Short answer: Serena Williams appeared during Kendrick Lamar’s performance of “Not Like Us” and performed a brief Crip Walk-style dance. The moment connected their shared Compton roots and Williams’s own history with the dance, while also carrying an obvious Drake-feud subtext because “Not Like Us” targets Drake and Williams has a past association with him. Williams later said the appearance was not intended as shade.
That cameo was one piece of a larger design. The February 9, 2025, Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show used Lamar’s GNX era, Los Angeles and Compton imagery, Samuel L. Jackson as Uncle Sam, and guests SZA and Mustard to turn a short concert into a compressed argument about regional identity, Black American culture, and who gets to represent America on its biggest stage.
At a glance
| Detail | What happened |
|---|---|
| Event | Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show |
| Date and location | February 9, 2025, at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans |
| Headliner | Kendrick Lamar, performing as a solo headliner after appearing in the ensemble Super Bowl LVI show in 2022 |
| Featured performers | SZA and Mustard |
| Other major appearance | Samuel L. Jackson as an Uncle Sam-like narrator and authority figure |
| Most discussed moment | Serena Williams’s brief Crip Walk-style dance during “Not Like Us” |
| Format | A compressed medley rather than a series of complete studio-length performances |
The production was presented through the NFL, Apple Music, Roc Nation, and DPS. It combined a concert with a tightly edited piece of visual storytelling: Lamar’s Los Angeles and Compton identity was placed inside the national spectacle of the Super Bowl, represented by patriotic colors, neighborhood-like stage blocks, and Samuel L. Jackson’s Uncle Sam character.
Why was Serena Williams in Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show?
Serena Williams appeared for only a few seconds during “Not Like Us,” dancing at the edge of the stage in a style widely described as a Crip Walk or a Crip Walk-style dance. The cameo mattered because Williams and Lamar both have roots in Compton. Her appearance made the performance a local-to-global statement: two internationally recognized figures associated with Compton were representing that community on one of America’s largest television stages.
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There was also a personal-history layer. Williams had previously been criticized after performing a similar dance following her 2012 Olympic victory. Bringing the movement back during the Super Bowl could be read as a reclamation of a gesture that had been treated as controversial, while also connecting it to Los Angeles, Black cultural expression, and West Coast identity.
Viewers familiar with Lamar’s feud with Drake saw an additional joke. “Not Like Us” is Lamar’s diss track aimed at Drake, and Williams has a past association with Drake. The camera cut to Williams during the song therefore made the connection difficult to miss. But it is too simple to say that she appeared only to insult Drake. Williams later said the appearance was not intended as shade toward him. The most defensible reading is that the cameo worked simultaneously as Compton solidarity, a reference to Williams’s own history with the dance, and a pointed visual wink for people following the Drake-Lamar conflict.
The wording matters here. Calling it a “Crip Walk-style” dance is more precise than treating the movement as a simple piece of choreography with no cultural or gang-related history. It also avoids claiming more certainty about the exact gesture or its intended meaning than the performance establishes.
What songs did Kendrick Lamar perform?
The halftime show was built as a medley drawing heavily from GNX, while also revisiting major songs from DAMN., Black Panther: The Album, and Lamar’s 2024 Drake-battle material. The broadcast moved through material including:
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- “squabble up”
- “HUMBLE.”
- “DNA.”
- “euphoria”
- “man at the garden”
- “peekaboo”
- “luther,” with SZA
- “All the Stars,” with SZA
- “Not Like Us”
- “TV Off,” with Mustard
These were not all performed as complete recordings. The television version used shortened passages, transitions, crowd interaction, and at least one unreleased or teaser-like segment. A set-list description should therefore call it a medley, not imply that every song received a full verse-and-chorus performance.
SZA’s role in the show
SZA was the principal musical guest. Her participation had been officially announced before the game, and she joined Lamar for “luther” and “All the Stars.” “luther” represented the GNX era, while “All the Stars” connected the show to Lamar’s earlier blockbuster work on Black Panther: The Album.
That pairing also gave the set a change in texture. The performance did not remain in battle-rap mode from beginning to end; SZA’s appearance introduced a more melodic section before the show returned to the sharper cultural and competitive energy of “Not Like Us.”
Why Mustard appeared during “TV Off”
Mustard appeared during “TV Off,” the song that helped close the performance. His presence was important beyond the celebrity value of another guest: he is a prominent Los Angeles producer and produced “TV Off.” His vocal tag is one of the track’s recognizable sonic cues, so bringing him onstage made the producer’s contribution visible.
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The appearance also reinforced the show’s West Coast identity. After the pointed “Not Like Us” segment, Mustard’s arrival turned the ending into a celebratory release. The final “TV Off” framing and game-over visual language can be read as Lamar declaring the performance finished on his own terms. That is an interpretation of the staging rather than an officially assigned meaning, but it fits the song’s title and the way the show closed.
What did “Not Like Us” mean at the Super Bowl?
“Not Like Us” had already become the defining public artifact of Lamar’s 2024 feud with Drake. One week before the halftime show, it won all five Grammy categories in which it was nominated: Record of the Year, Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, and Best Music Video.
Performing the track at the Super Bowl changed its scale. It was no longer only a successful rap-battle release; it became a mass-audience cultural event. The crowd’s participation, Serena Williams’s appearance, and Lamar’s direct “Hey, Drake” moment made the feud understandable even to viewers who had not followed every exchange between the artists.
The song also did more work than simply revive a celebrity dispute. Its setting within a national broadcast allowed Lamar to use the track as an assertion of West Coast identity and control over the cultural moment. The show made the feud visible, but it did not reduce the entire performance to Drake. “Not Like Us” was one section in a production about region, recognition, Black American culture, and who gets to define the country’s mainstream spectacle.
The broadcast did not reproduce every explicit lyric exactly as heard on the recording. The audience’s “a-minor” chant became another widely discussed moment, and the camera emphasized the song’s most recognizable confrontational cues without presenting the full studio version. Drake later made legal claims arguing that the performance exposed the song and its allegations to an unusually large audience. Those are allegations in legal filings, not adjudicated findings. The allegations made in the diss track itself should likewise not be presented as established facts.
Why did Samuel L. Jackson appear as Uncle Sam?
Samuel L. Jackson appeared in an Uncle Sam costume and functioned as a recurring narrator or authority figure. The character was more than a conventional celebrity cameo. As an interpretive reading, Uncle Sam represented an official, patriotic version of “America” commenting on, policing, and eventually accommodating Lamar’s performance.
The staging placed Lamar’s Black, West Coast, and Compton-centered identity inside that national frame. Red, white, and blue imagery initially suggested a conventional patriotic pageant. The music, dancers, formations, and neighborhood-like blocks then redirected those symbols toward Black American and West Coast cultural history.
That tension is the point of the visual design. Lamar was not appearing outside the American national spectacle; he was appearing at its center while refusing to erase the regional culture that shaped him. The show asked, implicitly, who is allowed to stand for America and whose culture is treated as authentically American. Because the production did not publish one definitive explanation of every image, this should be described as analysis rather than as a confirmed statement of the creators’ single intended meaning.
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Why did the show emphasize GNX?
GNX was Lamar’s surprise album, released on November 22, 2024, and it supplied much of the musical vocabulary for the halftime set. Its opening track, “wacced out murals,” directly addresses reactions to Lamar’s Super Bowl selection and refers to the announcement as well as West Coast rap history.
Apple Music reported that GNX reached No. 1 in 129 countries upon release. At the time of the pre-show promotion, “Not Like Us” was also reported as the album’s most-streamed song worldwide. Those figures help explain why the halftime performance centered on the GNX era rather than functioning as a conventional career-spanning greatest-hits show.
Older songs supplied recognizable anchors. “HUMBLE.” and “DNA.” brought in material from DAMN., while “All the Stars” connected the set to Lamar’s work on Black Panther: The Album. The result was a victory lap for his current era that still gave a large television audience several familiar entry points.
Was Serena Williams’s appearance a message to Drake?
It can reasonably be read that way, but it cannot responsibly be described as the cameo’s confirmed or sole purpose.
The Drake connection was visible because “Not Like Us” is a diss track directed at him, Williams had a past relationship or association with Drake, and the broadcast placed her dance inside the song’s most anticipated section. For an audience following the feud, that combination created an obvious visual joke.
At the same time, Williams’s Compton connection to Lamar existed independently of the feud, as did the history of her own dance controversy. The cameo could celebrate shared hometown identity and reclaim a gesture while also allowing viewers to enjoy the Drake-related subtext. Williams’s later comments rejecting the idea that it was intended as shade are why the cautious formulation is the strongest one: the moment carried a Drake-era association, but its meaning was not officially limited to antagonizing him.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Why the performance was historically significant
The NFL reported an average audience of approximately 133.5 million viewers, making the show the most-watched Super Bowl halftime performance on record at that time. It also arrived immediately after Lamar’s five-Grammy sweep for “Not Like Us,” giving the performance unusual momentum before he even walked onstage.
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A free scan shows the junk files, broken settings and background clutter dragging Windows down - then fixes them in one click.Free scan · Windows 10 & 11Lamar was also described in contemporaneous coverage as the first solo hip-hop artist to headline the halftime show. Hip-hop artists had appeared in earlier halftime productions, including Lamar himself as part of the ensemble show at Super Bowl LVI in 2022. The distinction is that the 2025 performance was built around Lamar as the central solo headliner.
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Its importance was therefore not just a ratings statistic. Lamar brought rap’s competitive traditions, regional identity, and unresolved cultural arguments into a format that often compresses artists into a safe pop medley. The show was polished enough for the Super Bowl but retained the friction of the music that made Lamar’s 2024–25 moment so consequential.
Where can you rewatch the performance?
Apple Music lists a 13-minute concert film of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show. The listing includes closed captions and multiple subtitle languages. Apple also maintains a companion set-list or playlist experience, which is useful for checking the song sequence without relying on unofficial fan uploads.
Availability and catalog presentation can vary by country and change over time. When searching, use the full event name—Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show—rather than a generic search for a newer Super Bowl performance. This show took place on February 9, 2025, at Super Bowl LIX; it is not the separate Super Bowl LX halftime performance discussed by later NFL coverage.
For an official rewatch, use Apple Music’s official halftime-show concert film and its companion set-list experience. This is a viewing reference, not a claim that tracked access or an affiliate arrangement is available.
What the halftime show was really doing
The cleanest way to understand the performance is as two narratives running at once.
- The public victory lap: Lamar was presenting the GNX era, revisiting major catalog songs, celebrating “Not Like Us” after its Grammy sweep, and bringing collaborators such as SZA and Mustard into the spotlight.
- The visual argument: Lamar was placing Compton and Los Angeles inside a patriotic national pageant without allowing that pageant to neutralize his identity or the music’s regional history.
Serena Williams’s cameo belongs to both narratives. It amplified the biggest song in the set and its Drake-related subtext, but it also broadened the show’s idea of who represents Compton. Samuel L. Jackson’s Uncle Sam made the national question visible, while the neighborhood staging supplied the local answer. The performance’s achievement was holding those meanings together in a few highly compressed minutes.
The Bottom Line
Bottom line: Serena Williams’s brief dance during “Not Like Us” was best understood as a layered cameo: a Compton connection, a callback to her own dance history, and an unmistakable Drake-era visual joke that Williams did not describe as intentional shade. Around that moment, Kendrick Lamar built a Super Bowl performance that used GNX, West Coast imagery, Uncle Sam, SZA, and Mustard to turn a current rap moment into a broader statement about regional identity and American culture.
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