Tag: Kendrick Lamar

Ranking the greatest Super Bowl halftime show memes of all time, including Kendrick Lamar’s stare and Left Shark (2025 edition)

Our favorite Super Bowl memes of all time!

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in 2023 and has been updated.

The Super Bowl halftime show is one of the best things about NFL’s annual title game — and for some, it’s THE best thing.

But for us, the memes that come out of halftime that are in the top-3 best things about the Super Bowl.

We’ve had so many legendary memes that explode that night and last for weeks. And Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl halftime show performance delivered several memorable moments, including a meme after he smiled into the camera while trolling Drake.

That’s why it’s a good time to rank the best of the best, the ones that we loved sharing.

Here they are, the best Super Bowl memes of all time, ranked:

10. Chris Martin looks left out (2016)

Coldplay headlined Super Bowl 50’s halftime show, but Beyonce and Bruno Mars stole all the headlines.

And this Chris Martin meme summed it all up:

9. What’s Dr. Dre playing on the piano? (2022)

LOL! Too funny.

8. Beyoncé’s snapshot (2013)

7. Justin Timberlake’s Selfie Kid (2018)

A great moment for this kid!

 

6. Rihanna’s stare (2023)

5. Kendrick Lamar’s staredown while saying “Drake”

This was so good.

4. Lady Gaga leaps (2017)

3. Upside down 50 Cent (2022)

An instant classic.

 

2. The Weeknd makes me dizzy (2021)

A meme so good The Weeknd had to join in on the action.

1. Left Shark (2015)

The first-ballot Hall of Fame halftime meme.

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Kendrick Lamar smiling into the Super Bowl camera while saying Drake’s name turned into a meme

SAY DRAKE.

Kendrick Lamar’s recent rap feud with Drake reached its zenith on Sunday night during the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.

Drake has endured months and months of Lamar’s smash-hit, Grammy-winning anthem “Not Like Us” playing all over the place, and Lamar seemed very pleased to call out the Canadian rapper during his electric Super Bowl halftime show performance.

In fact, Lamar looked right at the camera as he mentioned Drake’s name in the “Not Like Us” performance with a big smile on his face for all of the world to see. You want to talk about a victory lap? This is that.

As you can imagine, this turned into a pretty fantastic meme.

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Kendrick Lamar’s complete, dazzling Super Bowl 59 halftime show

Kendirk Lamar was the star of stars in the Super Bowl 59 halftime show

Kendrick Lamar was coming off a huge week. He swept all the Grammy categories he was nominated in on Feb. 2.

That proved to be the perfect stepping stone to his halftime performance at Super Bowl 59.

The hip-hop artist’s show featured SZA and a dance cameo by tennis great Serena Williams.

Check the concert out:

Kendrick Lamar had the whole Super Bowl crowd singing ‘A minor’ during Not Like Us for halftime show

Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show was iconic.

Kendrick Lamar performed at halftime of the Super Bowl on Sunday night, unsurprisingly putting on an incredible show. The 20-time Grammy winner had Samuel L. Jackson as his emcee, SZA as a guest star and a surprise appearance from tennis legend Serena Williams.

His performance of his five-time Grammy-winning diss track, “Not Like Us” was highly anticipated, and the rapper broke it out near the end of his set.  Much like his performance at the Grammys last weekend, Lamar had the entirety of the 75,000+ crowd in the Superdome singing along with his iconic “A minor” line.

It was deafening.

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Kendrick Lamar’s electric Super Bowl performance included Serena Williams and Samuel L. Jackson

This is another tally in the win column for Kendrick Lamar.

Kendrick Lamar absolutely rocked the crowd in New Orleans with his electric performance during halftime of Super Bowl LIX. But the bombastic rapper’s show wasn’t a total solo act. He had some help from a few special guests.

Actor Samuel L. Jackson was the first guest to appear, dressed a bit like the classic and patriotic Uncle Sam and performing as a narrator of sorts for the show, warning Kendrick to not go overboard and give the audience what they want.

Next to show up was SZA, who performed two songs alongside Kendrick, including the Oscar-nominated “All The Stars” from 2018’s Black Panther.

Feb 9, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Recording artist SZA and recording artist Kendrick Lamar perform during halftime Super Bowl LIX at Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

And then, perhaps most unexpectedly – while Kendrick performed his Grammy-winning “Not Like Us” – the camera panned to tennis legend Serena Williams, who was dancing along to the track in the middle of the field. Her appearance was no coincidence or accident. It’s worth noting that Kendrick and Serena both hail from Compton, California.

After the show, Williams said, “I did not crip-walk like that at Wimbledon. I would’ve been fined!”

The last guest appearance was by DJ Mustard, who emerged when Kendrick began performing “TV Off,” which the DJ produced.

NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA – FEBRUARY 09: (L-R) Mustard and Kendrick Lamar perform onstage during Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show at Caesars Superdome on February 09, 2025 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)

Let’s consider for a moment that not only did Kendrick Lamar parlay his hatred for Drake into a diss track that became a Grammy-winning summer anthem, but also into a Super Bowl performance that got the greatest tennis player of all-time dancing to it on national television. Drake is never recovering from this, y’all.

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Serena Williams shocked everyone with a surprise guest appearance during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show

Serena got a little revenge on Drake here.

We knew Kendrick Lamar was petty, man. We all knew it. But, guys. There was no way we could know that he was this petty. 

It was obvious that Kendrick was going to perform “Not Like Us.” It was the biggest song of 2024 and unquestionably the biggest of his career. There was no way that it wasn’t happening.

But for him to do it so pettily? Man. This dude is diabolical.

MORE ON K-DOT: Here’s our halftime performance review of Dot’s incredible performance from Bryan Kalbrosky

Yes, he did the “A Minor” part and the entire crowd sang it along with him. But, beyond that, he also brought out Serena Williams to hit a quick little c-walk during all this.

It was a quick moment. It was a brief moment. But it was a powerful moment. I just know this stung Drake.

She had joked after.

Y’all want to know why this is so petty?

Yes, it’s obviously Serena dancing on Drake’s metaphorical demise here. We know that.

But remember, Drake and Williams used to date! Drake also dissed her on his song “Too Good” last year.

This isn’t just Serena dancing for fun, though surely she’s having a ton of that. This is also some get-back on her end. And I know that has to be pretty sweet.

Kendrick Lamar trolled Drake with a lawsuit joke before his Super Bowl Not Like Us performance

“You know they love to sue.”

Everybody knew it was coming, the moment Kendrick Lamar would perform his smash hit and Drake diss Not Like Us in front of the world for the Super Bowl halftime show. So, naturally, Lamar did something to make people a little less sure. He teased the song in the middle of his set with a joke about lawsuits and skipped to another song.

“I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” Lamar said.

The moment made for a perfect troll job of his adversary, who filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group for its promotion of the song. It also built anticipation for the moment when he finally performed it. Because of course he wasn’t going to not do his biggest song on the Super Bowl stage.

And even then, he teased whether or not he would actually do it.

Alas, he did it. And boy did he do it. The whole crowd was singing

The tease wasn’t the only way he trolled Drake. He also wore a lower-case “a” chain that could have been a nod to the “a minor” lyric in the song — which the whole crowd sang aloud with him. Finally, Lamar was joined on stage by a dancing Serena Williams, who has her own little history with Drake.

Super Bowl halftime show set list: What songs did Kendrick Lamar perform?

Of course he played Not Like Us. But what else did he do?

Kendrick Lamar was chosen to perform at the Super Bowl between the Chiefs and the Eagles and his set list was mostly his new music.

While on stage at the Superdome in New Orleans, Lamar delivered an exciting set list that included TK and TK.

Following his massive beef with Drake, we had some bold predictions for what his set list (as well as his guest performers) could potentially look like in New Orleans.

Here is what Lamar ultimately chose to do when it was all said and done:

Super Bowl halftime show review: Kendrick Lamar televised the revolution and it was utterly brilliant

  1. “GNX Preview Song”
  2. “squabble up”
  3. “humble”
  4. “DNA”
  5. “Euphoria”
  6. “Man At The Garden”
  7. “Peekaboo”
  8. “Not Like Us (pump fake)”
  9. “Luther”
  10. “All The Stars”
  11. “Not Like Us”
  12. “TV Off”

This was excellent work by Kendrick Lamar and it did not let us down.

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Super Bowl halftime show review: Kendrick Lamar televised the revolution, and it was utterly brilliant

Kendrick Lamar put on a show no one will forget any time soon.

Kendrick Lamar was one of the most anticipated Super Bowl halftime show performers in recent memory and he lived up to the hype and then some.

After winning multiple awards at the Grammys for his hit Drake diss track “Not Like Us” last week, the rapper took the stage for one of the biggest performances in the world at the Superdome in New Orleans.

Following his beef with Drake, we had several predictions for what his set list and guest performers could potentially look like.

SUPER BOWL HALFTIME SHOW SET LIST: What songs did Kendrick Lamar perform?

Starting with an introduction from Samuel L. Jackson, the rapper performed from atop a GNX vehicle on the stage. The intensity built as his first backup dancers hopped out from the car.

With a song from his latest album, Lamar got the crowd feeling alive with “Squabble Up” as the beat rocked through the Superdome. Jackson, in a recurring appearance, continued to play host in an traditional Americana outfit dressed like Uncle Sam.

Fans saw fists in the air from some of the dancers as they formed their own version of the American flag. They also got to see a dancing Serena Williams.

K-Dot then went into a rendition of “Loyalty” as he continued bringing all of his intensity in his facial expressions and dance moves. He also performed a few of his newer songs like “Peekaboo” from the new record before teasing a rendition of “Not Like Us” (but not actually going for it quite yet).

Kendrick instead played “Luther” as his special guest, SZA, first took the stage. She had a beautiful performance as she sang her part of the song and danced alongside the rapper.

He then performed from a rotating stage that resembled a record table as SZA continued to stun as well. Jackson joked that it was “nice and calm” for all of the American fans as the beat of “Not Like Us” was teased yet again.

Once he finally went for it and played the hit diss track, it was fully brilliant and worth the wait.

While he didn’t say the word that he typically says after “certified” on TV, he got the entire crowd to chant “a minor” in unison. There is no way that Drake was not in shambles by this point.

KENDRICK LAMAR: Why he screams MUSTARD! and it became a meme, explained

He then transitioned into “TV Off” as Mustard, his iconic producer, joined him on the stage.

Kendrick did such a great job of performing for the television audience at home without doing too much fanfare or anything too over-the-top. It was well within his means, it was simple, and it successfully accomplished quite exactly what it set out to do.

This is one that football fans and music fans will both remember for a long time.

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Did Kendrick Lamar subtly troll Drake with his chain during the Super Bowl halftime show?

What do you think?

Kendrick Lamar’s feud with Drake was of course going to seep into his 2025 Super Bowl halftime show performance.

Of course, “Not Like Us” featured heavily in Lamar’s halftime show performance, but fans caught a subtle reference to the song even before it was played. Lamar’s outfit for the show featured a really simple outfit, but he prominently displayed a chain with a lower case “a” on it.

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As soon as Lamar hit the field, fans immediately zeroed in on the chain, wondering if it was a subtle reference to Drake and the infamous “a minor” line in “Not Like Us”.

While it could be a subtle nod, it also seems like it could be a reference to Lamar’s record label, pgLang.

What do you think?

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