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Yes, you read that right.
Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime show was hands down one of the Blackest moments of 2025. In just 13 minutes, he flipped Gil Scott-Heron’s The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, seemingly took aim at Trump, and delivered a powerful American story—all while throwing lyrical haymakers at Drake.
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The Black Pride and Political Messaging
Let’s start with the deeper themes. The entire performance felt like a message to Drake, but it also paid homage to Spike Lee’s Bamboozled. Samuel L. Jackson, playing the role of Uncle Sam, wasn’t just a jab at Drake and the industry—it was also a shot at the executives and critics who wanted Kendrick to dial down his relentless lyrical assault on Drizzy. It even took aim at those who dismissed Lamar as doing Civil Rights Rap—as if calling out injustice is a bad thing.
Jackson’s narration made that clear when he introduced Lamar saying, “It’s your Uncle…Sam, and this is the great American game.” The line exposed how America polices Black artistic expression, punctuated by Jackson’s follow-up: “Too ghetto”—right before his mic was cut.
The symbolism didn’t stop there. The American flag served as a double entendre: a reminder that the country was built on the backs of enslaved Black people, but also a critique of how racism continues to divide. Lamar’s dancers even wore outfits reminiscent of The Mau Maus, the militant culture purists in the film Bamboozled, underscoring his message about protecting Black culture from exploitation.
Then came the “Not Like Us” moment. Looking his dancers dead in the eye, Lamar declared: “This is bigger than the music.” Highlighting the phrase—40 acres and a mule—refers to the unfulfilled reparations promise from 1865, a theme Lamar has touched on before in To Pimp a Butterfly. In the song “Wesley’s Theory,” he rapped about the illusion of prosperity for Black Americans: “What, you want you a house or a car? / Forty acres and a mule, a piano, a guitar?” By bringing it to the Super Bowl stage, he made it clear: the fight for equity isn’t over—especially in his home state of California, where reparations debates are ongoing—hence the sign in the crowd saying “wrong way” because he was speaking up in a sanitized forum.
WARNING WRONG WAY! Nothing but respect for Kendrick 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/hnxCXlIr8C
— ECP408 (@ecp408) February 10, 2025
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The Direct Shots at Drake
Now Let’s discuss the direct jabs at Drake.
During the performance, Lamar teased the crowd with the possibility of performing his Drake diss and L.A. anthem, “Not Like Us.”
“I want to play their favorite song, but you know they love to sue,” he quipped, referencing Drake’s defamation lawsuit. As the beat dropped, Lamar flashed a sly smile and rapped, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ‘em young,” before letting the audience complete the lawsuit-inspiring line—”certified pedophile.” The litigious remark comes after Drake took his issues with “Not Like Us” to court, in January filing a federal lawsuit against Universal Music Group over the diss track that accuses him of being a pedophile, allegedly.
Midway through, Lamar locked eyes with the camera and dropped another bombshell: “They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.” The line was widely seen as a response to Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group, which accuses the label of helping spread the allegations fueling “Not Like Us.” With that one line, Lamar dismissed both the lawsuit and any industry attempts to undermine his influence.
The Subtle (and Not-So-Subtle) Jabs
Despite its deep cultural messaging, Lamar’s performance was full of layered shots, including the set designed as a giant PlayStation controller—pointing to Sony, the parent company of Drake’s label, OVO as he was literally controlling the narrative while fueling conspiracy theories about hidden messages.
And then there was Serena Williams. The tennis legend hit the C-walk on the X button to “Not Like Us”—a callback to the backlash she faced for using the dance to celebrate her Olympic gold medal win in 2012. This wasn’t just shade at Drake, but also a broader message about respectability politics and Black joy being policed.
Lamar closed with an electrifying performance of “tv off” with DJ Mustard, bringing the show full circle. The track’s message? Stop getting distracted—wake up to reality. And, of course, it doubled as a parting shot at Drake and J. Cole’s “First Person Shooter,” proving once again that Lamar plays the biggest game of all.
The Bigger Picture
Before the big night, Lamar told Apple Music that his performance would be culturally significant and an evolution of everything he’s done before. He wasn’t lying. The internet is still dissecting every line, every symbol, every move. But as Jay-Z said back in 2001, “You fools don’t listen to music, you just skim through it.”
Kendrick wasn’t just putting on a show. He was making history.
—
*Respectfully.
Cardi B was already not a huge fan of Donald Trump, but after the President became the first sitting commander in chief to attend a Super Bowl on Sunday (Feb. 9) the “WAP” rapper said he’s definitely on her nope list. Explore Explore See latest videos, charts and news See latest videos, charts and news […]
Live Nation has inked a first of its kind sponsorship with Athletic Brewing Company, America’s largest non-alcoholic brewer, for the concert promoter’s large portfolio of venues and marquee festivals including BottleRock in Napa, California and the famed Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn.
Under the terms of the three-year agreement, Athletic Brewing will serve as the official non-alcoholic beer for the company’s more than 100 venues, including the Wiltern in Los Angeles, the Paramount in Brooklyn and the Gorge Amphitheater, along with a handful of Live Nation festivals
“It’s a new category for beer — there’s domestic, import, craft and now you’ve got non-alcoholic. Our customers want that option and we know plenty of our fans will be choosing something in the non-alcoholic space, which is why we did this deal,” said Jon Landa, svp of national sales at Live Nation. “We’re seeing it across our markets, with health conscious people trying to enjoy other options. It doesn’t mean that it’s all they’re drinking, but it gives those fans a choice at a show or a festival, depending on how they want to start or finish their day.”
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Alcohol sales have slowed in recent years as Generation Z (those born between 1997 and 2012) turns 21 and begins attending concerts — club owner David Slutes with Congress Club in Tuscon, Arizona, told Billboard in 2023 that concerts catering to a younger Gen Z audience saw a 25% dip in alcohol sales compared to those targeting older demographics. The decline — blamed in part on the growing prevalence of cannabis edible products and healthier attitudes about mental and physical well-being — could have a significant impact on a concert venue’s revenue stream.
Since late 2023, Live Nation has worked to diversify the revenue it generates at its bars and restaurants by introducing non-alcoholic options like mocktails. By partnering with the eight-year-old Athletic Brewing Company, Live Nation is teaming up with the country’s fastest-growing non-alcoholic beer maker. Since opening its first brewery in 2018, Athletic has grown to become the 10th largest U.S. craft brewery and 20th largest overall U.S. brewing company, despite only offering nonalcoholic options, according to rankings by the Brewers Association. Athletic holds over 19% market share within nonalcoholic beer and is driving 32% of total nonalcoholic beer category growth, according to NielsenIQ data.
A recent study by Live Nation found that 70% of live music fans saying they want more beverage options at concerts. As part of the agreement, legal drinking age music fans can purchase one of four of Athletic’s most popular brews — Run Wild IPA, Upside Dawn Golden, Free Wave Hazy IPA, and Athletic Lite, with selections varying by venue. While Athletic does offer draft beer options in 30 states, the Live Nation partnership applies only to canned beer drinks.
“There’s a big time intersection between the fan of live music and the fan of Athletic and NA beer,” said Andrew Katz, chief marketing officer at Athletic Brewing Company. “It’s a shared love of live events, a shared love of well being and a shared love of beer. You put those three things together, and it just made sense for us to work together and try and get something done together.”
Charlie Puth has a very urgent message for Ye: STOP. The “Left and Right” singer took to his Instagram Story on Monday (Feb. 10) to implore the artist formerly known as Kanye West to stop selling a t-shirt commemorating the Nazi slaughter of six million Jews.
“@ye The message you are sending out to the world is incredibly dangerous,” wrote Puth. “Please man, I beg you to stop. You are selling a T-shirt with a Swastika on it, and MILLIONS of people are influenced by you. Please I BEG you to stop, PLEASE.”
The call seems unlikely to land with the rapper whose once praised, prodigious skills as a musician and culture mover have been overshadowed, again, by his embrace of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, Nazi symbolism and virulent antisemitic messaging.
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Puth’s plea came after Ye went on a four-day hate spree on X beginning last Friday, in which he posted dozens of all caps screeds every hour that included homophobic, ableist and antisemitic slurs. He capped things off on Sunday night with a Super Bowl commercial for his Yeezy brand that aired in a handful of markets and took fans to a site that at present is selling only one product: a white t-shirt featuring a swastika.
Ye’s promotion of Nazi symbolism drew yet another rebuke from the Anti-Defamation League, which warned that such antisemitic behavior from a person with a large social audience is both dangerous and irresponsible at a time when attacks on Jewish people have been on the rise. “As if we needed further proof of Kanye’s antisemitism, he chose to put a single item for sale on his website — a T-shirt emblazoned with a swastika,” read the group’s statement.
“The swastika is the symbol adopted by Hitler as the primary emblem of the Nazis. It galvanized his followers in the 20th century and continues to threaten and instill fear in those targeted by antisemitism and white supremacy,” the group that works to combat antisemitism and other forms of hate and bigotry continued. “If that wasn’t enough, the T-shirt is labeled on Kanye’s website as ‘HH-01,’ which is code for ‘Heil Hitler.’ Kanye was tweeting vile antisemitism nonstop since last week. There’s no excuse for this kind of behavior. Even worse, Kanye advertised his website during the Super Bowl, amplifying it beyond his already massive social media audience.”
West’s barrage of hate speech included declarations such as “I’m a Nazi” and “I love Hitler,” as well as offensive tweets targeting people with disabilities, Taylor Swift and Super Bowl halftime performer Kendrick Lamar. He also petitioned Donald Trump to free disgraced Bad Boy Records founder Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is in jail without bail awaiting trail in New York on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution charges.
The rapper’s lauding of Nazis and Hitler also drew a rebuke from former Friends star David Schwimmer, who on Saturday implored X owner Musk to ban Ye from the platform. “This is so 2022. We can’t stop a deranged bigot from spewing hate filled, ignorant bile… but we CAN stop giving him a megaphone, Mr. Musk,” the Jewish actor, 58, wrote on Instagram to the world’s richest man, who himself was accused of making a gesture that many said evoked the Nazi straight-arm salute at one of Trump’s inaugural events last month. “Kanye West has 32.7 million followers on your platform, X. That’s twice as many people than the number of Jews in existence. His sick hate speech results in REAL LIFE violence against Jews.”
Ye was booted from X (then still known as Twitter) in October 2022 for antisemitic posts, briefly reinstated in November of that year and then re-suspended that month after posting an image of a swastika intertwined with a Jewish star. Musk reinstated West’s account eight months later. West, who capped off his manic post salvo by sharing uncensored porn clips, appeared to sign off from X on Sunday night, just hours after his Super Bowl ad promoting the swastika shirt aired.
“I’m logging out of Twitter. I appreciate Elon [Musk] for allowing me to vent. It has been very cathartic to use the world as a sounding board,” Ye wrote before the account went offline. At press time it did not appear as if Musk had responded to West shutting down his account and it was still unclear if the move was West’s choice or if the account had been suspended by X; a spokesperson for West had not returned Billboard’s request for comment at press time.
West’s music and fashion empire went into free fall in late 2022 and early 2023 when he went on a series of similar hate-filled, antisemitic rants that included a threat to go “death con [sic] 3″ on Jewish people, as well as repeated praise for Hitler and the parading of the white supremacist phrase “White Lives Matter” on shirts at Paris Fashion Week.
In quick succession, Ye was dropped by the Gap, Adidas, Balenciaga and his agents at CAA and has his social media accounts suspended or revoked in a fallout so complete that the once — and according to him, again — billionaire said in February of last year that he nearly went bankrupt.
Halle Berry, Penélope Cruz, Elle Fanning, Whoopi Goldberg, Scarlett Johansson, John Lithgow, Amy Poehler, June Squibb and Bowen Yang are set to present at the 2025 Oscars on Sunday, March 2, at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT.
Berry, Goldberg and Cruz are past Oscar winners. In 2001, for her role in Monster’s Ball, Berry became the first Black actress to win best actress. She is still the only Black actress to achieve that feat, though Cynthia Erivo, nominated this year for Wicked, could join her. In 1991, for her role in Ghost, Goldberg became only the second Black actress – and the first in 51 years – to win best supporting actress. Zoe Saldaña, nominated this year for Emilia Pérez, could become the 11th Black actress (she is Black and Afro-Latina) to win in that category.
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Cruz won best supporting actress in 2009 for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.
Poehler and Yang both rose to fame on Saturday Night Live, which is enjoying an especially high profile as it celebrates its 50th season. Poehler co-hosted the Golden Globe Awards four times with fellow SNL vet Tina Fey.
Squibb, a best supporting actress nominee in 2014 for Nebraska, is red-hot at age 95, with roles in three 2024 films: Thelma (for which she also served as executive producer), Don’t Tell Mom the Babysitter’s Dead and the animated Inside Out 2.
Last year’s Oscar winners in the four acting categories – Cillian Murphy, Emma Stone, Robert Downey Jr. and Da’Vine Joy Randolph – were announced as presenters last week.
Hosted by Conan O’Brien, the 97th Oscars will be held at the Dolby Theatre at Ovation Hollywood and will air live on ABC and stream live on Hulu. The official live red-carpet show will air at 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
Raj Kapoor and Katy Mullan are executive producers of the 2025 Oscars. Kapoor is also showrunner. He was also one of three executive producers for the Grammy Awards on Feb. 2, along with Ben Winston and Jesse Collins.
BLACKPINK‘s LISA can’t wait for everyone to see her acting debut in the hit HBO series The White Lotus when the third season of the show debuts on Sunday (Feb. 16). The K-pop superstar spoke to Variety about her acting debut and she said that although she had a great time with her cast mates during the shoot in Thailand, it wasn’t a total cakewalk.
“I don’t know what to feel right now. I’m just so excited. I can’t wait for all of you guys to watch this show,” Lisa said at Monday’s (Feb. 10) season 3 premiere at Paramount Studios in Hollywood. “It is my first acting [experience] so I don’t know what to expect on set, but everybody just being so supportive helped me a lot. So thank you, everyone.”
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The upcoming season chronicling another group of pampered vacationers over the course of a tumultuous week will focus on a wealthy businessman and his family, three longtime friends who haven’t hung out in a while and a rough-edged man and his girlfriend will feature newbie Lisa (credited with her full name, Lalisa Manobal) sharing the screen with a number of A-listers, including: Leslie Bibb, Carrie Coon, Walton Goggins, Michelle Monoghan, Parker Posey and returning star Natasha Rothwell.
While Lisa was excited to join bandmates Jennie (The Idol) and Jisoo (The Producers) with her TV acting debut, things did not get off to a great start in her first scene. When director/show creator Mike White yelled “action,” Lisa said she instantly froze up. “I’m so nervous. I was sweating,” she said of her role as resort employee Mook. “I was like, ‘I can’t remember my lines.’ I’m blanked.”
The singer made good use of her time on set to product test her solo songs though, playing them for her cast mates, including her solo hit “Rockstar” before it was officially released. “We’re just sharing what we do. All of them are so supportive,” Lisa said. She recently dropped the new single “Born Again” featuring Doja Cat and RAYE, the four song from her upcoming debut solo album, Alter Ego, which is due out on Feb. 28.
Last week, BLACKPINK teased a 2025 world tour, with dates and venues not yet announced.
As for whether she’ll dip back into acting after her first experience, LISA said she doesn’t have another acting gig set up right now. But when asked what kind of movie she’d like to act in, Lisa thought playing a “badass” in an action movie might work. “Oh yeah,” she said. ” I think so.”
Season 3 of The White Lotus will debut on HBO and stream on Max beginning Sunday (Feb. 16) at 9 p.m. ET, with new episodes dropping weekly.
Billboard is making its way across the pond for an expansion of our THE STAGE at SXSW concert series, this time at SXSW London. The show will feature a performance by two-time Grammy-winning superstar Tems. The event will take place June 5 at the iconic Troxy in Shoreditch, London. “We’re excited to bring one of Billboard’s […]
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Phish are heading out on the road this spring for a handful of West Coast tour dates and if you want to to see the jam band live, you’ll want to act fast. Tickets to the Phish shows are already selling out since they went on sale Feb. 7 on Ticketmaster but there are still ways to score seats — and even a discount — online.
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Hot off their run at Sphere Las Vegas, Phish are set for shows in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and Los Angeles. While Ticketmaster is the official ticketing site for the band’s 2025 tour, there are plenty of good seats available at third-party and resale sites.
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We like StubHub, which has Phish tickets on sale from $73 (as of this writing). StubHub’s “FanProtect Guarantee” ensures valid tickets or your money back. And if your show is canceled and not rescheduled, StubHub will credit you with 120% of the ticket price, or provide the option of a full refund.
Another great place to find Phish tickets online is Vivid Seats. The third-party site also has Phish seats starting from $73, with tickets available for all current tour dates. Bonus: use our exclusive promo code BB30 to take $30 off your purchase at VividSeats.com. You can save on large group orders too, as Vivid Seats’ rewards program gets you your eleventh ticket free (in the form of site credit) when you purchase ten tickets online. See full details here.
The cheapest Phish tickets we’re seeing as of this writing are on SeatGeek, which has stubs from just $69 for the Seattle show. Other shows are similarly priced, starting between $80-$100. SeatGeek is where you can also find discounted tickets when you use our exclusive promo code BILLBOARD10 to save $10 off your purchase at SeatGeek.com. What we like: the site’s search function gives you a more accurate view of where your seats will be in relation to the stage, so you can see your view of the action.
Phish tickets on TicketNetwork start at $113 and the site also has a number of packages available to purchase online. Looking for the best promo code to see Phish? Get $150 off orders of $500+ when you enter the code BILLBOARD150 at checkout, or save $300 off ticket purchases of $1,000+ with promo code BILLBOARD300.
Phish’s 2025 tour kicks off April 18 with a two-night stand at Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena, before making its way to Portland (April 20) and San Francisco (April 22-23). The short run concludes with a three-night return to LA’s Hollywood Bowl, set for April 25-27. As part of the Hollywood Bowl shows, Phish have pledged to donate $300,000 to support relief efforts for communities affected by the recent Southern California wildfires.
Phish released their sixteenth studio album, Evolve, last July.
David Letterman made a surprise cameo on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Feb. 10, interrupting Fallon’s monologue to welcome his longtime musical director Paul Shaffer and The World’s Most Dangerous Band, who are filling in for The Roots during their week of rehearsals for Saturday Night Live’s 50th-anniversary concert.
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Fallon had wrapped up a joke about Super Bowl LIX when Letterman suddenly walked onto the stage, prompting Fallon to shout, “Oh, my God! David Letterman?! My God! What are you doing here?”
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Letterman, unfazed, delivered a classic deadpan response: “Is this the 23rd hour of the Today show?” before turning his attention to Shaffer. “Paul?! What are you doing here?!”
Shaffer, who spent 33 years as Letterman’s bandleader on Late Night with David Letterman (1982-1993) and The Late Show with David Letterman (1993-2015), is stepping into his old late-night groove this week as The Tonight Show’s temporary house band leader.
“You know, it’s a funny story,” Shaffer joked. “You ever taken too much Ambien and then you wake up somewhere with no clue how the hell you got there?”
“Wow. You’ve been reading my diary,” Letterman quipped.
The impromptu reunion quickly escalated into full-on late-night chaos. After Fallon suggested making a Tiktok video together, Letterman joked, “I made an enormous deal with the Chinese government.” When Fallon proposed a “handshake challenge” for the viral moment, Letterman shot it down immediately. “Yeah, that was lame,” he declared. “What I really want to do is hit you in the face with a tortilla.”
That’s exactly what happened next. As the band played along, the two hosts engaged in an all-out tortilla slap battle, with Fallon laughing, “I think you cracked a crown!” Letterman didn’t let up: “We’ll see you in court.”
Shaffer and The World’s Most Dangerous Band will continue their Tonight Show residency through Feb. 14, bringing a throwback flavor to Studio 6B while The Roots prepare for SNL’s milestone special. With Letterman proving he’s always ready to crash a late-night set, the rest of the week could bring even more surprises.
Britton Moore made a lasting impression on The Voice Monday night (Feb. 10), delivering a stunning performance of Coldplay’s “Yellow” during Blind Auditions that earned him a coveted four-chair turn.
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The 21-year-old singer from San Antonio wasted no time winning over coaches Adam Levine, John Legend, Kelsea Ballerini, and Michael Bublé, setting off a heated battle for his talent.
Levine, who was the first to turn his chair just seconds into Moore’s audition, made it clear he saw something special in the young singer. “When I heard you go into your falsetto, I was like, ‘Okay, I need to coach this guy,’” the Maroon 5 frontman told Moore.
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“There’s definitely something in your voice that reminded me a little of how I do it. I just felt an instant connection, and I pushed really early because I thought, ‘Man, this kid’s gonna be special,’ and I was right. You’re amazing, dude!”
Legend was equally impressed, praising Moore for his control. “Singing falsetto is actually really hard in a live setting,” he said. “I always tell my artists, ‘Your falsetto will betray you when you need it most.’ And it did not betray you, and you sounded so effortless and you really took some creative leaps.”
“I think nobody sounds like you on the show, and that will be exciting. And it would be so fun to coach you.”
Ballerini, in her first season as a coach, said, “Can I call you Britt? Perfect. We go way back. You’re from Texas, I’m from Tennessee. Similar. You’re 21, I respect my elders.” She also played a snippet of her song “Dibs” via a button on her chair, attempting to secure Moore for her team.
In the end, Moore chose Team Adam, marking Levine’s second four-chair turn victory of the season. “Almost half my team is four-chair turns,” Levine remarked backstage.
Moore’s song choice was no small feat—“Yellow” served as the Stateside lead single for Parachutes, the band’s landmark Grammy-winning debut studio album (it won Best Alternative Music Album at the 2002 awards show). On the Billboard Hot 100, “Yellow” climbed to No. 48, while Parachutes reached No. 51.
Watch Moore’s performance below.