Super Bowl halftime: Kendrick Lamar brings out Serena Williams, SZA

Fresh off numerous Grammy wins, Kendrick Lamar headlined the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show — with SZA as a special guest — on Feb. 9, 2025.

Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

Lamar put an exclamation point on another historic moment in rap's evolution as the Grammy- and Pulitzer-winning rapper took music's biggest stage at Super Bowl 59 for a halftime performance that defied conventions, dazzled with metaphoric wordplay and jabbed the ears of those who scowled at the idea of a rapper headlining solo.

Mark J. Rebilas, Imagn Images

With Samuel L. Jackson, clad in a full Uncle Sam outfit and top hat, acting as a moderator (or perhaps part of Lamar’s brain), the rapper kicked off his 13-minute performance in front of a Buick GNX on a raised platform, a nod to his current “GNX” album.

Bill Streicher, Imagn Images

In his jeans, backward baseball cap, black gloves and pgLang jacket emblazoned with "Gloria," Lamar was the epitome of unforced swagger, strolling the field and various stages as the dancers, now in a formation like the stripes of the American flag, stood straight around him during “Humble.”

Bill Streicher, Imagn Images