But when other people do theexact same things that we do in
our black culture, it's seen asedgy or fun or spunky or
whatever.
So that was the first thingthat I I caught from the dancers
piling out of the car.
I also saw people say that itcould be symbolic of the
(19:11):
underground railroad, becausethe dancers were coming like
from underground, of the waythat the stage was set up.
They were coming.
They obviously weren't allfitting in that car, they were
coming from other parts of thestage and so people were saying
that it could be a symbolic of,you know, freedom and escaping
slavery.
And a nod to Harriet Tubman inthe underground railroad,
(19:33):
because as the dancers arecoming out of the car, you see
Kendrick Lamar starting to likemove in a way that kind of looks
like he's telling them to likego forward.
He's like moving back and forth.
You know what I mean?
Um, I also saw people say thatit could be symbolic for mexican
culture of people just pilingout of the car and being freed
as well.
So then kenji lamar performs alittle bit more and then we hear
(19:53):
him say the revolution is aboutto be televised.
You picked the right time butthe wrong guy.
So there's a few points ofsymbolism in this, the first one
being it is a nod to Gil ScottHeron's song the revolution will
not be televised, a song thatencouraged people to take
actions and change their mindsto create social change.
Gil Scott Heron also encouragespeople not to listen to
(20:13):
mainstream media if they wantchange, because mainstream media
will tell people what they wantthem to believe, not what is
necessarily true or fullyaccurate.
Gil Scott Heron also encouragespeople not to be passive in
their one for social change, andif you actually want change,
you have to actually get out inthe field and do something,
rather than just sitting at homeor complaining about you know
(20:36):
what's going on.
You have to actually dosomething, and so this was
Kendrick Lamar's way of sayingthe revolution is about to be in
your face.
We are here to make a statement, we are here to call for change
and, whether y'all like it ornot, we're not going to play the
game the way that you want usto.
We're not gonna be complicitand we're not gonna be silent.
I also took the right time,wrong guy to mean that, like
(20:58):
this is the right time for arevolution, given the state of
our country and who was justelected, so it's the right time.
But they picked the wrong guybecause Kendrick Lamar isn't
going to just shut up anddribble.
He's not going to just be therefor their entertainment or play
the game the way that they wantthem to.
I also kind of maybe thoughtthat this was maybe a subtle
(21:20):
little dig at the people whodidn't want Kendrick Lamar to
perform when he was initiallyannounced as being the performer
for the Super Bowl, peoplethought that he was not the
right choice, and I rememberspecifically, people were saying
that Lil Wayne should have beenasked to perform rather than
Kendrick Lamar, and so I tookthis as kind of like him saying,
like, had you have pickedsomeone else, they probably
would have just been here toentertain you as you wanted,
because in the past, lil Waynehas shown support for Donald
(21:44):
Trump and talks about how DonaldTrump was here to help the
black community Total fuckingbullshit.
And so I took that as KendrickLamar saying, like had you
picked someone else, they wouldhave just shut up and dribble.
They would have just been hereto entertain.
That's not what I'm here to do.
I'm here to put out a messagebecause social change needs to
happen.
So then he goes into performingsquabble up, which I took as him
(22:05):
saying like again, I'm here tofight, I'm here to resist, also
as a way to tell people like weall need to be here, we all need
to be fighting back, we allneed to be not playing the game
the way that the governmentwants us to if we want actual
social change something that wasalso really symbolic to me in
the performance of squabble upis the position of the dancers
(22:26):
in the choreography which I feelKendrick Lamar used a lot in
this performance.
So, as we can see in thesquabble up part of the
performance, we're getting readyto fight, right, we're getting
ready to revolt, for battle,like that's what I'm taking from
the squabble up, and you cansee, on the front of the
battlefield or the revolution,all of the dancers are men and
(22:47):
in the back are the women, whichI took as Kendrick Lamar saying
like men need to step up, y'allneed to do better, y'all need
to get in the field and and leadthe revolution, like oftentimes
and this is just my opinion,but I do kind of see and feel
that a lot of the time whenthings are being spoken out
against or, you know, people aretrying to make social change, a
(23:07):
lot of the time it does appearto be women and I think this was
Kendrick Lamar's way of sayinglike men, you need to step it up
, y'all need to get in the fieldtoo.
So then, after squabble up, wesee Samuel L Jackson come back
and he says no, no, no, no, tooloud, too reckless, too ghetto,
and I took this as him saying,like revolting and going against
the government.
He was demonizing that as he'sjust as the symbol of the
(23:31):
American government.
That was the government sayingthat is wrong.
You should not be going againstwhat we say and revolting and
trying to bring about any change.
You need to stay in your place.
You need to play the game theway we want you to play the game
.
And that's also why Samuel LJackson says do you really know
how to play the game?
Then tighten up.
(23:51):
Basically, just him saying stopwhat you're doing, play the
game the way that we want you toplay the game, so that we can
stay in our place and thegovernment can continue to
control us.
So then Kendrick Lamar goes intohumble, and there's a few
different parts of symbolism ingoing from Samuel L Jackson
telling him to tighten up intohumble.
Number one the song talks aboutyou know, sit down and be
(24:12):
humble.
That is what the americangovernment wants us to do.
They don't want us to revolt,they don't want us to, to
challenge them, because if wechallenge them and we try to
make real social change, thenthey will lose.
And like lose I put, I say inquotes, because it's not really
about them losing, but it's likethey don't want us to benefit.
Us benefiting feels like a lossto them.
(24:33):
I also thought that it wasreally symbolic for him to go
into humble, because humble isone of his biggest songs, it's
one of his most well-knowncommercial songs, which I felt
like was a nod to this is whatyou want.
You want us here to be yourentertainment.
You want us to specificallyentertain you and, being as
though it's one of his biggestsongs you know it was it was
(24:54):
like a nod to okay, you want usto just be entertainment.
Also, again, the formation ofthe dancers and Kendrick Lamar
while he's performing humble.
So they're in the formation ofan american flag, but it's
divided and Kendrick Lamar isstanding in the middle, which I
took as symbolic of how dividedour country is.
And not only is the countrydivided, but as our country is
(25:16):
divided and we can all see thatit's divided, we, we can all
tell that it's very, verydivided.
He's performing humble becausethe American government is
telling us to sit down and shutup, even though we can very
clearly see that our country isextremely divided.
And so I thought that it wasreally symbolic of him to be
performing this song which,again, which is one of his
biggest songs meaning you needto just be here to entertain us
(25:39):
and also the lyrics of sit downand be humble.
He's performing this as a wayto say, like you know, it's
literally in our face howdivided our country is and y'all
are still expecting us to notdo anything about it.
Also, in some of thechoreography, during this point
you can see on both sides of thedivision the dancers are
nodding as Kendrick Lamar issaying like sit down and be
(25:59):
humble, which I took to meanthere is complicity on both
sides.
Right, both sides are notstanding up against the
government in the ways that theyshould.
There's complicity on bothsides and both sides need to
change in order to make astatement and make social change
.
But then Kendrick Lamar isbasically saying like this is
(26:21):
not what we're going to do,we're not just going to sit down
, we're not just going to behumble.
And so in the choreography thedancers start to march forward
and come together.
The division of the dancers asthey're marching forward,
they're moving in so thatthere's not a divide anymore,
and I took that to mean bothsides coming together to revolt
against the government, andthat's how it should be like it
(26:41):
shouldn't be right versus left,it should be up versus down.
And I it also made me think ofthe Pixar movie A Bug's Life and
the speech that Hopper gave.
When the other grasshoppers aretalking about, like maybe we
should just not go back and andget the food or whatever, and
they're like oh, it was just oneant who stood up to us, like it
doesn't really matter, itwasn't a big deal.
(27:03):
And Hopper goes into the speechof like, if one ant stands up,
then they might all stand up.
I felt like in that movie thatwas symbolism of you know, if we
, if we all, really cametogether and stood up against
the government, we could makereal social change.
And so that's why they try tokeep us so divided, with right
versus left, because if theykeep us fighting amongst each
(27:23):
other, then we're not fightingagainst them, which is what we
should actually be doing, butinstead we're fighting right
versus left.
So then, as the dancers aremarching forward and they're
coming together, we heardrumming, which I feel like kind
of sounds like gunshots, andthen that's when all the dancers
scatter.
I kind of took that assymbolism, as you know, once we
do come together, or if we wereever to eventually come together
(27:47):
, the government would createsome sort of chaos to again keep
us separate and keep usfighting each other.
And that's why all the dancers,after they came together, the
drums started.
Ie, the government caused somesort of chaos and everyone runs
away and dissipates and we'renot united as we should be.
But after all the dancers, youknow, are scattered and there's
(28:07):
a little bit of chaos.
Then we get into a differentlayout of the field and it looks
like a street, right?
I felt like this was KendrickLamar's way of saying don't let
the government keep us separate.
We still, even if they createchaos, we need to stay together.
Like this was Kendrick Lamar'sway of saying don't let the
government keep us separate, westill, even if they create chaos
, we need to stay together.
We need public demonstration,we need marches, we need
protests in order to fightagainst the government.
So while they're performing inthis like street view that we
(28:30):
see, we see in the crowd, it'slit up and it says wrong way.
Again, this is a game reference.
Sometimes, when you're playinggames and you're going the wrong
way, it'll tell you.
And if you go the wrong way toomuch, there's games that will,
like hint at you, like if you gothe wrong way too much, it can
have negative consequences oryou could even die.
(28:50):
And we see wrong way after youknow the street performance or
in the middle of the streetperformance of people protesting
in the streets.
And so I took this as symbolicof the government saying like
hey, you're going the wrong way.
If you continue to play thegame the way you're playing the
game ie protesting and goingagainst what we say, it could
have negative consequences.
But I also took this as a wayof of Kendrick Lamar saying the
(29:12):
country is going the wrong wayby electing Donald Trump.
Like it's literally set us backyears with his ending of equal
employment opportunities anddifferent things like that.
Like we're, we're physicallygoing the wrong way as a country
.
Instead of moving forward,we're moving back.
But even though it's saying thatwe're going the wrong way,
Kendrick Lamar continues tomarch forward.
He continues to like protestand go into battle in his
(29:34):
performance.
I mean, and again we see as hehe's marching.
The men are in the front andleading the revolution.
We see this several times inKendrick Lamar's performance.
So then we go into theperformance of man at the garden
and we see Kendrick Lamar at astreet light with a bunch of his
friends.
Right, one of his friends islaying on top of the street
(29:55):
light.
I kind of took that as like hewas a friend that was killed or
passed away or you know.
He's no longer here and he'slike watching over all of the
other friends.
He's like a guardian angel.
So let's get into a little bitof the lyrics from the song man
at the Garden.
One of the lines that KendrickLamar says is do you want the
famous me or the dangerous me?
(30:15):
I took this to mean like thefamous him would be the one
that's strictly just theentertainer.
Right, he's there to shut upand dribble, he's there to
entertain.
The dangerous him isn't, infact, actually like a danger,
but it's a danger to thegovernment or the system because
he's continuing to speak outabout racial issues and social
(30:36):
injustice and the things thatthe government does as a way to
control the US.
The government does as a way tocontrol the US citizens and as
a way to control the way thatblack people, specifically, are
viewed by the world and the waysthat black people are
constantly told to shut up anddribble, to be there to
entertain and to not bringattention to racial issues.
And so this is Kendrick Lamar'sway of saying you're going to
(30:57):
get the dangerous me like.
I'm not here to just shut upand dribble.
I'm not here just for yourentertainment.
I am here to make a statementbecause a revolution will be
televised and a revolution isneeded.
And so after this we see SamuelL Jackson come back and say oh,
you brought your homeboys withyou, the old culture cheat code.
And so I took this as a way ofof Samuel L Jackson saying like
(31:17):
once we are in community andonce we all come together, the
government sees that as a cheatcode, because when you have too
many people standing up againstyou and fighting back and
bringing attention to raceissues, social issues, different
things like that, it can bringreal change.
Again.
Going back to the bugs lifemovie, if one of them stands up,
they might all stand up, and ifwe all up, then there will be
(31:40):
actual change.
And so we hear Samuel L Jacksonsay scorekeeper, deduct one
life.
I took this as symbolic ofpolice brutality because, as we
know, we've seen, you know, ifpeople are protesting, sometimes
the police show up and theybring tear gas or you know
anything like that in a way totry to stop people from
protesting the government orrace issues or advocating for
(32:03):
social change, especially inlike the civil rights movement.
For example, when people weremarching or protesting, you know
they would bring the dogs, thewater hoses, just different ways
to try to keep people in aplace, to keep one group losing
and another group winning.
So it's essentially symbolic ofthe government punishing people
for coming together to advocatefor social change.
(32:25):
And then, right after this,Kendrick Lamar goes into the
performance of peek-a-boo and ashe's performing peek-a-boo, it
looks like a prison yard, whichI felt like was also symbolic of
.
You know, once you go againstthe government, once you
advocate for social change,another tactic that they use is
jail and imprisonment.
Several civil rights activistswere jailed and imprisoned Rosa
(32:47):
Parks, Martin Luther King.
They were thrown in jail as away to try to keep them from
advocating for social change.
So I took this as a way ofsaying, like you know, sometimes
they try to silence you withdeath and then other times they
try to silence you by puttingyou in prison, anything that
they can do to try to keep youfrom speaking out or bringing
attention to racism and otherdiscriminatory, oppressive
(33:11):
tactics.
So then after peek-a-boo, weget into the tease of not like
us.
Now, personally, this is one ofmy favorite uses of symbolism
that Kendrick Lamar uses in thisperformance.
So throughout the entireperformance, Kendrick Lamar is
very confident.
He knows what he's going to donext.
He everything is very wellthought out.
But when he gets to, you knowwhether or not he wants to
perform not like us.
(33:31):
He he's like going back andforth on whether or not he wants
to perform it right.
Both times when he was thinkingabout performing not like us,
he goes to black women.
He goes to black women to helphim make that decision.
So let's talk about the blackwomen that he goes to.
Number one, it's four blackwomen.
Four as a number representsstability, balance and hard work
(33:51):
.
It's also a number thatsignifies direction.
There's four points on acompass north, south east, south
east and west.
Meaning four is the number ofguidance, right.
There's also the four elementsfire, air, earth and water.
So I took this as a symbol ofyou know when guidance is needed
and when you're struggling andyou you need help making a
decision.
The people who are going tohelp you and help guide you
(34:14):
through making difficultdecisions will be black women.
Right, I felt like he wassaying that black women are a
sign of guidance and stabilityand hard work and people that
you should go to in your time ofneed for guidance or anything
like that.
Also, the four women was areference to his song king kunta
, which he was not allowed toperform at the super bowl.
(34:35):
King Kunta is Kendrick Lamar'ssong, which is about the
rebellious slave Kunta Kinte.
It was just about, like youknow, essentially another nod to
revolting and not staying inthe place that the government
wants you to stay in.
And so I think that's also whywe hear Samuel L Jackson say oh,
you done lost your damn mind.
Because it's a way of himsaying like you know, I'm still
going to continue to rebel, I'mnot going to stay in the place
(34:57):
that the government wants me toand going to stay in the place
that the government wants me to.
And so Samuel L Jackson, whowas again Uncle Sam, a
representation of the government, is like oh, you've lost your
mind, like you're doingsomething that you're not
supposed to be doing.
Also, with the tease of not likeus, Kendrick Lamar says I want
to perform their favorite song,but you know they love to sue.
This was number one, a diss atDrake, because Drake has
threatened legal action againstKendrick Lamar for performing
(35:19):
not like us.
But I also took it as a symbolof Kendrick Lamar talking about
censorship, which we knowhappens a lot in mainstream
media and with the us government, of them not bringing attention
to situations that need to bebrought attention to, um,
because if too much attention isbrought to these situations, it
could create social change andthey don't want that.
They want us to shut up anddribble.
(35:41):
They want us to play the gamethe way that they want us to
play the game, so that they cancontinue winning and we continue
losing.
So, as we know, Kendrick Lamardecides not to perform, not like
us.
He says he's gonna slow thingsdown, which is where we get into
the part of the performancewith my girl, SZA.
Oh my god, I love her so much.
My girl, I love SZA much.
So, number one we see SZA isdressed in red, which I took as
(36:03):
symbolism of the sacrifices thatBlack women have made for Black
liberation and for theadvancement of Black people.
Also, the entire part of theperformance that includes SZA is
very calm and it's much slower,which I took as symbolic of
that's what Black women needright now, right?
Black women have been on theforefront and the front lines
(36:24):
for a very long time and rightnow what they need is a slower
and a calming and rest.
I just kind of took that asKendrick Lamar's way of saying
like I'm not gonna put too muchon SZA, who I felt like was a
representation of black women inthis performance and his way of
saying like we should not beputting too much on black women
because they've done so much forus as it is.
(36:46):
Like let's let them be slowerand calmer and more relaxed.
You know what I mean.
Also, I thought it was reallyinteresting that he refers to
SZA as Solana while they'reperforming.
That just felt more personaland deeper to me, because
everyone refers to SZA as SZASolana is her real name but
everyone just uses her stagename and so, with Kendrick Lamar
(37:08):
using her real name and sayingSolana, it just felt like it was
his way of saying like I'm herefor you on a deeper, more
personal level.
I will protect you and you knowI see you as more than just an
entertainer or I see you in adeeper way than the world sees
you.
I just took it as a way of himsaying like me, as a black man,
I am going to be here to protectyou, a black woman, and that's
(37:30):
what black men should be doingis being there and protecting
black women.
I felt like that was kind ofhis way of saying like, as black
men, as a community, black mencould do better in protecting
black women.
So one of the songs that SZA andKendrick Lamar performed
together is All the Stars, whichnumber one, all the Stars we
hear in the Black Panther movie,which obviously is a superhero
(37:51):
movie, but also the BlackPanther Party, which was there
to help protect and aid theblack community against police
brutality.
Also, all the Stars is one ofKendrick Lamar's biggest
commercial songs as well, verysimilar to humble, and so after
they perform it, we see Samuel LJackson come back and say see,
that's what america wants, niceand calm, which I felt like was
another nod to you know, you'rehere to entertain us, you're
(38:14):
supposed to just be ourentertainment.
And I felt like it wasinteresting that when we see
kendrick lamar, when heperformed humble, he performed
humble right after Samuel LJackson tells him to tighten up,
essentially saying like you'rehere to be our entertainment,
entertain us.
And then they perform all thestars and right after that,
Samuel L Jackson says this iswhat america wants.
(38:34):
Basically, in both instances,he's saying you are here to
entertain us, just entertain us.
That is what america wants,that is what the government
wants, because they don't wantus to be talking about racial
issues and and advocating forsocial change.
So Samuel L Jackson says thisis what america wants.
Nice, calm, you're almost there, don't mess this up.
(38:56):
And as he's saying, don't messthis up is when Kendrick Lamar
interrupts him again with notlike us.
And so Kendrick Lamar is backwith, you know, his four black
women who are helping guide himinto whether or not he wants to
perform this song.
And before he starts to performit, he says some very important
things.
So, first and foremost, he saysit's a cultural divide I'm
gonna get it on the floor.
This was a nod to again howdivided our country is.
(39:18):
And then he says 40 acres and amule, this is bigger than the
music.
40 acres and a mule was apromise that was made to black
Americans after they freedthemselves from slavery, which
basically said that they wouldbe getting land and resources as
a way to help them rebuildafter slavery.
This was a broken promise madeby the government to black
people.
The land was taken back fromblack people and given back to
(39:41):
their previous slave owners.
So I took it as a call forreparations and the repairing of
all of the broken promises,because there have been
countless broken promises madeto black americans.
So then he says they tried torig the game, but you can't fake
influence.
So number one, I feel like thiswas another diss to Drake,
because again, Drake hadthreatened to sue.
So that was Drake's way oftrying to rig the game, trying
(40:02):
to censor him.
But I also took it as a way ofhim saying, like they're, they
tried to rig the game, meaningmainstream media and censorship
and the propaganda that theAmerican government wants its
people to believe so that theycan remain playing the game the
way that the American governmentwants us to.
But this was Kendrick Lamar'sway of reminding them yet again
that he is not here to play thegame, that the way that they
(40:23):
want him to, and the revolutionis here and it's in your face,
whether you like it or not.
So then he decides to perform,not like us, decides I say in
quotes, because he was, I feellike he was always going to
perform it, but for the sake ofthe performance, he's like going
back and forth on whether ornot he should perform not like
us.
And I took this as anothersymbol of going into battle
(40:43):
because, as we know, not like uswas a diss track released
against drake in the midst oftheir rap beef, and so I took
this as like a double entendreof like the rap battle, but like
actual battle too, and likerevolution against the
government.
And so once he decides likeokay, like yes, we are going to
revolt, we're going to go intobattle, he starts to march
forward first, and then theblack women who have helped
(41:04):
guide him into making thisdecision, they follow him into
battle.
So again he is on the frontlines, he is the one leading,
and again I feel like he is asymbol for black men of like
black men should be the onesleading the revolution.
Like yes, black women shouldalso be a part of the revolution
.
We should be there like helpingand and guiding, but when it
(41:25):
comes to, you know, actuallygoing into, like the protests
and different things, like that,black men should be on the
front line.
That was the symbolism that Ifelt like he was trying to
portray in him going first andthen the black women following
behind him.
So then, as he's performing notlike us we can see all of the
dancers are all together, right.
Like for the majority of theperformance, the dancers were
(41:47):
like in their own separatecategories, like the red dancers
with the red dancers, the bluewith the blue, the white with
the white right.
As he's performing not like us,because this is again when
we've decided to go into battle,all the of the dancers are
together, which I took as theunification of the right and the
left coming together to protestand revolt against the
(42:08):
government.
And, of course, during Not LikeUs, we got the Serena Williams
cameo, which lives in my head,rent-free.
I remember my exact reactionwhen I first saw Serena Williams
on screen, but Serena Williamscoming after Crip Walk was also
very symbolic number one.
She was criticized heavily in2012 for crip walking at the
summer olympics.
After she had won, she did alittle crip walk in celebration
(42:30):
and people said that she wasglorifying gangs and said that
it was inappropriate, like shealmost got fined for doing it.
And, as we know, there's a longhistory with Serena Williams
being demonized by media andpeople, and so I felt like that
was like a reclamation forSerena Williams as a way of
saying like there's nothingwrong with me doing this.
(42:51):
This is a celebration of blackculture and y'all are trying to
demonize that.
So it was a way of reclaimingas well.
Also, there is a little bit ofhistory with Serena Williams and
Drake.
They were rumored to be datingfor a little bit, and he has
taken shots at Serena Williamsand her husband in his songs
ever since you know they brokeup.
So it was also just likeanother dig at Drake.
(43:11):
And then, finally, we get intoTV Off and Kendrick Lamar does a
lyric change.
When he's performing TV Off,Kendrick Lamar says turn this TV
off right and mind you.
As he's performing tv off,Kendrick Lamar says turn this tv
off right and mind you, as he'sperforming tv off, like
everyone is in the streets, allthe dancers are unified and I'm
seeing this as like a protest,like we're getting in the field,
we're getting in the streetsand protesting.
(43:32):
But he's also encouragingpeople to protest not only in
the streets but also with theirmoney.
He's literally saying turn thistv off.
That it was a direct command toturn the tv off to not support
the super bowl, becauseobviously one of the biggest
parts of the super bowl are alsothe commercials and there was a
lot of american propaganda inthis year's super bowl
commercials and so that was kindof Kendrick Lamar's way of
(43:53):
saying turn it off, don't, don'tlisten to what they're saying,
don't give them your money bytuning in, turn this tv off.
It was like literally, he wasliterally telling us turn the tv
off.
Also, while he's performing tvoff, we get another aerial view
of the field and we can see thatall of the dancers are on each
one of the controller buttons.
(44:13):
And I took this as a way of himsaying if we all come together
and if we unify, we can thencontrol the game.
We are the ones who are pushingthe game, we are the ones who
are pushing the buttons.
We are the ones who arecontrolling our outcome and in
the future of not only thecountry but also the future for
black people specifically, if wewere to all come together and
band together and not fight eachother, not fight left versus
(44:35):
right, but fight up versus down,we can then control the outcome
of the game.
And so then at the end of tvoff, in the crowd, we see it
says game over, which I took assaying this game that the
government is trying to playwith us it's over.
We're not playing the game thatthey, that they want us to play
.
We're not going to shut up anddribble.
We're not just here toentertain, we are here to make a
statement, we are here to makereal social change.
(44:58):
And so that was the end of theperformance.
Kendrick Lamar just saying likethis game is over, number one,
like again telling telling us toturn the tv off because nothing
else matters, because we're notgoing to give them our money
that's another way that we canprotest.
But also of him just saying,like you know, the game that the
government wants us to play,we're not playing it, it's over,
we're not going to do it.
(45:18):
What a fucking performance like.
I just cannot get it off mymind.
It's just so.
There's so many messages,there's so much to unpack in the
performance, but all of ittruly boils down to number one
we're not going to play the gameand we're not going to stay in
line that the way that thegovernment wants us to all as US
(45:39):
citizens, but also as Blackpeople.
They continue to want to use usfor their entertainment and for
their benefit, but then we inturn don't benefit from that.
And it was just KendrickLamar's way of saying like we're
not going to continue to stayin the boxes that you want to
see.
We're not just here for yourentertainment, we are here to
make real social change.
Also, a little bit about hisoutfit Number one, his cute
(46:03):
little bootcut jeans that he wasslaying the girls down in.
Bootcut jeans are alongstanding statement of
protest.
Fashion in general has beenused as a statement of protest,
further going to show like I amhere as a way to protest.
I am not here just to entertainyou.
And then he was wearing the Anecklace, which was a symbol for
his brand, pg Lang.
I also kind of thought maybe itwas like a little A minor
(46:25):
necklace, a little diss towardsDrake, and I also kind of think
that maybe there was a littlebit of like dissing America with
that as well, because it was alowercase a, just basically
saying like America is not thatgirl the way that she thinks she
is, because a lot of times whenyou see like USA.
The A is capitalized With him,it was lowercase, which could
maybe be a way of him sayinglike America is not that girl
(46:46):
the way that she thinks it is.
You know what I mean.
Like you're you're not eatingthe girls of the way you think
you are.
And then he had on the Gloriajacket, which was a reference to
his album, GNX, and then also areference to his journey as an
artist in the music industry,essentially representing his
lyrical style, his pen game andalso just like his journey
through the music industry.
Also the word Compton was onhis jacket, which was a nod to
(47:09):
his hometown and also, I feellike, maybe a nod to black
culture, as me personally, whenI think of Compton, I think of
black culture and west coast rapand different things like that.
So, performance packed full ofsymbolism.
I probably still miss some,even though I've watched this
performance so many times, triedto catch all of them.
I'm sure I missed some.
So if I missed anything, pleaseleave it in the comments.
(47:30):
This performance was a statement.
It was a statement and we needto make sure the statement
continues to get out, becausethe only way for us to bring
real social change is to be thatchange.
If we want real social change.
We cannot be passive.
We cannot just blindly complywith what the government wants
us to do.
We have to be vocal and we haveto be in the streets and we
(47:53):
have to be the change that wewant to see.
We have to, we have to goagainst the government and we
cannot play the game that theywant us to play, because if we
continue to play the play thegame that they want us to play,
because if we continue to playthe game the way that they want
us to, they will continue to winand we will continue to lose.
I hope that this episode waseducational.
I hope that it helped betterunderstand the performance.
(48:13):
It was really important to meto put all of the pieces in one
episode because there are somany, and I just hope that it'll
bring about real social changeand we can put Kendrick Lamar's
message into real action andbring about real social change.
Thank you for tuning in today.
I hope again that it waseducational.
I hope everyone is having agood day, except for that orange
drink lady, and I will see youguys in the next episode.
(48:36):
Peace and love.
Talk to you later.
Is this thing on?
Hello hello.
Uh-oh, another yapper with amic.
Ha ha ha ha.
Hello everyone, and welcomeback to the Napkin In Between
Podcast.
I'm your host, Daijné Jones.
I hope everyone has been havinga good week, except for that
(00:22):
orange drink lady.
As always, I want you guys totell me what happened this week
for you that kept you grounded,made you happy, just something
that you feel like was the peakof your week, the best part of
your week, the peak of my week.
Um, your girl's podcast ismonetized.
Yes, we're up on my Momma.
(00:42):
So the other day I got anotification on one of my
distributing platforms for mypodcast that I met the
qualifications for monetization.
And when I got thatnotification, bitch, I was
feeling like her because, mindyou, I've only had this podcast
for a little over two months,and so I was like damn already,
like y'all fuck with me heavyy'all are tuning in, and I
appreciate it so, so much.
(01:03):
So I'm gonna break this downfull transparency, because I
always want to be fullytransparent in my content
creation journey, and thatincludes the monetization side
of it.
So I'm gonna tell y'all exactlywhat it means to be "monetized
for the audio listeners, I kindof say in quotes, so y'all
understand in a second, because,like I I, when I first seen the
notification, I hella excited.
(01:24):
I didn't really understand whatthe monetization meant, though.
So, to distribute my podcast, Iuse three different
distributors the first isYouTube, the second is Spotify
and I also use Buzzsprout.
So Buzzsprout is what I use todistribute my podcast on
everything other than YouTubeand Spotify.
So if you listen to thatpodcast via Apple Podcasts,
iheartradio, amazon, anythingother than YouTube and Spotify,
(01:52):
it comes through Buzzsprout.
So all three things that I usein order to distribute my
podcast have different criteriathat you have to meet in order
to monetize the podcast, and soI met the qualifications to
monetize my podcast throughBuzzsprout, and when I got that
notification, I was like bitchon my mother, we are up.
I was so fucking excited.
I was surprised, honestly, alittle bit because it happened
so quickly, but I texted my momshe was the first person I
(02:13):
texted, because she's the firstperson I text for any news and I
was texting a few of my contentcreator friends, and I was like
I monetize, like I was soexcited, whatever, whatever.
So, by monetizingizing, it meantthat I could now play ads in my
podcast, and so Buzzsprout hasbeen sending me like different
ads and I can listen to them,approve them, deny them,
whatever.
So I got a notification likehere's a couple ads that you can
(02:35):
put in your podcast.
And so I listened to a coupleof the ads.
I approve some of them and oneof them goes through for the
approval so it gets added to mypodcast and I was like, oh my
god, like I'm, I'm really up,like I was dead ass.
I was like I'm up bitch, likeyou hoes can't tell me fucking
nothing.
And so one ad gets approved.
It goes into my podcast,starting with last week's
(02:55):
episode.
And so after the ad was approvedand went into the podcast, I
saw that it had a percentagething that kept going up and up
and up as people weredownloading the podcast and I'm
like I wonder what this is.
I didn't think too much of itthough, I was just like, ok,
it's going up.
I don't really know what thatmeans.
Come to find out, thepercentage that was going up on
the ad was the number ofdownloads that the ad would be
(03:20):
played in, which means thatthere was a cap on the number of
downloads that the ad wouldplay in.
Therefore, there was a cap onthe amount of money that I could
make off of that ad.
Keep in mind I'm being paid 1.4cents for every time the ad is
run in an episode.
So it turns out the max amountof money that I was able to make
off of the ad was a dollar andnine cents.
(03:42):
Right, right, bitch, I can'teven buy a fucking mcchicken
with that, like I like.
But like I'm not complaining.
I'm not complaining becauseeveryone has to start from
somewhere.
And that's a dollar and ninemore than I had yesterday.
You know what I mean.
But when I got thatnotification that it was
monetized, I was like, oh, bitch, we're up, we're up, and we are
(04:07):
up, we're up a dollar and ninecents.
And so you know what small winsa win is a fucking win.
But your girl definitely hadtoo much dip on her chip.
I thought that it was going tobe streams period that I was
going to get paid off of, butit's like a maximum amount of
downloads per ad.
But I'm still very, verygrateful for that regardless
because, like, content creationis something that I've always
(04:28):
wanted to do, it's somethingthat I've always loved, it's
something that I've alwaysadmired of people, you know
putting themselves out there ina way that can educate people or
make people smile or, you know,just uplift someone who might
be having a bad day, and so thefact that I can do that and also
potentially make it myfull-time job, it's truly a
dream come true, and I I feellike I'm watching in real time
(04:51):
my dreams and my goals and myaspirations become my reality,
and I am so, so grateful forthat.
I'm so, so grateful for all ofyou, because I would not have
any of it if you guys were nottuning in, and it just made me
feel so much gratefulness, like,even though it's not much that
I'm making, it's still somethingand it can only go up from here
.
You know what I mean everyonehas to start from somewhere, and
(05:12):
I am just so, so grateful forall of you and, like I just
genuinely feel like I'm watchingmy dreams come true in real
time, and so this is your signif you want to post content,
post your content.
Everyone has to start fromsomewhere.
I'm literally sitting on my bedwith a mic, a camera and two
lights.
You know what I mean.
Like when I first startedposting on YouTube, I was
filming fully from my phone,editing on a refurbished iPad.
(05:36):
Like, everyone has to startfrom somewhere.
So don't let the fear ofstarting keep you from starting,
because you don't have to havethis elaborate setup, this grand
thing, in order to do what youwant to do and to go and reach
for your goals and youraspirations.
Like, yes, right now it's justme sitting in my room on my bed
(05:56):
with a mic, but someday it couldbe a tv show, you know what I
mean, with a full production anda couch and a live audience,
and like, like that's the goal.
Honestly, I would love to havea tv show where I can just
interview people.
Like that would.
That's absolutely the dream.
But everyone has to start fromsomewhere.
So I say all that to say juststart, do your thing, don't let
(06:17):
anybody hold you back.
And something that I feel likeis also very important is just
be yourself.
There are far too many peoplewho are creating these fake
personas online for likes andviews, and once you start
creating a fake persona, youhave to keep up with that fake
persona, because that's whatpeople know and that's what
people are there for.
(06:38):
And after a while of pretendingto be something that you're not
, you're gonna get burned out,you're gonna get tired and
you're not gonna want to do itanymore.
So just be yourself.
That's something that I havealways done in my content.
That's something that I alwayswill do, because it's just.
It makes it easy.
If you're just yourself, youdon't have to try.
You can just do it.
You can just pick up your mic,pick up your camera and go and
(07:07):
don't try to be anything otherthan yourself and let your
audience find you.
Two biggest pieces of advicethat I could give to anyone who
wants to start their contentcreation journey because as long
as you do those things, as longas you don't try too hard,
you're just yourself.
It'll never feel like a chore,it'll never feel like a job.
It'll just be something thatyou enjoy doing, and isn't that
the beauty of finding somethingthat you could Potentially make
(07:28):
your full-time job?
If you truly enjoy your job,then it's like you're not even
working.
You know what I mean.
So, anyway, I just wanted tosay thank you so so much.
I appreciate all of you.
You guys are genuinely helpingmy dreams come true, and that
means more to me than I couldever, I could ever put into
words.
And also, once I finally getthere and I'm really up, y'all
(07:49):
better not switch up on me.
If y'all switch up on me, Iswear to god I will hack into
each and every one of yourspotify's, your apple music,
whatever you listen to music on.
I will block every artistexcept for JLo, and that is the
only person you'll be able tolisten to for the rest of your
life.
Because I swear, as soon as thebitch is up, some of y'all be
praying on the downfall and Idon't like that.
That's.
That is hating, but not in agood way, because I'm a d1 hater
(08:11):
, but that's not hating in agood way.
So y'all better not switch upon me.
But also, don't turn into the.
They can never make me hate youcrowd either.
There's a very fine line withsocial media don't.
Don't cross the line like stay,stay walking the plank, stay
normal.
You know what I mean, becausethey can never make me hate you
crowd is so fucking toxic and soweird.
Like that was supposed to belike a silly, fun little thing,
(08:34):
but like it's gotten to thepoint where your fave can say
something problematic andthey'll get called out.
Or people want to hold themaccountable for spewing
problematic shit to theirmassive fucking audiences.
And here go people in thecomments.
Y'all can't make me hate themno one's trying to make you hate
them but, like you have to beaccountable for the things that
you do with your platform.
You know what I mean and I tryreally, really hard to make
(08:56):
informed takes and do myresearch before speaking, which
I feel like people don't do.
Enough conversation for anotherday.
But I'm human and so theremight be a time where I say
something that is wrong orproblematic and if it gets to
the point where people areholding me accountable, y'all
better not get in a commentsection talking about some.
Y'all can't make me hate her.
I am not above critique.
(09:19):
I am not above being heldaccountable.
I am not above any of that, asis no one.
So if I say something that'sproblematic and someone is
holding me accountable, that isokay.
And also y'all hold meaccountable as well because,
like I said, I'm human.
Even though I try to makeinformed takes and different
things like that, I'm stillhuman at the end of the day.
So there might come a time whereit happens and if it does,
(09:41):
please don't get weird pleasedon't.
They can never make me hate you.
You know what I mean.
Like I just, I really hate that.
I really I don't want no partsof that.
But obviously it depends too.
Like if I say something and themain group of people who are
upset is like men or whitepeople, I don't care, I'm just
(10:01):
gonna be real, I don't care,because it was probably me
calling out racism or misogynyor something and you know how
that white guilt is.
They want to be victims andlike, if it's, if it's genuinely
me just calling out racism orhomophobia or something and they
get upset.
I genuinely I could not careless.
If you felt hit, then you werewho I'm talking to.
You know what I mean.
But if I ever do say somethingproblematic or wrong, like, hold
(10:25):
me accountable and don't try tobrush it under the rug, because
that only negates and defeatsthe purpose of my content.
You know what I mean.
So don't switch up on me.
But also don't get.
They can never make me hate you.
But anyway, I just wanted to sayI'm so, so grateful for all of
you and thank you for yoursupport and just being here,
like I genuinely appreciate allof you so so much and, as always
(10:48):
, I hope that my content iseducational and informative and
entertaining and all of theabove.
I want to hear what the peak ofyour week was.
Please leave it in the comments.
I want to know what you didthis week that made you smile,
that kept you grounded, thatmade you feel present in the
chaos that is the world.
So what we gonna talk abouttoday.
I know it's been about a monthsince Kendrick Lamar's super
(11:09):
bowl halftime performance, but Itold y'all that I would be
there for a very long time and Imight tell y'all a joke, but I
will never tell you a lie.
I swear Kendrick Lamar'shalftime performance has become
my roman empire.
It is like the thing that Iwatch before going to bed at
night.
I think about it throughout theday and part of me has been
watching it so much because Ifeel like the performance was so
(11:30):
iconic and so moving and justthe message of it is so
important.
But I also wanted to do a fullbreakdown episode of the entire
performance and talk about allof the symbolism and the hidden
messages and all of that.
So have written down a step bystep of all of the messages and
the performance, or at least allof the ones that I feel like I
caught.
I still feel like I missed some, which is why, also, I've been
(11:53):
watching it over and over,because I wanted to do a
breakdown and highlight everysingle message.
I'm sure I still probablymissed some.
So if I did, please leave themin the comments, because this is
just such an important messageand I feel like we can't just
move on from it like I.
I'm still there and I willstill be there for a very long
time.
This breakdown is a combinationof me just watching this
performance over and over someof your comments on my videos
(12:16):
that I've put on tick tock justall of the messages that I feel
like I have found, or you guyshave found, in the performance.
So let's get into the fullbreakdown of Kendrick Lamar's
Super Bowl halftime performance.
Okay, so first in theperformance, we start off with
the introduction of theperformance where we have the
camera that's panning to the topof this red superdome and it
(12:39):
says the National FootballLeague welcomes you to the Apple
Music Halftime Show.
So, like I said, we see thisred circle that looks like a
detonator button and, if you'renot familiar with a detonator
button.
It's like a button that's usedto cause an explosion or an
eruption or something like that,and so what I took from that is
it was like Kendrick Lamarsaying I'm about to disrupt
(13:00):
everything with this performance, like I'm about to blow y'all
shit up.
I'm about to expose so muchthat is wrong with society and
with America and with howAmerica treats its citizens and
also how America treats itsBlack citizens and its Black
entertainers and its minorities.
I watched the performance overand over and I didn't really
catch that symbolism as theintroduction to the performance.
(13:21):
Until I went back and watchedother Super Bowl halftime
performances, I didn't realizethat the start of every
performance was a little bitdifferent, and so I feel like
that was a very calculated startto his performance.
That Kendrick Lamar I feel likehe's just such a fucking genius
, a lyrical genius, a visionarygenius, like I feel like every
single thing that he does in allof his performances is very
(13:43):
intentional, and so that's why Ifelt like it was like a
detonator button, like okay, I'mabout to expose y'all, I'm
about to blow y'all's whole planup.
So after we get past the reddome and we're into the
performance.
Now we see an aerial view ofthe field and it looks like a
controller.
You can see different buttonslighting up.
There's like an x, a triangle,a circle and a square.
It's a PlayStation controller.
(14:05):
There's a couple pieces ofsymbolism in this.
So the first one is that it's acontroller, and one of the main
messages in Kendrick Lamar'sperformance is that America is
playing a game.
Number one is playing a gamebetween US citizens and the
government and how thegovernment controls the citizens
, but it's also playing a gamewith black American culture,
both games of which are meant tokeep people in a specific place
(14:28):
so that one group of people iswinning and another group of
people are losing.
So, as we're seeing the gamecontroller, we see a sequence of
buttons being pressed on thecontroller.
Someone had commented and saidthat the sequence that buttons
being pressed is a cheat codein a game that restores you to
full health.
And as the buttons are beingpressed, you can see in the
crowd it's lighting up and it'sgoing from 0 to 100%, like this
(14:52):
bar is filling up from 0 to 100.
My takeaway from that is thatKendrick Lamar again was about
to explode or blow up their gameand show us how we can reach
our full potential, how we canplay the game in a way that we
could be restored to full lifeand not be controlled by the
government.
And, as we know, throughout thewhole performance Kendrick
(15:15):
Lamar weaves in and out on hisbeef with Drake, and so some
people were also saying that itwas a playstation controller,
because Drake has a partnershipwith playstation and so that was
kind of like a diss at drake aswell of using the playstation
controller.
Then we get into Samuel LJackson, who is dressed as Uncle
Sam.
Now Samuel L Jackson narratesthroughout this entire
performance.
(15:35):
Uncle Sam is a symbol that isused to represent the American
government.
It's used a lot in Americanpropaganda, specifically
military propaganda, and it'sbasically just a personification
of how the government expectsits people to behave, which is
in compliance with thegovernment, right.
And so Samuel L Jackson startsby saying salutations, it's your
Uncle Sam, and this is thegreat American game.
(15:58):
We are not talking aboutfootball here, okay.
We are talking about the gamethat the government plays with
its citizens to keep themcontrolled, and also the game of
life in America as black people.
So let's talk about theimportance of using Samuel L
Jackson to play Uncle Sam forthis performance.
So Samuel L Jackson is a verywell-known black american actor.
He he's very well-loved in theblack community.
(16:20):
Samuel L Jackson played in themovie Django Unchained.
He plays a character namedStefan who is the head slave on
the plantation.
So as the head slave, he's veryloyal and close to the slave
master.
He's essentially the slavemaster's eyes and ears on the
plantation, lets the slavemaster know if anyone's getting
out of line and Uncle Ruckus, ifyou will.
Samuel L Jackson was also veryimportant as the role of Uncle
(16:42):
Sam because Samuel L Jackson hasbeen very vocal in his
opposition to Donald Trump.
He has called Donald Trump aracist and in a 2023 interview
with Rolling Stone, he said thatDonald Trump reminded him of
the same racist rednecks whotaunted him during his childhood
.
And keep in mind Donald Trumpis at the Super Bowl, so he is
watching this performance live.
Not that he really understoodor gave a fuck about the message
(17:04):
behind the performance, but hewas there to see it live.
So after Samuel L Jackson sayswelcome to the great American
game.
We go to Kendrick Lamar and he'skneeling on a Buick GNX In the
crowd you can see it says starthere, which, as we know, is a
very common thing that you cansee on a board game.
It's like telling you where tostart.
You know what I mean.
So it's just like another nodto the fact that we are playing
(17:26):
a game.
So Kendrick Lamar is on top ofthe GNX, he's kneeling down on
on the GNX and the GNX haspersonal symbolism to Kendrick
Lamar.
Um, he has said in an interviewthat his dad drove him home
from the hospital when he wasborn in a GNX.
Also, GNX are also verysymbolic to black culture as
it's another example of a lowrider which we see a lot in west
(17:47):
coast hip-hop, black movies,HBCU homecomings, like it's just
a nod to black culture.
So Kendrick Lamar startsperforming and as he's
performing we can see dancerspiling out of this car.
It looked like they were comingout as if it was a clown car,
which I took as a nod to peoplesee black culture and black
(18:08):
people as entertainment.
It gave very much shut up anddribble to me.
You know what I mean.
Like you're here to tap dancefor us.
They don't want us to bespeaking out about race issues,
about social issues, about theclimate of the world.
They genuinely see us asentertainment.
They see us as people whoshould shut up and dribble.
So, with all the dancers pilingout of the car and it looking
(18:30):
like a clown car, like I tookthat as him saying like this is
what y'all want us to be, y'alljust want us to be entertainment
or you know, here for yourbenefit and as we're here for
your benefit, you're constantlytaking away from us.
Like black culture is notappreciated, it's appropriated.
You know what I mean.
Like when we do it it's.
It's seen as loud, reckless andghetto, which we'll get to in a
(18:51):
little bit, um, but it's.
It's seen, it's demeaned, it'slooked down upon, it's seen as
something negative.
But when other people do theexact same things that we do in
our black culture, it's seen asedgy or fun or spunky or
whatever.
So that was the first thingthat I I caught from the dancers
piling out of the car.
I also saw people say that itcould be symbolic of the
(19:11):
underground railroad, becausethe dancers were coming like
from underground, of the waythat the stage was set up.
They were coming.
They obviously weren't allfitting in that car, they were
coming from other parts of thestage and so people were saying
that it could be a symbolic of,you know, freedom and escaping
slavery.
And a nod to Harriet Tubman inthe underground railroad,
(19:33):
because as the dancers arecoming out of the car, you see
Kendrick Lamar starting to likemove in a way that kind of looks
like he's telling them to likego forward.
He's like moving back and forth.
You know what I mean?
Um, I also saw people say thatit could be symbolic for mexican
culture of people just pilingout of the car and being freed
as well.
So then kenji lamar performs alittle bit more and then we hear
(19:53):
him say the revolution is aboutto be televised.
You picked the right time butthe wrong guy.
So there's a few points ofsymbolism in this, the first one
being it is a nod to Gil ScottHeron's song the revolution will
not be televised, a song thatencouraged people to take
actions and change their mindsto create social change.
Gil Scott Heron also encouragespeople not to listen to
(20:13):
mainstream media if they wantchange, because mainstream media
will tell people what they wantthem to believe, not what is
necessarily true or fullyaccurate.
Gil Scott Heron also encouragespeople not to be passive in
their one for social change, andif you actually want change,
you have to actually get out inthe field and do something,
rather than just sitting at homeor complaining about you know
(20:36):
what's going on.
You have to actually dosomething, and so this was
Kendrick Lamar's way of sayingthe revolution is about to be in
your face.
We are here to make a statement, we are here to call for change
and, whether y'all like it ornot, we're not going to play the
game the way that you want usto.
We're not gonna be complicitand we're not gonna be silent.
I also took the right time,wrong guy to mean that, like
(20:58):
this is the right time for arevolution, given the state of
our country and who was justelected, so it's the right time.
But they picked the wrong guybecause Kendrick Lamar isn't
going to just shut up anddribble.
He's not going to just be therefor their entertainment or play
the game the way that they wantthem to.
I also kind of maybe thoughtthat this was maybe a subtle
(21:20):
little dig at the people whodidn't want Kendrick Lamar to
perform when he was initiallyannounced as being the performer
for the Super Bowl, peoplethought that he was not the
right choice, and I rememberspecifically, people were saying
that Lil Wayne should have beenasked to perform rather than
Kendrick Lamar, and so I tookthis as kind of like him saying,
like, had you have pickedsomeone else, they probably
would have just been here toentertain you as you wanted,
because in the past, lil Waynehas shown support for Donald
(21:44):
Trump and talks about how DonaldTrump was here to help the
black community Total fuckingbullshit.
And so I took that as KendrickLamar saying, like had you
picked someone else, they wouldhave just shut up and dribble.
They would have just been hereto entertain.
That's not what I'm here to do.
I'm here to put out a messagebecause social change needs to
happen.
So then he goes into performingsquabble up, which I took as him
(22:05):
saying like again, I'm here tofight, I'm here to resist, also
as a way to tell people like weall need to be here, we all need
to be fighting back, we allneed to be not playing the game
the way that the governmentwants us to if we want actual
social change something that wasalso really symbolic to me in
the performance of squabble upis the position of the dancers
(22:26):
in the choreography which I feelKendrick Lamar used a lot in
this performance.
So, as we can see in thesquabble up part of the
performance, we're getting readyto fight, right, we're getting
ready to revolt, for battle,like that's what I'm taking from
the squabble up, and you cansee, on the front of the
battlefield or the revolution,all of the dancers are men and
(22:47):
in the back are the women, whichI took as Kendrick Lamar saying
like men need to step up, y'allneed to do better, y'all need
to get in the field and and leadthe revolution, like oftentimes
and this is just my opinion,but I do kind of see and feel
that a lot of the time whenthings are being spoken out
against or, you know, people aretrying to make social change, a
(23:07):
lot of the time it does appearto be women and I think this was
Kendrick Lamar's way of sayinglike men, you need to step it up
, y'all need to get in the fieldtoo.
So then, after squabble up, wesee Samuel L Jackson come back
and he says no, no, no, no, tooloud, too reckless, too ghetto,
and I took this as him saying,like revolting and going against
the government.
He was demonizing that as he'sjust as the symbol of the
(23:31):
American government.
That was the government sayingthat is wrong.
You should not be going againstwhat we say and revolting and
trying to bring about any change.
You need to stay in your place.
You need to play the game theway we want you to play the game
.
And that's also why Samuel LJackson says do you really know
how to play the game?
Then tighten up.
(23:51):
Basically, just him saying stopwhat you're doing, play the
game the way that we want you toplay the game, so that we can
stay in our place and thegovernment can continue to
control us.
So then Kendrick Lamar goes intohumble, and there's a few
different parts of symbolism ingoing from Samuel L Jackson
telling him to tighten up intohumble.
Number one the song talks aboutyou know, sit down and be
(24:12):
humble.
That is what the americangovernment wants us to do.
They don't want us to revolt,they don't want us to, to
challenge them, because if wechallenge them and we try to
make real social change, thenthey will lose.
And like lose I put, I say inquotes, because it's not really
about them losing, but it's likethey don't want us to benefit.
Us benefiting feels like a lossto them.
(24:33):
I also thought that it wasreally symbolic for him to go
into humble, because humble isone of his biggest songs, it's
one of his most well-knowncommercial songs, which I felt
like was a nod to this is whatyou want.
You want us here to be yourentertainment.
You want us to specificallyentertain you and, being as
though it's one of his biggestsongs you know it was it was
(24:54):
like a nod to okay, you want usto just be entertainment.
Also, again, the formation ofthe dancers and Kendrick Lamar
while he's performing humble.
So they're in the formation ofan american flag, but it's
divided and Kendrick Lamar isstanding in the middle, which I
took as symbolic of how dividedour country is.
And not only is the countrydivided, but as our country is
(25:16):
divided and we can all see thatit's divided, we, we can all
tell that it's very, verydivided.
He's performing humble becausethe American government is
telling us to sit down and shutup, even though we can very
clearly see that our country isextremely divided.
And so I thought that it wasreally symbolic of him to be
performing this song which,again, which is one of his
biggest songs meaning you needto just be here to entertain us
(25:39):
and also the lyrics of sit downand be humble.
He's performing this as a wayto say, like you know, it's
literally in our face howdivided our country is and y'all
are still expecting us to notdo anything about it.
Also, in some of thechoreography, during this point
you can see on both sides of thedivision the dancers are
nodding as Kendrick Lamar issaying like sit down and be
(25:59):
humble, which I took to meanthere is complicity on both
sides.
Right, both sides are notstanding up against the
government in the ways that theyshould.
There's complicity on bothsides and both sides need to
change in order to make astatement and make social change
.
But then Kendrick Lamar isbasically saying like this is
(26:21):
not what we're going to do,we're not just going to sit down
, we're not just going to behumble.
And so in the choreography thedancers start to march forward
and come together.
The division of the dancers asthey're marching forward,
they're moving in so thatthere's not a divide anymore,
and I took that to mean bothsides coming together to revolt
against the government, andthat's how it should be like it
(26:41):
shouldn't be right versus left,it should be up versus down.
And I it also made me think ofthe Pixar movie A Bug's Life and
the speech that Hopper gave.
When the other grasshoppers aretalking about, like maybe we
should just not go back and andget the food or whatever, and
they're like oh, it was just oneant who stood up to us, like it
doesn't really matter, itwasn't a big deal.
(27:03):
And Hopper goes into the speechof like, if one ant stands up,
then they might all stand up.
I felt like in that movie thatwas symbolism of you know, if we
, if we all, really cametogether and stood up against
the government, we could makereal social change.
And so that's why they try tokeep us so divided, with right
versus left, because if theykeep us fighting amongst each
(27:23):
other, then we're not fightingagainst them, which is what we
should actually be doing, butinstead we're fighting right
versus left.
So then, as the dancers aremarching forward and they're
coming together, we heardrumming, which I feel like kind
of sounds like gunshots, andthen that's when all the dancers
scatter.
I kind of took that assymbolism, as you know, once we
do come together, or if we wereever to eventually come together
(27:47):
, the government would createsome sort of chaos to again keep
us separate and keep usfighting each other.
And that's why all the dancers,after they came together, the
drums started.
Ie, the government caused somesort of chaos and everyone runs
away and dissipates and we'renot united as we should be.
But after all the dancers, youknow, are scattered and there's
(28:07):
a little bit of chaos.
Then we get into a differentlayout of the field and it looks
like a street, right?
I felt like this was KendrickLamar's way of saying don't let
the government keep us separate.
We still, even if they createchaos, we need to stay together.
Like this was Kendrick Lamar'sway of saying don't let the
government keep us separate, westill, even if they create chaos
, we need to stay together.
We need public demonstration,we need marches, we need
protests in order to fightagainst the government.
So while they're performing inthis like street view that we
(28:30):
see, we see in the crowd, it'slit up and it says wrong way.
Again, this is a game reference.
Sometimes, when you're playinggames and you're going the wrong
way, it'll tell you.
And if you go the wrong way toomuch, there's games that will,
like hint at you, like if you gothe wrong way too much, it can
have negative consequences oryou could even die.
(28:50):
And we see wrong way after youknow the street performance or
in the middle of the streetperformance of people protesting
in the streets.
And so I took this as symbolicof the government saying like
hey, you're going the wrong way.
If you continue to play thegame the way you're playing the
game ie protesting and goingagainst what we say, it could
have negative consequences.
But I also took this as a wayof of Kendrick Lamar saying the
(29:12):
country is going the wrong wayby electing Donald Trump.
Like it's literally set us backyears with his ending of equal
employment opportunities anddifferent things like that.
Like we're, we're physicallygoing the wrong way as a country
.
Instead of moving forward,we're moving back.
But even though it's saying thatwe're going the wrong way,
Kendrick Lamar continues tomarch forward.
He continues to like protestand go into battle in his
(29:34):
performance.
I mean, and again we see as hehe's marching.
The men are in the front andleading the revolution.
We see this several times inKendrick Lamar's performance.
So then we go into theperformance of man at the garden
and we see Kendrick Lamar at astreet light with a bunch of his
friends.
Right, one of his friends islaying on top of the street
(29:55):
light.
I kind of took that as like hewas a friend that was killed or
passed away or you know.
He's no longer here and he'slike watching over all of the
other friends.
He's like a guardian angel.
So let's get into a little bitof the lyrics from the song man
at the Garden.
One of the lines that KendrickLamar says is do you want the
famous me or the dangerous me?
(30:15):
I took this to mean like thefamous him would be the one
that's strictly just theentertainer.
Right, he's there to shut upand dribble, he's there to
entertain.
The dangerous him isn't, infact, actually like a danger,
but it's a danger to thegovernment or the system because
he's continuing to speak outabout racial issues and social
(30:36):
injustice and the things thatthe government does as a way to
control the US.
The government does as a way tocontrol the US citizens and as
a way to control the way thatblack people, specifically, are
viewed by the world and the waysthat black people are
constantly told to shut up anddribble, to be there to
entertain and to not bringattention to racial issues.
And so this is Kendrick Lamar'sway of saying you're going to
(30:57):
get the dangerous me like.
I'm not here to just shut upand dribble.
I'm not here just for yourentertainment.
I am here to make a statementbecause a revolution will be
televised and a revolution isneeded.
And so after this we see SamuelL Jackson come back and say oh,
you brought your homeboys withyou, the old culture cheat code.
And so I took this as a way ofof Samuel L Jackson saying like
(31:17):
once we are in community andonce we all come together, the
government sees that as a cheatcode, because when you have too
many people standing up againstyou and fighting back and
bringing attention to raceissues, social issues, different
things like that, it can bringreal change.
Again.
Going back to the bugs lifemovie, if one of them stands up,
they might all stand up, and ifwe all up, then there will be
(31:40):
actual change.
And so we hear Samuel L Jacksonsay scorekeeper, deduct one
life.
I took this as symbolic ofpolice brutality because, as we
know, we've seen, you know, ifpeople are protesting, sometimes
the police show up and theybring tear gas or you know
anything like that in a way totry to stop people from
protesting the government orrace issues or advocating for
(32:03):
social change, especially inlike the civil rights movement.
For example, when people weremarching or protesting, you know
they would bring the dogs, thewater hoses, just different ways
to try to keep people in aplace, to keep one group losing
and another group winning.
So it's essentially symbolic ofthe government punishing people
for coming together to advocatefor social change.
(32:25):
And then, right after this,Kendrick Lamar goes into the
performance of peek-a-boo and ashe's performing peek-a-boo, it
looks like a prison yard, whichI felt like was also symbolic of
.
You know, once you go againstthe government, once you
advocate for social change,another tactic that they use is
jail and imprisonment.
Several civil rights activistswere jailed and imprisoned Rosa
(32:47):
Parks, Martin Luther King.
They were thrown in jail as away to try to keep them from
advocating for social change.
So I took this as a way ofsaying, like you know, sometimes
they try to silence you withdeath and then other times they
try to silence you by puttingyou in prison, anything that
they can do to try to keep youfrom speaking out or bringing
attention to racism and otherdiscriminatory, oppressive
(33:11):
tactics.
So then after peek-a-boo, weget into the tease of not like
us.
Now, personally, this is one ofmy favorite uses of symbolism
that Kendrick Lamar uses in thisperformance.
So throughout the entireperformance, Kendrick Lamar is
very confident.
He knows what he's going to donext.
He everything is very wellthought out.
But when he gets to, you knowwhether or not he wants to
perform not like us.
(33:31):
He he's like going back andforth on whether or not he wants
to perform it right.
Both times when he was thinkingabout performing not like us,
he goes to black women.
He goes to black women to helphim make that decision.
So let's talk about the blackwomen that he goes to.
Number one, it's four blackwomen.
Four as a number representsstability, balance and hard work
(33:51):
.
It's also a number thatsignifies direction.
There's four points on acompass north, south east, south
east and west.
Meaning four is the number ofguidance, right.
There's also the four elementsfire, air, earth and water.
So I took this as a symbol ofyou know when guidance is needed
and when you're struggling andyou you need help making a
decision.
The people who are going tohelp you and help guide you
(34:14):
through making difficultdecisions will be black women.
Right, I felt like he wassaying that black women are a
sign of guidance and stabilityand hard work and people that
you should go to in your time ofneed for guidance or anything
like that.
Also, the four women was areference to his song king kunta
, which he was not allowed toperform at the super bowl.
(34:35):
King Kunta is Kendrick Lamar'ssong, which is about the
rebellious slave Kunta Kinte.
It was just about, like youknow, essentially another nod to
revolting and not staying inthe place that the government
wants you to stay in.
And so I think that's also whywe hear Samuel L Jackson say oh,
you done lost your damn mind.
Because it's a way of himsaying like you know, I'm still
going to continue to rebel, I'mnot going to stay in the place
(34:57):
that the government wants me toand going to stay in the place
that the government wants me to.
And so Samuel L Jackson, whowas again Uncle Sam, a
representation of the government, is like oh, you've lost your
mind, like you're doingsomething that you're not
supposed to be doing.
Also, with the tease of not likeus, Kendrick Lamar says I want
to perform their favorite song,but you know they love to sue.
This was number one, a diss atDrake, because Drake has
threatened legal action againstKendrick Lamar for performing
(35:19):
not like us.
But I also took it as a symbolof Kendrick Lamar talking about
censorship, which we knowhappens a lot in mainstream
media and with the us government, of them not bringing attention
to situations that need to bebrought attention to, um,
because if too much attention isbrought to these situations, it
could create social change andthey don't want that.
They want us to shut up anddribble.
(35:41):
They want us to play the gamethe way that they want us to
play the game, so that they cancontinue winning and we continue
losing.
So, as we know, Kendrick Lamardecides not to perform, not like
us.
He says he's gonna slow thingsdown, which is where we get into
the part of the performancewith my girl, SZA.
Oh my god, I love her so much.
My girl, I love SZA much.
So, number one we see SZA isdressed in red, which I took as
(36:03):
symbolism of the sacrifices thatBlack women have made for Black
liberation and for theadvancement of Black people.
Also, the entire part of theperformance that includes SZA is
very calm and it's much slower,which I took as symbolic of
that's what Black women needright now, right?
Black women have been on theforefront and the front lines
(36:24):
for a very long time and rightnow what they need is a slower
and a calming and rest.
I just kind of took that asKendrick Lamar's way of saying
like I'm not gonna put too muchon SZA, who I felt like was a
representation of black women inthis performance and his way of
saying like we should not beputting too much on black women
because they've done so much forus as it is.
(36:46):
Like let's let them be slowerand calmer and more relaxed.
You know what I mean.
Also, I thought it was reallyinteresting that he refers to
SZA as Solana while they'reperforming.
That just felt more personaland deeper to me, because
everyone refers to SZA as SZASolana is her real name but
everyone just uses her stagename and so, with Kendrick Lamar
(37:08):
using her real name and sayingSolana, it just felt like it was
his way of saying like I'm herefor you on a deeper, more
personal level.
I will protect you and you knowI see you as more than just an
entertainer or I see you in adeeper way than the world sees
you.
I just took it as a way of himsaying like me, as a black man,
I am going to be here to protectyou, a black woman, and that's
(37:30):
what black men should be doingis being there and protecting
black women.
I felt like that was kind ofhis way of saying like, as black
men, as a community, black mencould do better in protecting
black women.
So one of the songs that SZA andKendrick Lamar performed
together is All the Stars, whichnumber one, all the Stars we
hear in the Black Panther movie,which obviously is a superhero
(37:51):
movie, but also the BlackPanther Party, which was there
to help protect and aid theblack community against police
brutality.
Also, all the Stars is one ofKendrick Lamar's biggest
commercial songs as well, verysimilar to humble, and so after
they perform it, we see Samuel LJackson come back and say see,
that's what america wants, niceand calm, which I felt like was
another nod to you know, you'rehere to entertain us, you're
(38:14):
supposed to just be ourentertainment.
And I felt like it wasinteresting that when we see
kendrick lamar, when heperformed humble, he performed
humble right after Samuel LJackson tells him to tighten up,
essentially saying like you'rehere to be our entertainment,
entertain us.
And then they perform all thestars and right after that,
Samuel L Jackson says this iswhat america wants.
(38:34):
Basically, in both instances,he's saying you are here to
entertain us, just entertain us.
That is what america wants,that is what the government
wants, because they don't wantus to be talking about racial
issues and and advocating forsocial change.
So Samuel L Jackson says thisis what america wants.
Nice, calm, you're almost there, don't mess this up.
(38:56):
And as he's saying, don't messthis up is when Kendrick Lamar
interrupts him again with notlike us.
And so Kendrick Lamar is backwith, you know, his four black
women who are helping guide himinto whether or not he wants to
perform this song.
And before he starts to performit, he says some very important
things.
So, first and foremost, he saysit's a cultural divide I'm
gonna get it on the floor.
This was a nod to again howdivided our country is.
(39:18):
And then he says 40 acres and amule, this is bigger than the
music.
40 acres and a mule was apromise that was made to black
Americans after they freedthemselves from slavery, which
basically said that they wouldbe getting land and resources as
a way to help them rebuildafter slavery.
This was a broken promise madeby the government to black
people.
The land was taken back fromblack people and given back to
(39:41):
their previous slave owners.
So I took it as a call forreparations and the repairing of
all of the broken promises,because there have been
countless broken promises madeto black americans.
So then he says they tried torig the game, but you can't fake
influence.
So number one, I feel like thiswas another diss to Drake,
because again, Drake hadthreatened to sue.
So that was Drake's way oftrying to rig the game, trying
(40:02):
to censor him.
But I also took it as a way ofhim saying, like they're, they
tried to rig the game, meaningmainstream media and censorship
and the propaganda that theAmerican government wants its
people to believe so that theycan remain playing the game the
way that the American governmentwants us to.
But this was Kendrick Lamar'sway of reminding them yet again
that he is not here to play thegame, that the way that they
(40:23):
want him to, and the revolutionis here and it's in your face,
whether you like it or not.
So then he decides to perform,not like us, decides I say in
quotes, because he was, I feellike he was always going to
perform it, but for the sake ofthe performance, he's like going
back and forth on whether ornot he should perform not like
us.
And I took this as anothersymbol of going into battle
(40:43):
because, as we know, not like uswas a diss track released
against drake in the midst oftheir rap beef, and so I took
this as like a double entendreof like the rap battle, but like
actual battle too, and likerevolution against the
government.
And so once he decides likeokay, like yes, we are going to
revolt, we're going to go intobattle, he starts to march
forward first, and then theblack women who have helped
(41:04):
guide him into making thisdecision, they follow him into
battle.
So again he is on the frontlines, he is the one leading,
and again I feel like he is asymbol for black men of like
black men should be the onesleading the revolution.
Like yes, black women shouldalso be a part of the revolution
.
We should be there like helpingand and guiding, but when it
(41:25):
comes to, you know, actuallygoing into, like the protests
and different things, like that,black men should be on the
front line.
That was the symbolism that Ifelt like he was trying to
portray in him going first andthen the black women following
behind him.
So then, as he's performing notlike us we can see all of the
dancers are all together, right.
Like for the majority of theperformance, the dancers were
(41:47):
like in their own separatecategories, like the red dancers
with the red dancers, the bluewith the blue, the white with
the white right.
As he's performing not like us,because this is again when
we've decided to go into battle,all the of the dancers are
together, which I took as theunification of the right and the
left coming together to protestand revolt against the
(42:08):
government.
And, of course, during Not LikeUs, we got the Serena Williams
cameo, which lives in my head,rent-free.
I remember my exact reactionwhen I first saw Serena Williams
on screen, but Serena Williamscoming after Crip Walk was also
very symbolic number one.
She was criticized heavily in2012 for crip walking at the
summer olympics.
After she had won, she did alittle crip walk in celebration
(42:30):
and people said that she wasglorifying gangs and said that
it was inappropriate, like shealmost got fined for doing it.
And, as we know, there's a longhistory with Serena Williams
being demonized by media andpeople, and so I felt like that
was like a reclamation forSerena Williams as a way of
saying like there's nothingwrong with me doing this.
(42:51):
This is a celebration of blackculture and y'all are trying to
demonize that.
So it was a way of reclaimingas well.
Also, there is a little bit ofhistory with Serena Williams and
Drake.
They were rumored to be datingfor a little bit, and he has
taken shots at Serena Williamsand her husband in his songs
ever since you know they brokeup.
So it was also just likeanother dig at Drake.
(43:11):
And then, finally, we get intoTV Off and Kendrick Lamar does a
lyric change.
When he's performing TV Off,Kendrick Lamar says turn this TV
off right and mind you.
As he's performing tv off,Kendrick Lamar says turn this tv
off right and mind you, as he'sperforming tv off, like
everyone is in the streets, allthe dancers are unified and I'm
seeing this as like a protest,like we're getting in the field,
we're getting in the streetsand protesting.
(43:32):
But he's also encouragingpeople to protest not only in
the streets but also with theirmoney.
He's literally saying turn thistv off.
That it was a direct command toturn the tv off to not support
the super bowl, becauseobviously one of the biggest
parts of the super bowl are alsothe commercials and there was a
lot of american propaganda inthis year's super bowl
commercials and so that was kindof Kendrick Lamar's way of
(43:53):
saying turn it off, don't, don'tlisten to what they're saying,
don't give them your money bytuning in, turn this tv off.
It was like literally, he wasliterally telling us turn the tv
off.
Also, while he's performing tvoff, we get another aerial view
of the field and we can see thatall of the dancers are on each
one of the controller buttons.
(44:13):
And I took this as a way of himsaying if we all come together
and if we unify, we can thencontrol the game.
We are the ones who are pushingthe game, we are the ones who
are pushing the buttons.
We are the ones who arecontrolling our outcome and in
the future of not only thecountry but also the future for
black people specifically, if wewere to all come together and
band together and not fight eachother, not fight left versus
(44:35):
right, but fight up versus down,we can then control the outcome
of the game.
And so then at the end of tvoff, in the crowd, we see it
says game over, which I took assaying this game that the
government is trying to playwith us it's over.
We're not playing the game thatthey, that they want us to play
.
We're not going to shut up anddribble.
We're not just here toentertain, we are here to make a
statement, we are here to makereal social change.
(44:58):
And so that was the end of theperformance.
Kendrick Lamar just saying likethis game is over, number one,
like again telling telling us toturn the tv off because nothing
else matters, because we're notgoing to give them our money
that's another way that we canprotest.
But also of him just saying,like you know, the game that the
government wants us to play,we're not playing it, it's over,
we're not going to do it.
(45:18):
What a fucking performance like.
I just cannot get it off mymind.
It's just so.
There's so many messages,there's so much to unpack in the
performance, but all of ittruly boils down to number one
we're not going to play the gameand we're not going to stay in
line that the way that thegovernment wants us to all as US
(45:39):
citizens, but also as Blackpeople.
They continue to want to use usfor their entertainment and for
their benefit, but then we inturn don't benefit from that.
And it was just KendrickLamar's way of saying like we're
not going to continue to stayin the boxes that you want to
see.
We're not just here for yourentertainment, we are here to
make real social change.
Also, a little bit about hisoutfit Number one, his cute
(46:03):
little bootcut jeans that he wasslaying the girls down in.
Bootcut jeans are alongstanding statement of
protest.
Fashion in general has beenused as a statement of protest,
further going to show like I amhere as a way to protest.
I am not here just to entertainyou.
And then he was wearing the Anecklace, which was a symbol for
his brand, pg Lang.
I also kind of thought maybe itwas like a little A minor
(46:25):
necklace, a little diss towardsDrake, and I also kind of think
that maybe there was a littlebit of like dissing America with
that as well, because it was alowercase a, just basically
saying like America is not thatgirl the way that she thinks she
is, because a lot of times whenyou see like USA.
The A is capitalized With him,it was lowercase, which could
maybe be a way of him sayinglike America is not that girl
(46:46):
the way that she thinks it is.
You know what I mean.
Like you're you're not eatingthe girls of the way you think
you are.
And then he had on the Gloriajacket, which was a reference to
his album, GNX, and then also areference to his journey as an
artist in the music industry,essentially representing his
lyrical style, his pen game andalso just like his journey
through the music industry.
Also the word Compton was onhis jacket, which was a nod to
(47:09):
his hometown and also, I feellike, maybe a nod to black
culture, as me personally, whenI think of Compton, I think of
black culture and west coast rapand different things like that.
So, performance packed full ofsymbolism.
I probably still miss some,even though I've watched this
performance so many times, triedto catch all of them.
I'm sure I missed some.
So if I missed anything, pleaseleave it in the comments.
(47:30):
This performance was a statement.
It was a statement and we needto make sure the statement
continues to get out, becausethe only way for us to bring
real social change is to be thatchange.
If we want real social change.
We cannot be passive.
We cannot just blindly complywith what the government wants
us to do.
We have to be vocal and we haveto be in the streets and we
(47:53):
have to be the change that wewant to see.
We have to, we have to goagainst the government and we
cannot play the game that theywant us to play, because if we
continue to play the play thegame that they want us to play,
because if we continue to playthe game the way that they want
us to, they will continue to winand we will continue to lose.
I hope that this episode waseducational.
I hope that it helped betterunderstand the performance.
(48:13):
It was really important to meto put all of the pieces in one
episode because there are somany, and I just hope that it'll
bring about real social changeand we can put Kendrick Lamar's
message into real action andbring about real social change.
Thank you for tuning in today.
I hope again that it waseducational.
I hope everyone is having agood day, except for that orange
drink lady, and I will see youguys in the next episode.
(48:36):
Peace and love.
Talk to you later.
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