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Kendrick’s Super Bowl Symbolism, Adulting & Villain Obsession
50 Plays18 days ago
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show was more than just a performance—it was a masterclass in symbolism, social commentary, and cultural storytelling. In this episode of Unsolicited Perspectives, host Bruce Anthony and his sister J Aundrea break down the hidden messages in Kendrick’s set, the petty jab at Drake, and what it all means for hip-hop culture.
But that’s not all! We dive into the struggles of adulting, why being grown is overrated, and how meme culture (shoutout to Druski) is shaping the way we laugh through the chaos. Plus, we unpack the world’s obsession with villains, from Breaking Bad and The Joker to real-life figures like Elon Musk and Donald Trump. #KendrickLamar #superbowlhalftime #adulting #hiphopculturenews #villains #unsolicitedperspectives
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Thank you for tuning into Unsolicited Perspectives with Bruce Anthony. Let's continue the conversation in the comments and remember, stay engaged, stay informed, and always keep an open mind. See you in the next episode!
Chapters:
00:00 Welcome to Unsolicited Perspectives 🎙️🔥💥
00:37 Sibling Happy Hour: Spicy Takes & Drinks 🍹🌶️
01:56 Morning Mayhem: Adulting is HARD! (We're Tired) 😴
04:11 Hot Takes on the World: The World is Upside Down! 🌎🤯
07:13 Why Being Grown is Overrated (But Hilarious) 🎓😂
09:36 Social Media Shenanigans: Druski is Hilarious! 😂 (And We're Meme Lords)
17:59 Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Show: A Masterclass in Art 🎤🏈
28:21 Decoding Kendrick: The Hidden Symbolism You Missed 🔍🎨
30:33 Video Games & Real Life: The Deeper Message 🎮💡
32:38 Money, Power, and Prisons: The System Exposed 💰⛓️
34:52 Mic Drop Moments: When Kendrick Takes a Petty Jab at Drake 🎤😏🎯
48:50 Who’s the Real Villain? The Allure of Villains in Pop Culture 🦹♂️🎬💀
01:00:10 That's a Wrap! Final Thoughts 🎙️✨
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Transcript
Introduction and Engagement
00:00:10
Speaker
Welcome. First of all, welcome. This is Unsolicited Perspectives. I'm your host, Bruce Anthony, here to lead the conversation in the important events and topics that are shaping today's society. same Join the conversation or follow us wherever you get your audio podcasts.
00:00:24
Speaker
Subscribe to our YouTube channel for our video podcast and YouTube exclusive content. Rate, review, like, comment, share. Share with your friends, share with your family, hell, even share with your enemies.
Sibling Happy Hour Theme
00:00:37
Speaker
On today's episode, it's Sibling Happy Hour. I'm here with my sis, J. Andrea. We're going to be dilly-dadding a little bit. Then we're going to talking about Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show. And then we're going to be talking about villains.
00:00:50
Speaker
But that's enough of the intro. Let's get to the show.
00:01:01
Speaker
Okay, sis, what's going on with you? What's happening with you? as they opening
00:01:12
Speaker
and That is not our opening. You did not give me opportunity to say what up, brother. right, hold on What up, Seth? What up, brother? I can't call it. I can't call it because we are all disjointed this morning or this afternoon as we record this episode. But the world is upside down.
00:01:31
Speaker
So, yeah will I mean, i I guess it kind of makes sense a little bit. A little bit. A little bit. Let's wait for my thing to jump in. You just said, you know what?
00:01:46
Speaker
After 200 episodes, we're going to start it another way. No. And I gave it. Okay. Hey, look, ladies gentlemen, i don't know what to tell you how this show is going to go today. I am disjointed. And I'm disjointed because ah woke up in the the night because I decided to get McDonald's last night, which was a
Life Challenges and Societal Issues
00:02:04
Speaker
huge mistake. So I woke up the middle the night, but I went back to sleep and I got that second sleep.
00:02:08
Speaker
I said, sleep is beautiful. But then my alarm goes off and I said, you know what? Let me give myself another 30 minutes. I did the majority of the work that I needed to do for this podcast last night. I just need to tighten some things up.
00:02:20
Speaker
So was like, I can sleep an extra half an hour before I need to get ready and hit the low timer. I roll over. Timer goes off. I'm like, what the hell? Yeah, that's how it is. What the hell just happened? So I've been disjointed this entire morning, and getting ready and everything.
00:02:35
Speaker
That's how it is. Yeah, i ah I barely know what month it is, let it alone what day. You know, i I get your email that we got the show today.
00:02:46
Speaker
That's how know. Ah, this is Sunday. No, I mean, i'm got I've got five projects going at once. Not only that, I somehow got roped in to starting a student association for graduate data science students.
00:03:04
Speaker
Yeah. what like Why did you whyd you say yesterday? i thought Here's what happened. Please explain it to me. There is a particular professor that for some reason sees the best in me. I don't know why.
00:03:18
Speaker
ah okay But I get a meeting invite. And I'm like, oh, what's this about? I joined the meeting the next day. it's you all are the founding members the...
00:03:33
Speaker
as
00:03:38
Speaker
So yeah here we are. this is where we're at. we yeah We came with a name, a mission statement, vision statement, and I have to present on Friday to the student body and let them know that this is happening. And so I got a lot going on. ah Yeah, it sounds like you got a lot going on.
00:03:56
Speaker
Not to mention interviewing for internships for the summer. So there's also that. don't know what to tell you. You got a lot going on. The world got a lot going on now. The world is upside down right now.
00:04:10
Speaker
Completely crazy. the The people that voted for the current president and the current administration sitting up there complaining and crying now because me here in the D.C. area just watching people just being laid off right left.
00:04:24
Speaker
Illegally. Thousands of people. and and And they voted for him. And they're like, wait a minute. oh Hold up. We weren't talking about us. We were talking about the mother folks. Oh, no, no, no, no. no you That good government job you had? Good government job. Go.
00:04:39
Speaker
Bye-bye. Go. Yeah. Everything that Musk did to Twitter, he is trying to do to the American government. So congratulations, you guys.
00:04:51
Speaker
Leave us out of it. y'all Y'all voted for this. Now there's consequences and repercussions. During Black History Month, we got claims of reverse racism. ah A white guy when wins his third straight slam dunk competition in the NBA slam dunk contest. Mack McCullough. What is going on out here in these streets? What is going on?
00:05:11
Speaker
By the way, i don't know the boys the boy can jump out the building. Okay, so he is well deserving. We're not doing any reverse racism. We just simply say a white guy has won the NBA slam dunk contest three years in a row.
00:05:27
Speaker
Michael Joy didn't even do that. i mean, it's Black History Month. Yeah.
00:05:35
Speaker
What's happening? yeah it really It truly, and like we're halfway through. and yeah Aside from Kendrick's Super Bowl performance, it has it just hasn't been living up to past Black History Month.
00:05:50
Speaker
It really hasn't. I don't know what's going on. You know, a wonderful commentator, Simone, she said, Carter G. Woodson did not go to the mat for Negro History Week.
00:06:03
Speaker
And I'm going paraphrase a little bit so we can watch that this young man win a slam dunk contest.
Adulthood vs. Childhood Reflections
00:06:09
Speaker
yes But look, no shade to him. No shade because I saw the dunks.
00:06:15
Speaker
They were amazing. Absolutely amazing. like like The boy is good. The boy is good. The boy is good. This isn't this isn't ah like he rightfully won. Right. This isn't a ah situation where they claim B.I. where somebody undeserving got the award. now He was absolutely deserving. Boy, man, jump out. chair Don't.
00:06:35
Speaker
over a person that spun around, dunked over a car. i think it was a shampy lumina. I don't even know for sure. its I mean, the boy is good. I can't take nothing away from him. But wow, during Black History Month, can't wait till March. All right. No, I can't wait till March.
00:06:52
Speaker
No, so the world is crazy. I know what's going on. don't know what's going on in my own life. You know saying? I'm waking up, sleeping, sleeping, and then waking up, and then sleeping and waking up again. That's just how my days go. That's adult life.
00:07:05
Speaker
yeah Adulthood sucks. When we was kids yeah and all we wanted to do was grow up, I wish I could go back. Look at us now. 30 years ago. A bunch of jackasses.
00:07:17
Speaker
I'm 14. Right. I'm 14. I'm about to end in high school. And all I want to do is grow up and get out of the house. Yes. and And I want to go to my 14-year-old self and say, one, this is the proper way how to shower.
00:07:30
Speaker
but and
00:07:34
Speaker
That's number one. and then the proper way This is the proper way how to groom yourself. yeah okay yeah yeah These deodorants do not work for you. And these do. Yes. maxim month Let's start there. Noxzema, not the go-to. Let's try to find something different. So those the first things I would tell my husband. The next thing I would say is, man, you better and enjoy the fact that you all got no bills to pay.
00:07:55
Speaker
yeah Go upstairs and thank mom and dad right now. Just thank you. I actually saw a meme where it was like, I gotta to apologize to my mama because... I never believed her when she said she was broke on payday.
00:08:09
Speaker
And the truth is, you'll be broke on payday. Bills
Comedy and Social Media Influence
00:08:13
Speaker
are no joke. No. You really, really do have to clean your house every day. Yes. like Like, you really do. Like, it's so much that you didn't understand as a child that now as an adult, I'm like, oh, it's trash.
00:08:29
Speaker
because Because if you cook every day, you got to clean up the kitchen every day. and And look, I ain't going to lie. I clean. You know I clean. You've seen me. Yes. Yes. My baseboards.
00:08:41
Speaker
Look, that is what it is. I ain't finna get down on my hands and knees and scrub these baseboards. I ain't going to do it. I know our mother did it. God bless her. God bless her.
00:08:52
Speaker
She'll still do it. She will still do it. I'm not doing it. Nope. I'll pay somebody to do it. Right. but i'll do it or Listen, if you come to my house and be like, John, cool, but you you see how you see her baseboards.
00:09:05
Speaker
Get out of my house.
00:09:10
Speaker
If you really come in here commenting on the dustiness of my baseboards, get out of my house. You're not welcome here. So i'm I'm not even I'm not even too worried about it, to be honest with you.
00:09:25
Speaker
The detour. Yeah. You know, I the and Vine created this this new wave of comedians, right? Yeah. And then these comedians went on to Instagram, and some of them have had real success. What yeah social media and what the internet has done is given people a platform that the gatekeepers probably wouldn't have let in beforehand, but now they're able to show their personality. And then, wow, there's so many people that have great personalities.
00:09:57
Speaker
Yeah. And are really, really funny. Right. That's what leads me to my point. Some people I've discovered are like beyond the normal,
00:10:08
Speaker
Like you run into people and they're funny. They can be legitimate, entertaining, comedic actors and actresses for the rest of their life. Drewski is at the top of my list.
00:10:20
Speaker
Drewski, everything that he does. I haven't even watched his new little dating show. It's on YouTube. um And it's it's it's fully, it's full production. VH1-esque type of production.
00:10:33
Speaker
yeah Have not watched it yet. But I've seen clips. And as a matter of fact, today I'm going watch it. Today I'm going watch the first episode. ah Because that dude is just hilarious. Everything that he dealt with. Kevin Hart was on that Kai Kair... Kai Sinat.
00:10:48
Speaker
Kai Sinat Twitch thing with Drewski. Drewski was the funniest person yeah in that entire thing. He was killing Kevin. hello And it was just talking about some...
00:11:00
Speaker
bed bugs or something like that. something biting you? Something is biting me. like That killed me because he played it completely straight and that's what made it even funnier.
00:11:13
Speaker
He's got, I've seen these clips where there was one clip that he was with somebody and oh he was with Marco, who's another funny person. And he was like, I heard you got kids. And Drewski was like, I ain't got no kids. So then here he comes, this little teenager. was like, hey, my mom told me that I'm your dad.
00:11:32
Speaker
And Drewski pulled a bit close. It was like. you and everybody saying that go to hell and get out of my face and the kid kicked him in the shin he's like a little bastard kicked me with okay you got wherever that video is find it send it to me please no you know what no and i'm gonna tell you why okay because i'm gonna put you on blast i'm gonna put you on blast right now because i have an excuse you go ahead put me on blast ladies and gentlemen i am meme king if you follow me on instagram you No, I'm always adding memes to my stories and things like that. And I send my sister memes and my close friends memes that I don't post in my stories just because I don't want anybody to know that I'm that type of degenerate.
00:12:15
Speaker
So I will send my sister stuff all the time and she like never responds. But here's the thing. I sent her stuff this morning. Okay. She doesn't respond for a really, really long time.
00:12:28
Speaker
I sent her stuff this morning. I know that she was on phone because she responded in the family group chat, but didn't respond to the stuff that I literally sent her this morning. And she's to like, well, I'm doing a homework. I'm working. I'm doing all this stuff. I'm busy. I'm busy too. I got three full jobs. like I'm not going say it.
00:12:45
Speaker
I got three full jobs. like I got a lot of jobs. I'm doing a lot of stuff. I ain't had no day off. I was talking to my bestie. Yesterday was the first day that I had off since started. You have a off?
00:12:58
Speaker
Since the year started. And it technically wasn't a day off. I still did work in the morning. and i just finished all my work before noon so I could drink and and enjoy my day. Yeah, I don't want to have it a day off.
00:13:10
Speaker
Yeah, well... I don't have any day off. And also, also, ladies and gentlemen, I know that my brother and I have very similar sense of humor. So if he sends me memes, videos, this, that, and the third, I want to actually sit and watch them because typically they're very funny.
00:13:27
Speaker
So if yeah are are our brother was taking a flight, he acknowledged that he had landed safely. I acknowledged that. I did not stop the work I was doing to watch the videos my my older brother sent me.
00:13:41
Speaker
but but
00:13:45
Speaker
Okay. But I had some time very, very early this morning. And I did look at every single Instagram DM. How many did I send you? There were at least seven in there.
00:13:57
Speaker
Really? That I hadn't seen. i looked at them all and sent appropriate emojis for all of them. But I am really, really busy.
00:14:11
Speaker
And so if I don't have time to sit still for a second and watch a video, I'm sorry. I am sorry. But I did eventually watch them. Yeah, I mean, they'd be fun again yes like explain very funny. and gentlemen, explain to you, me and my sister starting every, that's how we found out that we was best friends through our humor and those drives when I was dropping her off the college on the way back to my campus.
00:14:37
Speaker
I used to, when I was in the house, I used to wake her up at three o'clock in the morning day because I was up drunk li laughing at something. I would knock on her door, Jay, Jay, what?
00:14:49
Speaker
Jay, Wake up, wake up, I gotta show you something. Are you kidding me? No, this is hilarious. justlar And it would be some clip from the Bernie Mac show or something from the Mac show.
00:15:01
Speaker
Perhaps there was a lot of there was a lot of 70s black exploitation that you would you would watch back then. Well, during during that time, my boy, Hard Rock at Cafe introduced me to so two to black exploitation.
00:15:19
Speaker
He didn't introduce me to him. He introduced me to different. Different Blaxploitation movies that I had never seen before. I'd seen Superfly. Yeah. And I'd seen Shaft. But he introduced me to the Mac.
00:15:32
Speaker
He introduced me to Dolomite. And I was like, Dolomite is absolutely the worst it movie ever. It's terrible. Literally terrible. But it's it's funny still. So I watch it. Yeah. And I've probably seen it maybe three or four times. So I don't care. And I still quote lines from the Mac.
00:15:51
Speaker
Yes, you do. And they don't ever really work. they The lines for the MAC have never really worked on me trying to MAC with women. Oh, but no. That's absolutely not a good idea. was one, a completely different era. Two, he was a purveyor of...
00:16:08
Speaker
bodies. I don't know how else to say it. He was a pimp. He was a pimp. So I wouldn't use those lines on human women. Well, though what up what type of women are they?
00:16:22
Speaker
I don't know. Maybe it's some sort of alien species that responds to this. I don't know. Hold on. This was my male toxic face Okay. In my 20s, I was getting through it.
00:16:35
Speaker
Right. and And he had a smooth line. She was like, where do we go? mean, it's like to the top of you, not afraid. Yeah. I'm going to be everything for you. being your mother, your brother, your father. But you got to believe in me. You got to believe that what I say is good for both of us.
00:16:49
Speaker
And I was like, yeah. And one time it did work. It worked with one ex-girlfriend because we were in a fight. and and and out And I said that line and she was like, okay, listen.
00:17:00
Speaker
And I was like, yeah. The Mac actually works, but no, she was just young and dumb. Yeah. Yeah. You both were. You both were. yeah But in celebration of black history month, not talking about my past of toxic masculinity, we are going to talk about the performance of Kendrick Lamar at the Superbowl and get into the nitty gritty of the details and the things that you might not have noticed.
Kendrick Lamar's Halftime Show Analysis
00:17:26
Speaker
We're going to get into that next.
00:17:37
Speaker
Okay, Jay. So we talked about it for weeks leading up to it. Kendrick Lamar, Super Bowl halftime performance. yeah At first, he was like, he's not going to do not like us. Then last week, he was like, oh, he's got to do not like us. He definitely did not like us.
00:17:52
Speaker
He did. And I don't know what the general consensus was for people that you spoke to, but I had some people say, it was great in the symbolic nature. And I had other people was like, it was a horrible performance.
00:18:04
Speaker
And I was like, When you think it's a horrible performance, I don't know what i don't know what's going on in your head. don't know what they were watching. Well, I think they were thinking that that he was going to play some of his older hits, and he didn't really.
00:18:21
Speaker
He played a lot of his newer music. And if you haven't really listened to the album, then I guess so you wouldn't really know. like...
00:18:33
Speaker
like I thought the performance and everything going around was really good. And I don't get why people were like, the performance was bad.
00:18:44
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, i think people were, you know, it's hard to be a rapper and put on an entertaining performance. i You know, when we were growing up, we'd go to rap concerts.
00:18:58
Speaker
It would be about 25 dudes on the stage. Everybody got a mic and they're just all yelling and jumping around. There really wasn't a like ah stage performance.
00:19:09
Speaker
Hold on now. We've gone to two concerts. I've gone to a lot more than two concerts. No, no, I'm talking about us, particularly. Oh, together. yeah Okay, yes, yeah. And we went to go see Diddy and the Family, which was a show.
00:19:22
Speaker
Yes. And we went to go see Bone Thugs. Yes, yes. which was a show. And I've personally seen Busta Rhymes in person, and that is also a show. But yes, I get it. When No Limit is doing a concert, this is a bunch of dudes on stage in fatigue, screaming and yelling.
00:19:40
Speaker
But I mean, no, I mean, there's typically not like a whole stage production, like a story being told through the production. So it's already difficult being a rapper and trying to keep it entertaining.
00:19:57
Speaker
And then he kept the cameos to a minimum. I think people were expecting a whole lot more cameos. You only had one, right? Yeah, we just had... We got SZA, which was phenomenal. But I thought... let me tell you, I was at a Super Bowl party, so it was me in a room with ah with a a handful of people, and when it was over, we were stunned into silence.
00:20:22
Speaker
But... but it It was entertaining and I've watched it again several times since then because you know there's always little things that you miss and and stuff like that. And I just thought it was great. I thought it was great from start to finish. So it's definitely not Beyonce. It's not like Rihanna who had like 200 people up on platforms in the sky and stuff like that.
00:20:51
Speaker
Like I said, you know, ah rapper is not... an entertainer in that way but Kendrick still I felt gave us a story he gave us like visuals for sure but he there was a narrative there like it it was a full production even down to the camera angles and everything it was a full production and I thought he did a great job Okay, so let's break it down because a lot of people that were watching it, they're just like they just wanted him to perform songs and don't realize the layered symbolism that was going on throughout this entire production.
00:21:29
Speaker
yeah the The layered ah symbolism, just to to hit the points that we're going to talk about, was the set design. You know, Sam Jackson and Serena Williams cameos, his attire, the formation that conveyed certain narratives, talking about the racial divides and reflecting on Lamar's personal artistic journey through hip hop. All of these were touched on during this performance. So let's first talk about Samuel Jackson as Uncle Sam.
00:21:58
Speaker
He was a critique of control. Jackson's sanitized Uncle Sam narrative symbolized society's attempt to police Black artistry.
00:22:09
Speaker
His two ghetto remarks highlighted mainstream's marginalization of Black expression. Now, we get this all the time, that people being ghetto. I had somebody that was...
00:22:21
Speaker
that told me about the Denny documentary that we're going to talk about on YouTube exclusive, but not to talk about the show, but said that they couldn't understand what the people were saying and that it wasn't in their world.
00:22:32
Speaker
Essentially what they were saying was, Their speech was ghetto. And I was like, you mean AVE? Which is nothing different than people with Southern accents who don't speak proper American English, right?
00:22:46
Speaker
But for, let's say, white Southerners, accent or the way they speak is accepted. Their expression is accepted. But when black people express themselves through hair, clothing or speech, dialect, things of that nature, it's deemed as ghetto, which is yeah essentially saying less than.
00:23:07
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, oh, go ahead. So he was just addressing that. Samuel L. Jackson was addressing that specifically as Uncle Sam. Yeah, he he kind of, for me, symbolized the the voice of like America where we're at right now, like right in this moment.
00:23:29
Speaker
And I think it was really smart of Kendrick because you know the Super Bowl was played to a global audience. There are a lot of people who don't know Kendrick's catalog. They were only introduced to him due to the rap beef with Drake.
00:23:44
Speaker
Other than that, they they hadn't heard you know probably hadn't heard of Kendrick before and certainly hadn't listened to his music and got a ah real understanding of who he was as an artist.
00:23:55
Speaker
But i think I think the use of of Samuel Jackson as Uncle Sam And saying, you know, give the people what they what they want. You know, don't don't give them this. This is too black. It's too ghetto.
00:24:08
Speaker
And Kendrick opening it up and opening this performance by saying, you, the revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy. And I just thought that that was...
00:24:20
Speaker
that set the tone for me of like oh this is this is the black history month moment i've been waiting for the only one the only one usually beyonce gives us a black history month moment i've been waiting for it she did announce the cowboy carter concert tour but you know but this gave me what i was looking for and i thought he was really smart about being like what is middle america gonna think of me a rapper that they probably haven't heard of before, you know, the Drake beef, what are they going to see when they see me?
00:24:59
Speaker
They're going to too Compton, too ghetto, you know? Let them know that I know that they see me like that. And now I'm about to tell you a story about it.
00:25:12
Speaker
And I thought it was very smart. Yeah, no, it was definitely very smart. And it like Kendrick always has a meaning in everything he's doing. Always has a meaning. And you say people were introduced to him to the rap beat. I guarantee you the majority of the people that are watching this don't even know about the rap beat.
00:25:31
Speaker
Like when you talk about middle America, they are completely... blind to everything that's going on that's in our culture. They don't care to know. They don't want to know. right or Or it's not being presented to them.
00:25:44
Speaker
that that There's also that as well. It's not being presented. So you don't know where to go to find out about something If you don't know where to start. Right. Sometimes, you know, that's our responsibility be like, if you want to know about Kendrick, like if you have questions about the Super Bowl performance, if you want to be enlightened and open minded, we say, OK, start here, start here. this is the reason why we're having to accept this segment to break it down and explain to people that the hidden meaning behind not hidden the in your face meaning. But maybe the meanings that you didn't understand that he was presenting during this performance.
00:26:19
Speaker
Mm hmm. Another one was the American flag. yeah And it specifically focused on division and labor. Dancers forming the flag underscored racial-political divides.
00:26:31
Speaker
Kendrick Lamar's central stands representing a fragmentation. All Black dancers hit it at America's foundation on African-American labor. So that's that's really...
00:26:43
Speaker
ah an important point. Yeah. You know, so often that you would hear when I would talk about, you know, in the, in the mid two thousands, right.
00:26:54
Speaker
That being college or I was in a restaurant industry and I would talk about, you know, slavery and things like that nature and jim crow and things like that nature nobody ever said it directly to my face but you could tell like if social media was a thing people would say don't you go back to africa because that has actually been a thing that people have said first of all i don't have no connection i have no connection to africa no okay except for my history that and i can't really tell you from what region right because that's all been erased yeah but also like why am i going to leave the home that i built yeah
00:27:28
Speaker
We built this. It was built on the back. America would not have succeeded had it not been for black people. And he was specifically pointing that out like you, all you try to marginalize us often and look past us, but realize that without us, there is no America.
00:27:47
Speaker
And I thought that was really important. I mean, he built a ah flag literally with black bodies. I don't, and that that's very on the nose.
00:27:58
Speaker
A symbolism there of like, you can try to erase our history from the books and erase us from the workplace and, and,
00:28:10
Speaker
the and disenfranchise us and everything all of those things right repeal affirmative action but and shut down dei programs and initiatives and all of those things right you can do all of that but what you don't understand is that blackness and black culture is inextricably linked to the american story and it cannot be separated out and it cannot be erased because not only are we American history, we're American present and I'm sorry, but we're American future. Like it doesn't, it doesn't, we're not going anywhere.
00:28:46
Speaker
We're not going anywhere. And that's what, to me, all of that All of that meant that symbolism is like, no, this you need to understand the way we understand that this is a country built on black bodies and we're not going to erase or suppress that history.
00:29:08
Speaker
also love the connection that he's doing this at the Super Bowl because the entertainment that you're watching during this game. majority black bodies. Literally, you're watching them crash into each other.
00:29:23
Speaker
yeah ah don't Don't get me wrong. this is They love the game, right? And they're yeah being paid for it. So this isnt this isn't by any means something that they're forced to do, but your entertainment Literally, as Kendrick Lamar is performing at Super Bowl halftime show, you're waiting for it to end because you don't want to really pay attention to the meaning of his performance. but You're still going to turn around at the end of this halftime show and watch the second half of black bodies entertaining you.
00:29:52
Speaker
So there's also another hidden meaning in there with that that I thought was really clever. There's also the video game motifs, right? And some people like this went over my head a little bit.
00:30:03
Speaker
But then when I zoomed out and they did a lot of zooming out to watch the the setup, what is not the storyboard, but the stage, the stage, everything was built like a video game controller. And at the end,
00:30:15
Speaker
At the end, in the crowd, he had game over, which signified a couple of different things. One, it was Kenny Romero's rise through their American dream. And also, the end of this Drake rivalry, because i said it on my show that that released on Friday, that...
00:30:32
Speaker
It's at a point now where Drake just got to fight him. Like, you got to fight now. You yeah got to fight because he came out would not like us and said some stuff. But we're not going to talk about that just yet. but But the video game routine, I thought that was cool because really what the kids is really about right now.
00:30:48
Speaker
Video games. You got these streamers on Twitch that's killing them. You even want to do something like that. And you ain't even young. Yeah, okay.
00:30:59
Speaker
Yeah, so the video game motif and Sam actually says this is the great American game, right? And so it's not just, we're not just talking about, it's like a dual meaning there.
00:31:15
Speaker
Yes, football, great american the great American game, but also the game that America plays with us. um and And as soon as I saw I was like, oh all boy, we about to get into it. and And he really like played into that.
00:31:36
Speaker
Not only that, but like I don't know if you noticed that the a lot of the the performance area looked like a prison yard.
00:31:48
Speaker
I did not notice that. But now as i as you say that to me, yes, I see that. Yeah. So, I mean, that's that's also part of it, right? Like this great American game, the game that America plays with its people in terms of, you know, I read a ah really great article on The Root, a complete breakdown of the symbolism on this halftime show. And it's the game that America plays, you know, with capitalism, with the prison industrial complex, with disenfranchisement, with the things you're seeing our current administration doing.
00:32:22
Speaker
So it's playing into both of that, right? Yeah, you're watching great American game, it's the Super Bowl, but there's also another game that's happening and it's happening to you. And now you're seeing, like I said earlier, you're seeing the result of your actions. This is FAFO.
00:32:46
Speaker
And if y'all don't know what FAFO is, look it up, FAFO.
00:32:52
Speaker
but that's But that's cool because I know in and Kendrick's earlier performances, I don't know if it was a Grammys, it might have been a Grammys years ago where he was performing. There was some award show where he was performing and he literally came out in Chain Gang and it shook up.
00:33:08
Speaker
yeah I think it was the Grammys and it shook up everybody. He was trying to point out, hey, look, when you privatize the prison system, it becomes an incentive to have prisoners.
00:33:20
Speaker
Yeah. And what ends up happening is policing is done in poor neighborhoods that are disproportionately people of color. Yeah. And they populate the prison system. It's not like people of color are predispositioned to crime.
00:33:38
Speaker
No. No. No, that's not what it is. Even though that's the myth that you want to have. That's the narrative. Yeah, that's the narrative that you want to have. That's that's not what it is. ah But it is a quote unquote pipeline from the poor areas to the prisons.
00:33:56
Speaker
And that was cool. I didn't i didn't really i didn't notice that, but now that you bring that up, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I see that. Yeah. All right. There's also his attire and other references, his lyricism and this. So he had Gloria on his jacket and that's tied to his album themes of artistic power.
00:34:16
Speaker
A necklace symbolizing either authenticity, ambition, or probably just ah another disc to drink with a lowercase a in the A minor.
00:34:27
Speaker
Yeah, guys, and there's a lot of theories going around about that chain. Somebody said that it's the alpha symbol for alpha and omega. It's not. that that That symbol is that's very different.
00:34:41
Speaker
Yeah. It's another thing that I've heard. it's ah It's a lowercase a. It's a small a. It is an a minor. like this' That's what the chain is.
00:34:56
Speaker
he is killer drake he is killer drake and and boy spent a pretty penny on that it was very very blinged out like yes but that is sorry guys like that lowercase a represents a minor yeah there's nothing they can also but also could also authenticity and ambition and all that stuff Yeah, probably not. It's probably a a minor chain.
00:35:24
Speaker
He is super petty. And another way that he was petty was Serena Williams' appearance. Now, this is a two-fold thing, right? Because Serena used to date Drake. Used to date Drake, okay?
00:35:35
Speaker
But also, she was doing a crip walk. yeah Here in this performance of the Super Bowl, one of the most viewed events in the world, but she was also criticized back in 2012 for doing the Crip Walk at one of the tennis performances. Tennis matches, yes. have been Wimbledon. It could have been the French Open there at anything like that. She said she didn't do it at Wimbledon. She would have got fined for that. I don't know what tennis match it was, but it was not Wimbledon.
00:36:05
Speaker
um But basically... She posted a little video after the halftime show. Okay. And yes. i um Serena is forever that girl. So, yeah.
00:36:17
Speaker
But I thought it was dope because it was also Drake. I mean, not Drake. Kendrick is just taking so many double entendres to to the things that he's doing. Yes. yeah He's giving Serena a platform and showing, you know she's doing a dance.
00:36:32
Speaker
She was judged prior to doing this j doing this dance. And that's racially motivated because other people could do a dance and celebrate and it's not that big of deal. She does a dance. And then all of a sudden it's it's a big deal. And it's because she's a black woman. And then also i got Drake's ex-girlfriend.
00:36:50
Speaker
Yeah. A Compton native. Right. Right. Crip walking very much in the American culture, ah very much of the black culture.
00:37:00
Speaker
Another shot or dig at Drake. being Canadian. So like, it is is, you know, the whole, the whole, I mean, you can even say the symbolism of the American flag and everybody being in red, white, and blue could also be like another day at Drake because Kendrick has said in no uncertain terms that he considers Drake
00:37:31
Speaker
a colonizer of of Black American culture. So a lot a lot of double meaning. You know, Kendrick loves a double entendre. Loves him. Loves it. So a lot of hidden meaning there. But great, great performance. There was a lot there was a lot of stuff in there. I i love there's there's this moment where he's rapping in front of a bunch of guys that look like they're just guys on the corner, right? Mm-hmm.
00:37:57
Speaker
And... It's just another kind of like this symbol of blackness, right of the guys on the corner. Back in the day, used to be doo-wop, and then in the 80s and 90s, it was rap but the cyphers. It's this stuff, but it's very much a part of our culture, those guys on the corner. right so like it was just so much It was so much. you got You have to watch it more than once to get everything that he was doing, everything that he was saying.
00:38:28
Speaker
His 40 acres and a mule reference. All right. So for those people that don't understand what the 40 acres and mules is, there was a proposal that once the slaves were free, they would be given land and things to help with that land. 40 acres and a mule. It was a promise yeah to not just...
00:38:48
Speaker
kick people out of homes and and give them an opportunity right to succeed. It was never fulfilled. So he represented, he said that to represent the black economic, the unfulfilled promises of black economic justice, framing his music as a part of a broader struggle because are economic, our movement into economic wealth,
00:39:16
Speaker
has been done through various means, but a lot of times is through entertainment. Right. And that's because we were deprived so long from advancing in an education and getting jobs.
00:39:30
Speaker
Yeah. So, Part of it was, hey, we had to entertain you. And even then, the gatekeepers were saying, you can entertain, but you can't entertain. You can do this, but you can't do this. You can go to this club, but not this club. Right. You can perform at this club, but you can't eat here. Like, right? Exactly. You can't come in through the front door. You know, stuff like that. Yeah.
00:39:51
Speaker
so So it was, you know, he's pointing out. He's pointing out how, look, there have been economic hardships. Yeah. And y'all, we don't put this right in your face so you can see it.
00:40:05
Speaker
And once again, for those people who were like, I didn't like it, yeah you either didn't like it because you didn't want to hear any political meaning. Or you didn't like it because you just don't like Kendrick.
00:40:19
Speaker
Those are the only two options, yeah I believe. There were definitely, at the Super Bowl party I was at, there were definitely some hardcore Drake stans there who spent the time in the kitchen not watching the halftime performance. They were not into it.
00:40:34
Speaker
So it can it can also be that. um But, you know, I don't know. I think if you know anything ah about Kendrick Lamar and his body of work, I don't think you should be surprised.
00:40:48
Speaker
And just how black his show was. And that is gonna, it's gonna have some social commentary. It's gonna have some political commentary. Because if you watch any of his performances, they typically do.
00:41:02
Speaker
And this time is no different. and And honestly, shout out to the
Kendrick-Drake Rivalry
00:41:05
Speaker
NFL for being like, do it. Well, yeah maybe. OK, yeah. They also took out the end racism out of the out of the end zones that they had been having, you know, for the last couple of years because the president was there.
00:41:21
Speaker
You don't want to see that. So I'm not giving the NFL too much credit, but also. Last but not least. And Kendrick is so petty. Because, of course, he did not like us.
00:41:34
Speaker
And there were some legal things he skipped calling him a pedophile. Well, yeah, I mean, you just can't do that on national global television. That's just you can't.
00:41:46
Speaker
yeah i I can foresee the censors being like, you got to cut that. But also, He looked dead in the camera and he said, Drake.
00:41:58
Speaker
Yeah. i heard you like them young. mess stop but
00:42:03
Speaker
Yes.
00:42:05
Speaker
And honestly, there is a like screenshot of him looking directly in the camera saying, say Drake, that lo like devilish smile he has on his face. And the caption is, if I send you this, just know I'm going to it anyway.
00:42:19
Speaker
and And I'm like, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Not only did I not think he was going to do it, after that after the Grammys, I was like, okay, he's going to do it. But But I was still like, how? How can he do it? He did you know change some of the lyrics. had yeah He had to you know just to make the song appropriate for that venue.
00:42:43
Speaker
But I mean, just him like in in the round and the camera following him around this circle. and he's it's just It looks like it's like all of Compton behind him, right? like And he's just walking around and looking dead in the camera. Say Dre.
00:43:00
Speaker
And it was just- That grin- That grin was like- Oh my God. Like i i I, was shook. Like, and I don't get, I don't get shook, but I was shook a little bit. Like I could not believe that he looked right in that camera and said, I heard you like him young.
00:43:24
Speaker
And when he got to a minor and the whole stadium erupted in unison To scream out a minor... ah Like, you can't...
00:43:44
Speaker
Drake, Drake, baby, just go sit down somewhere. Okay. Like just, you'll be fine. At the end of the day, you're a superstar.
00:43:55
Speaker
You'll be fine. You're a superstar who makes good music that people love. 15 summers. 15 summers of jams. Yes. You are a musical genius. You will come out with more hits and people will eventually forget about this. Yes.
00:44:12
Speaker
Yes. But for now, you know, the lawsuits didn't help. Didn't help. um Did not help at all. And honestly, you can't accuse streaming platforms of like pushing his stuff for Paola when he's in that Super Bowl stadium in New Orleans and the entire crowd is screaming A-Biter. Like that moment, I'd have been sliding down the wall crying, snotting.
00:44:44
Speaker
ah yeah that I said you got to fight because at that point, you know, us and our family, our dad taught us about the dozens.
Villains in Media and Society
00:44:54
Speaker
Yeah. He taught us.
00:44:56
Speaker
Get to a point. Hit him. Hit him hard so that they get off of you. Yes. And so I said, hey, he's got to find some real dirt on Kendrick and do the thing that nobody else is going to say.
00:45:07
Speaker
What? He got to fight. He got to see him in the street. And that's the only way you come back from this. I mean, it's just that that frame of him.
00:45:18
Speaker
It's them flare jeans. it the And it's just... And then when he says, say Drake, everybody in the background goes like... like It just... He's petty. He ain't petty anyone. It's game over. anyone Now, he's absolutely the villain in Drake's story.
00:45:40
Speaker
But is he the villain?
00:45:44
Speaker
Good question. We're going to get into the idea of villains and their place in our current society. And we're going to do that next.
00:46:05
Speaker
So, Jay, I think you finished watching it. Did you finish watching the series The Penguin? I didn't finish it, no. But I got pretty far into it. Very good show. Yes.
00:46:16
Speaker
And you all you as you're watching the show, you're kind of rooting for him to succeed, even though he's this really despicable person. e You know he's a villain. I mean, he's the Batman main villain.
00:46:29
Speaker
yeah And this isn't a new thing, right? Like, when you look at the the history of cinema, you always kind of root for the villain. Your favorite character and your favorite villain... of all is the Joker, right?
00:46:41
Speaker
And the movie, the Joker, I still haven't seen the musical, but the movie, the Joker was a hit. ah Other villains, whether people want to realize it or not, Scarface is a villain.
00:46:52
Speaker
Yeah. Nino Brown is a villain. Villain. ah Michael Corleone is a villain. even the Murderous villains. Right. Even Vito Corleone is a villain.
00:47:05
Speaker
And so there was a article written by Christine Chubba in The Hollywood Reporter. And the article was titled Vince Gilligan calls for writers to cut back on villain stories among current political climate.
00:47:21
Speaker
He's a screenwriter that you said he's been part of Breaking Bad and community kind of stuff that he's written. Better Call Saul. Better Call Saul. He kind of specializes in framing villains as kind of heroes when you think about it.
00:47:38
Speaker
Because Breaking Bad, like he's a drug dealer. Yes. That kills people. Better Call Saul is a shady judge. I mean, shady lawyer. So he asked, he called for writers to reduce the focus on villain stories, suggesting they have become overly inspirational in our current political environment.
00:47:56
Speaker
He says a villain story is his advocate. He's advocating for fewer stories that focus on villains because they're becoming aspirational. And I made the connection on the last show that Elon Musk is a real life Lex Luthor.
00:48:11
Speaker
I've seen this storyline of of exactly what he's doing with our current president, Donald Trump, in season four, a Supergirl with Lex Luthor take control of the White House by manipulating the president, causing a division in America from aliens to humans, saying that aliens are taking jobs and things of that nature.
00:48:33
Speaker
So... i've I've seen it before. And Elon Musk in in certain circles are being celebrated. So yes, villains are becoming aspirational because we got a villain.
00:48:45
Speaker
We have a real life villain that's in the White House right next to the president. So I thought this was interesting. Because, yeah, very Superman.
00:48:57
Speaker
the The movie Superman is is coming out. And i don't know people are as excited for Superman as they were to see Robert Downey Jr. as Doctor Doom in the upcoming Avengers movie.
00:49:12
Speaker
Right. Yeah, I mean, so here's why I think I get where he's coming from. Here's why i think his perspective is stupid.
00:49:26
Speaker
The villains that, let's say, for example, our current administration seem to be trying to emulate are real life ones.
00:49:40
Speaker
I don't think he's trying to emulate anybody that he saw on TV. Trump is trying to emulate real people who really existed and were real villains.
00:49:53
Speaker
And there's no amount of writing them out of TV and movies that's going to erase that history that does in fact exist. And villains are real. They're not fictional. They're real.
00:50:06
Speaker
And there are people who fit that bill. And and i it just isn't going... I don't think it's going to move the needle for us to stop writing villain stories.
00:50:18
Speaker
I think... I think what's important about villain stories is the origin and the psychology behind how they became who they became.
00:50:32
Speaker
And we need to know that and we need to be able to recognize the signs when we see it. And even though we all recognize the signs when we saw it during the election, y'all still, I'm not going get into that. But um but like there are, the he's he's emulating real people.
00:50:53
Speaker
he's He's not he's not modeling himself after the Joker or the penguin or anything. That's that's not. And so I don't think it's going to move the needle at all.
00:51:06
Speaker
I think he's right. Mr. Mark, I don't think i don't think villain villain stories on television and media are directly influenced in political climate.
00:51:17
Speaker
But villain stories absolutely influence society. yeah People watch Scarface and want to become a drug dealer. People watch Sopranos or Godfather. Like the Godfather has been labeled in the American mafia as kind of this...
00:51:35
Speaker
book to model yourself at. It influenced some Italian Americans to enter in the mafia. Nino Brown and New Jack City influenced some people to sell drugs.
00:51:46
Speaker
Breaking Bad, Snowfall, all this stuff influences some people to to start their own villain story.
Psychological Appeal of Villains
00:51:55
Speaker
And and and in that aspect, yes, he I think he is right. We need to write more stories of heroes.
00:52:04
Speaker
The only problem is is this. Everybody loves the bad guy. It's the reason why me and you argue about women all the time and how I say women love the bad boy. They love the bad boy.
00:52:16
Speaker
And you're like, no, they don't. I'm like, yes, they do, because it's excitement. And they think they can change them. And there's typically charisma. Always. There's typically, you know, charm, gift of gab, things like that. The point is, like the reason why, you know, a guy like Ted Bundy was as prolific as he was is because he was attractive and charming. Well, I didn't think he was, but some, the people who stopped to help him did. So like,
00:52:45
Speaker
Yeah, there's always going to be a little bit of that in it, and so you're going to have people ah attracted to villains. But i think I think people identify with villains in in in terms of their origin story. I think people always are looking for be to be included. Mm-hmm.
00:53:09
Speaker
Right. As a like a member of society to be seen, not to be ignored, not to be pushed aside, not to be marginalized. And to see people that are from maybe a marginalized community taking control of their own destiny and future, and even though it's by illegal means or immoral means or both.
00:53:31
Speaker
You know, it's it's what if the American dream that was sold is that you pull yourself up by your bootstraps and it and accomplish something. And you see people doing that. It's your local drug dealer, but you see him doing that.
00:53:44
Speaker
You know what I'm saying? So I get like, is he pulled himself by aibance ah he pulled himself up by his Timberlands and that and and and and became who he became. But it's like, you see that. And yes, it's aspirational when you're in a position where you don't see anything else.
00:54:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think we should have more heroes and more characters with positive traits and moral integrity and all of that. I definitely believe that, but you got to write them so that they're real and that people identify with them. Like people identify with their struggles, their're their growth, the way they overcome and things like that. That's why...
00:54:26
Speaker
People gravitate towards chourist villains, especially when you think about, like you said, like mob movies, right? When you look at somebody like Nino Brown, you know, and you're like, this is a guy from where I'm from, but look at look at everything that he has.
00:54:40
Speaker
How do I get some of that? Oh, I've got to be immoral? are You know, you know what I'm saying? Like, okay, well, what does that even mean?
00:54:52
Speaker
in the kind What does your morality mean in the context of our society writ large, right? Like, what is it paying your bills? So I get it. Like I say, he's not wrong, but i I just think that there are enough real life villains for people to find aspirational that I don't know that it's really going to move the needle to to not write them anymore.
00:55:16
Speaker
Yeah, because... ah There's a reason why our president Donald Trump, who is a villain, has a following and Elon Musk, who is a villain, has a following. You know, they a lot of times villains have the power and power seductive and attractors. And yeah, people are going to want that. Hell, I want some power. I want the glow hands.
00:55:37
Speaker
Yes, yes, you've mentioned that. Yeah, I've mentioned it several know one yeah And you know what? I like villain stories. I watch them. I'm not influenced by them. I watched the Penguin, and I was like, i don't ever want to be this guy.
00:55:51
Speaker
I want to be Superman. I don't necessarily want to be. I think also some of the heroes are written as villains as well. Batman, to me, is a villain. yeah He's a vigilante. He definitely takes the law into his own hands. He's guided by his own moral code. It's not like you you got to kind of, you know, question that. It's the same issue I had with the glow hands. Like he is the one determining what is right and what is wrong. Yeah, but I'm more righteous than Batman. So that makes sense for me to have glow hands.
00:56:21
Speaker
Yeah. i Batman should have got therapy. Yes. Batman is a prime example of somebody who should have got therapy. Very, very early, like literally right when his parents were murdered, Alfred should have put him in therapy. He should have been in there.
00:56:39
Speaker
i would say, you know, starting off once a week and then we could move to every two weeks and see what happens. But definitely should have been in therapy. Especially considering the fact that they were murdered right in front of him.
00:56:50
Speaker
Like, he saw them die. He held their hands and they took their last breath. I mean, that's that's a triggering, traumatic thing. And that's the reason why he goes into the communities of the lower income and beats the hell out of everybody.
00:57:02
Speaker
Yes. Yes. Somebody got to do something about him. Somebody got to do something. tell you who else is also a superhero, but is also a villain. That's your boy. Who's that?
00:57:14
Speaker
Deadpool. Deadpool. yeah not kill Not a good guy. and he And he's fully aware that, like he said before, one of his movies, you know, like his his morality is on like a sliding scale. Right. Like it he he is he has said that before. So he is fully aware that he is not the hero. He is the anti hero, because even in the moments where he is heroic is still for selfish reasons.
00:57:41
Speaker
yeah Like, is he trying to save the world? Is he trying to save his friends? Yeah, that's true. the world is being saved, ah you know, as a consequence of that. So, like, yeah, that that I wouldn't consider him a hero. I barely consider him an anti-hero.
00:57:59
Speaker
So, basically, this whole segment, we basically call Vince Gilligan a hypocrite because he built his damn career off of writing and making villains aspirational. And now, all of a sudden, he's trying to say to everybody else, we can stop doing this.
00:58:14
Speaker
Well, he he in the article, he talks about like his philosophy of storytelling, right? but He's always emphasized that actions have consequences and design, like Breaking Bad, for example, where the protagonist turns into the antagonist that is supposed to challenge moral perceptions, right? But like you could also say...
00:58:40
Speaker
that you made a villain aspirational. yep That's what I was saying. When read the article, i was like, yeah okay. yeah yeah Alright, Jay, what do you want sell to tell the people out there?
00:58:54
Speaker
Man, they not like us.
00:58:57
Speaker
They just not. who is Who is they? they i Honestly, I'm going to say Elon Musk. He ain't like us. That's a colonizer too. He's absolutely a colonizer.
00:59:15
Speaker
Thank you for watching. And until next time, as always, halloween freedom over here stays the
00:59:27
Speaker
on that note ladies and
00:59:40
Speaker
That was a hell of a show. Thank you for rocking with us here on Unsolicited Perspectives with Bruce Anthony. Now, before you go, don't forget to follow, subscribe, like, comment, and share our podcast wherever you're listening or watching it to it. Pass it along to your friends. If you enjoy it, that means the people that you rock will will enjoy it also.
00:59:59
Speaker
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01:00:39
Speaker
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01:01:06
Speaker
Peace.