Kendrick Lamar censors explicit Drake lyric but brings out rapper’s two famous exes during Super Bowl halftime show
The beef between the two rappers rages on!
Kendrick Lamar has again taken aim at Drake despite censoring his famous diss track accusing the rapper of being a paedophile.
Overnight Kendrick, 37, took to the stage at the 80,000-capacity Caesar Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana as the headline act for the 2025 Super Bowl’s halftime show.
The performance is expected to have reached 120 million TV viewers who had tuned in to see the Kansas City Chiefs take on the Philadelphia Eagles, with the latter winning 40-22.
In the lead-up, there was significant speculation he’d perform his single Not Like Us, which was released last year and took his beef with Drake, 38, to another level.
In the track, which recently won two Grammy awards and five in total, sees Kendrick say Drake ‘likes ‘em young’ and goes on to allege: ‘Certified Lover Boy, certified paedophiles.’
During the halftime show, Kendrick teased the song with several false starts before launching into it during his 13-minute set.
He performed his diss track Not Like Us, but censored the most explicit lyrics (Picture: Gregory Shamus/ Getty Images)In the performance he directly addressed his rival, rapping the lines ‘Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young’ and ‘tryna strike a chord, and it’s probably A minor’, with the crowd roaring back in return.
However, he did censor the most controversial and explicit line, avoiding calling Drake a paedophile, which he does in the recording and has previously done during other live performances.
Instead, he rapped: ‘Certified Lover Boy? Certified …’ before cutting himself off with a pre-recorded screaming sound at the point before he’d usually drop the allegation.
Despite this Kendrick didn’t miss his chance to poke at Drake in another way too – by bringing out the Canadian rapper’s ex-girlfriend, tennis superstar Serena Williams.
The rappers have had longstanding beef (Picture: Frazer Harrison/ Getty Images) Kendrick invited Drake’s ex Serena Williams on stage too (Picture: Kevin Mazur/ Getty Images for Roc Nation)Serena, 43, who was rumoured to have dated Drake about a decade ago, appeared on stage to dance in the middle of the song Not Like Us, later posting a video getting her make-up done backstage and writing: ‘Let’s go Super Bowl halftime??! I died a little!’
Drake, who is currently on tour in Australia, has not responded to the halftime show, but around the same time posted a series of photos of himself on stage to Instagram.
Kendrick’s halftime show also featured other famous faces. Although it had only previously been announced SZA would join him on stage, Samuel L. Jackson also made a surprise appearance.
Samuel L. Jackson made a surprise appearance as Uncle Sam (Picture: Gregory Shamus/ Getty Images) The actor told Kendrick to stop being ‘too reckless and too ghetto’ (Picture: Patrick Smith/ Getty Images)The 76-year-old actor dressed as Uncle Sam, a 19th century symbol of American patriotism, and jokingly referenced wanting to rein in Kendrick to present a more ‘appropriate’ performance.
‘No no no no no! Too loud, too reckless — too ghetto! Mr. Lamar, do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!’ he quipped.
As part of the act Kendrick then launched into two of his biggest hits, Humble and DNA, being joined on stage with dancers wearing red, white and blue streetwear and positioned in the shape of the American flag.
