Kendrick Lamar on why he never thought about headlining the Super Bowl, & his pre-stage ritual

Kendrick Lamar joined Apple Music Radio hosts Ebro Darden and Nadeska Alexis for the official Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show Press Conference in New Orleans ahead of his halftime show on February 9, 2025, at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

During the conversation he reflected on the importance of authenticity, rap as an elevated art form that deserves recognition, his Compton mixtape-shuffling days, how he plans to represent 15 years of music into a 13-minute set, winning GRAMMYS for Not Like Us, and his pre-Super Bowl ritual.

Lamar on the progression of hip-hop and being the first solo to headline at the Super Bowl:

A lot of people don’t see the story before the glory, man. That shit is like, shuffling out your mixtapes and going to neighbourhoods and parties and performing there in hole-in-the-wall spots. It reminds me of the essence and the core response of rap and hip-hop, and how far it can go. So, for me, that shit means everything. Because it puts the culture at the forefront, where it needs to be, and not minimised to just a catchy song or verse. 

This is a true art form. So to represent it on this type of stage is everything that I’ve worked for and everything that I believe in as far as the culture. I live and die by it. This shit done changed my whole family life. I don’t take it for granted, at all, as far as the art form, you know?

Lamar on why he always focused on the music and never thought about being a Super Bowl Halftime Show headliner:

I wasn’t thinking about no Super Bowl. I wasn’t thinking about no Super Bowl for sure. We was thinking about the best verse, and how we gonna split this five dollars at Church’s Chicken or something like that. There wasn’t no Super Bowl. I think, what I know is, the passion I have now is still the passion I had then. And I think that carried on to the Super Bowl. So it was all about being present. 

As long as I was present in the studio or present in whatever the line was, or whatever the mistake was, rapping or doing the hooks or choruses or what not, I was present in that moment, I felt that passion. I think being present and not actually foreseeing everything kept me in a grounded state of mind in order to be at big stages like this.

Lamar on the significance of diss track, Not Like Us winning GRAMMYs for Record of the Year and Song of the Year:

As a writer, that’s what I can appreciate the most. And knowing how much time I’ve dedicated over the years in just trial and error. Writing the most terrible shit to some of the greatest shit. You know, we all do it. Writer’s block to figuring out how to find inspiration from the most non-popular aspects around me. So it’s like, knowing that trial and knowing what I put in as far as my thinking process and what it takes to get there, I do not look at it as a small endeavor because it’s a hit record. 

No, there’s actually some writing in that shit. Whether it connects with you on a spiritual level, whether it connects with you on a comedic level, whether it connects with you just on a personal dynamic, it’s still from a writers’ point of view.

Lamar on how Not Like Us became an award-winning anthem out of a battle rap song and why he’s happy it puts a focus on rap as an art form:

I was just thinking about the culture, really. It’s always that for me, first. I’m not even bullshitting with you. When people talk about rap, man, the conversations I hear, they think it’s just rap, and it’s not an actual art form. So when you put records like that at the forefront, it reminds people that this is more than just something that came 50 years ago. They forget that it’s even been here 50 years, and kind of belittle it. 

So I love to see that it gets that type of recognition for just straight raps, from awards to the billboards, all that. Because this is truly just as big as an art form and a genre as any other genre. So that’s what I think about. And I feel accomplished being able to do that. Whether somebody else comes behind me and does that again and quadruples it, I’d love to see it. If that was my purpose to do that, then that’s exactly what it was for that particular moment.

Lamar on the connection between black culture and New Orleans and always putting culture at the forefront of his brand:

That’s the bar. That’s the bar. It’s crazy bro, all my friends. L.A, us growing up, all our grandparents either from Louisiana, Texas, Chicago, period. So our dialect and how we talk, it gauges from the South and like the Bay Area. So going to the store, we say Finna. ‘I’m Finna going to the store’. That’s some south shit, that’s not no L.A. So that energy right there, making that correlation, it means a lot to me, for people to understand that. 

The culture and just being black, I can’t help that, man. It’s not something that I think about or even try to go, “I’m black!” Shit, it’s goin’ to come out every time. I can’t sugarcoat it. I can’t downplay it. I’m at a point in my life, I can’t necessarily fake the funk for nothing. I’ve always had the essence of that, but you have kids and shit, that shit’s like, I have to be who I am authentically. 

And if the world can’t accept that, then so be it. But who rocking’ with it, I’m gonna put it all the way out there. Whether it’s in private or whether it’s on the main stage.

Lamar on condensing his catalogue into a 13-minute setlist:

It’s wild. Mr. Morale is like an hour and thirty minute tour, so you gotta smack this shit down all the way to 13 minutes! It’s kind of wild and it’s interesting, because it lets you know kind of where you are in your perspective, how you think about catalogue and music. For me, I love being present, I love being present, man. It’s very hard for me to live in the past. It’s very hard. 

I respect the past, wholeheartedly, but being in the now and being locked into how I feel and the energy I have now, that’s the L.A energy for me. That’s something that I wanted to carry over to New Orleans and for the world to see. This is me, this is Kendrick Lamar, 37-years-old and I still feel like I’m elevating, I’m still on the journey, though, you know? I want that energy to ooze out into the televisions and to the people that’s in that building.

Lamar on the importance of storytelling:

I think I’ve always been very open about storytelling, through all my catalogue and my history of music. And I’ve always had a passion about bringing that on whatever stage I’m on, you know, whether it’s a world tour or whether it’s 500 people at Key Club, I’ve always had a form of that, so that sense of making people listen, but also see and think a little.

Lamar on how himself and SZA have yet to fully take in the enormity of performing on Sunday’s stage:

We haven’t even had a chance to crash out about it. Because everything has been moving fast as far as production and rehearsals and stuff. We speak but we haven’t really had a chance to settle into the moment. For me, personally, watching her career and where she’s come from, it’s amazing to see. I get to finally see how certain individuals see me come up in the process, because I seen her day one coming into the studio and writing songs, throwing away songs, writing another song, throwing away songs. And songs is hard!

And I understood that process, though, wanting to be great. Even when we were saying, “This is a classic record,” she’s like, “No, I’m gonna write another one.” I understood that and I’ve seen it. So to see it now, magnified, it’s like she’s always had it, man, she always had it. I’m just honoured to be next to her talent.

Lamar on his advice to others on how to be yourself:

The number one thing people feel in the room, over love and over fears, is authentic. Being authentic. So, how to stay authentic….You have to believe in yourself, and have to know that there’s only one you. You’re an amazing individual. Unique. You’re a miracle! I wake up every day and I be like, this shit is crazy! Not crazy from a standpoint of being a celebrity. Crazy just life! It’s just wild! When you really sit down to just think about it, and just bug out on some wild - It’s wild! 

And to know that you are in this existence and in this world, and there’s just only you, you have to know that you got to carry that authentic nature of allowing yourself for say, this is who I am, this is how people are gonna see me. And also gonna respect me and also gonna respect people to have truth. Because when everyone’s authentic, what come out of that is true love. It’s no boundaries. 

We don’t have any courtship or judgment. We don’t have any perception of being able to ridicule anyone. Because you showing up as your true self, and I’m showing up as my true self.

Lamar on how he prepares for performances:

I do some laps where they’re some sprints…maybe it’s a two mile warm-up, or a mile warm-up. Maybe some push-ups. Just to get the body movement. Sometimes you be out on that stage, man, you need some oil on your knees to get moving and get cranking. 

So physically, I’m just exercising the body, a little bit of stretching, al little bit of all that. On a mental level, I’m usually playing some Isley Brothers, just to calm my, not my nerves but calm my excitement, give it a balance, you know? That’s my prep right before I go out.

Photo Credit: Apple Music