Super Bowl halftime show: Five takeaways from this year's iconic performance

One of the biggest global sporting spectacles, the Super Bowl came to Los Angeles' SoFi stadium last night (Sunday 13th February) with the prestigious halftime show leaving fans of hip hop completely blown away.

The highly anticipated intermission featured a host of some of the genre's most renowned acts, collectively executing a mash-up of the biggest anthems of the past three decades.

Rap mogul, Dr. Dre lead out proceedings, ascending up and out of the impressive set - a white multi-house structure surrounded by parked Cadillac's and dancers - and lighting up the thousands in attendance with his 2011 West Coast anthem, 'The Next Episode'. What followed was a thirty-minute run through of performances featuring a who's who of rap music. Among the many names who joined Dre were the likes of Eminem backed up by Anderson Paak. on the drums, Mary J Blige, Kendrick Lamar and more. 

For those who missed yesterday's dazzling live display we've put together a short run down, highlighting the five most significant takeaways from the fifty-sixth edition of the Super Bowl's halftime show. Check them out below...

Eminem takes the knee

It was reported that in the lead up to last nights performance, the bigwigs behind the NFL had requested that no one take the knee stating that 'politics should be left out' of the show. Something which the NFL has recently denied. In true Eminem style, ever the controversialist, the Detroit-born rapper dropped down to one knee at the end of 'Lose Yourself' bringing huge cheers from the audience. Taking the knee was a form of protest brought to the NFL back in 2016 by Colin Kaepernick, of the San Francisco 49ers, in opposition to police brutality and racism in the states. 

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Kendrick Lamar performs 'Alright' in a Virgil Abloh designed suit

Furthering the protest against the wishes of NFL executives to keep politics out of American football, Grammy Award-winner Kendrick Lamar took his moment in the lime light to perform one of his biggest tracks - 'Alright'. Taken from his seminal album, To Pimp A Butterfly, the record is another damning dissection of the brutality faced by the black community from police over in the state. The thirty-four-year-old also made a statement in his choice of outfit, performing with a score of dancers in an all black suit created by late-great fashion designer and entrepreneur, Virgil Abloh. Hip hop never looked so good. 

50 Cent joins the eye-watering lineup with a topsy turvy rendition of 'In Da Club'

There's always atleast one surprise performer to be expected at the Super Bowl each year and this years certainly didn't fail to surprise. Following on from a collaborative delivery of 'California Love' from both Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg came a pretty bizarre appearance from 50 Cent, who filled our screens in part of the set made to look like a nightclub hanging upside down from the ceiling. Why, we're still not sure. Surrounded by dancers and quite visibly struggling to sing lines from 2003's 'In Da Club', it was undoubtedly one of the standout performances of the night, perhaps for the wrong reasons...

Check out the full Super Bowl half-time show below...

Kanye West gets booed as he watches the show

West was present at last nights game with his children North and Saint, finding himself in front of the lens once more as he was beamed up onto the big screen half way through the halftime show. The live stream of Ye dancing with his kids was met by a score boo's that rang out around the seventy-thousand capacity stadium, in response to Kanye's recent attacks of his estranged wife, Kim Kardashian and her new love interest, Pete Davidson, who West took to social media to call a d**khead. Ouch. What will Kanye do next?

Mary J Blige astonishes in crystal embellished get up

The cherry on the cake of this celebration of Californian music had to be Mary Blige's arrival in a spectacular Swarovski embellished one-piece, built up of more ten thousand crystals. The only thing more dazzling than her outfit, completed by a silver fedora, knee high boots and gloves, was her performance of R&B anthems, 'No Drama' and 'Family Affair'. At fifty-one-years-of-age, can you believe, Blige proved she's still one of the best in the game. Long live the Queen of Cali. 

Just as we expected, another eventful and momentous halftime show. One that'll be hard to forget. We can't help but look forward to 2023 already and wonder how on earth the NFL can top this years iconic performance. We'll have to wait and see...

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Header image credit: NFL / Facebook