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This Sunday we get the first hip hop Super Bowl Halftime led by Dr. Dre who is bringing Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige on the bill. It’s a huge deal. Even considering the reputations of Eminem as well as Dre and Snoop who built their personas as murdering gangster drug dealer/users and who at one point much of the American status quo found graphic and offensive, this really should not really feel dangerous. For the most populist, conservative appealing, consumerist day in America, Dre, Snoop, and Eminem have songs to pull that were designed for maximum exposure and are enjoyed by practically everyone. They even have music that isn’t offensive at all which due to FCC standards is all they’ll likely be allowed to play. Not to mention Dr. Dre is 56, Eminem is 49, and Snoop Dogg is 50. Practically fossils in terms of shock rap standards.
Eminem for instance will not be showing up in overalls shirtless with a chainsaw and hockey mask; Dre is so settled into his retired gangster status that the most controversial thing he could do on Sunday is call out his lawyers to read his divorce agreement. But in comparison to the last ten Halftimes which were in order Madonna, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Jennifer Lopez, and The Weeknd, artists who tour often, release music often, make a tonne of public appearances, and aren’t necessarily known as producers or CEOS, the appearance of Dre once again at this stage is monumental.
This is not a Pepsi pop move anymore, looking to utilize the reach of the Halftime to sell more records or ride off the back of a promotional cycle or tour. At one point it seemed as if Ricky Kirshner, the sole producer of every Halftime from BEP until Maroon 5 and who up until that point was known for mounting the Tony Awards, was pulling selections from internet popularity polls. Coldplay are internationally popular right? I guess so. Let’s get them to play the Halftime despite 80% of their best and most popular songs being ballads. It is the most important football game of the year after all.
Dre’s booking, as well as The Weeknd and Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s split bill pushes a much needed change since Jay-Z and Roc Nation took over as producers: just put on a damn good show.
Dre and Snoop as the first real legacy hip hop act Halftime show feels bigger than anything Jay-Z, who is on TV more often and tours far more, could have created by headlining. The performance is being kept tightly under wraps and organizers have been blaring music outside SoFi Stadium in order to not give away the setlist or details. Some suspect Kendrick Lamar has been rehearsing his first new music in years within earshot. Many wonder what Dre will do this time since his last public concert at Coachella 2012 featured a performing hologram of Tupac Shakur.
The performers have predictably been in the press daily.
Eminem announced his viral Mom’s Spaghetti pop up will be coming to downtown L.A. and will be available for delivery through Post Mates this week. He’ll also be bringing deaf rapper interpreters to give sign language renderings of his songs, marking another first for the Super Bowl. Let’s hope they don’t have to do “Rap God.”
The often ecstatic Mary J. Blige has been making the rounds through magazines and Good Morning America to reveal that she’ll likely be performing the Dre-produced “Family Affair” at Halftime. Kendrick Lamar booked a rare interview with The Big Hit Show to talk about his classic To Pimp a Butterfly on February 16, a few days after the Super Bowl.
But none of this compares to the press that Snoop Dogg has been getting. It was announced yesterday (Feb 9) that Snoop struck a deal with MNRK Music Group and while its terms have yet to be disclosed, Variety confirmed that Snoop is now the owner of Death Row Records, the label that initially signed him and released his music throughout the 90s. He’s also got a new album coming out this Friday timely named Bacc on Death Row. In significantly worse news, Snoop is also now being sued for sex assault by a former employee who claims she forced her to have oral sex in 2013 to which he’s denied vehemently.
Dre in the meantime has been assumingly hard at work ensuring his vision will be realized this Sunday. Surely the only way of topping himself involves the metaverse in some kind of way, putting on glasses and converting his body into an Optimus Prime sized figure and then rapping half a verse of “Forgot About Dre” before stomping through the streets of San Diego. Or maybe now he’s competing in a more saturated headphone market and a twelve minute Super Bowl block has an opportunity cost too great not to plug his Apple-owned company in some kind of way. Maybe.
We’re left with only prediction bets and guesses to formulate some kind of setlist here from a 30 year career legacy, albeit the fact that much of it can’t actually be played on television. So in order to facilitate these guesses by process of elimination here are the songs Dre, Snoop, Eminem, Kendrick, & Mary definitely won’t play this Sunday:
“Fuck You”
‘Deep Cover”
“Pause 4 Porno”
“The Day Tha Niggaz Took Over”
“Bitches Ain’t Shit”
“Murder was the Case”
“The Car Bomb”
“The $20 Sack Pyramid”
“Drug Ballad”
“Natural Born Killaz”
“Amityville”
“Some L.A. Niggaz”
“Cum On Everybody”
“Sing About Me I’m Dying of Thirst”
“Just Don’t Give a Fuck”
“WBallz (interlude)”
“Lyrical Gangbang”
“Shittin' on the World”
“Bathtub
“A Nigga Witta Gun
“Serial Killa”
“Housewife”
This Sunday we get the first hip hop Super Bowl Halftime led by Dr. Dre who is bringing Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and Mary J. Blige on the bill. It’s a huge deal. Even considering the reputations of Eminem as well as Dre and Snoop who built their personas as murdering gangster drug dealer/users and who at one point much of the American status quo found graphic and offensive, this really should not really feel dangerous. For the most populist, conservative appealing, consumerist day in America, Dre, Snoop, and Eminem have songs to pull that were designed for maximum exposure and are enjoyed by practically everyone. They even have music that isn’t offensive at all which due to FCC standards is all they’ll likely be allowed to play. Not to mention Dr. Dre is 56, Eminem is 49, and Snoop Dogg is 50. Practically fossils in terms of shock rap standards.
Eminem for instance will not be showing up in overalls shirtless with a chainsaw and hockey mask; Dre is so settled into his retired gangster status that the most controversial thing he could do on Sunday is call out his lawyers to read his divorce agreement. But in comparison to the last ten Halftimes which were in order Madonna, Beyonce, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Maroon 5, Jennifer Lopez, and The Weeknd, artists who tour often, release music often, make a tonne of public appearances, and aren’t necessarily known as producers or CEOS, the appearance of Dre once again at this stage is monumental.
This is not a Pepsi pop move anymore, looking to utilize the reach of the Halftime to sell more records or ride off the back of a promotional cycle or tour. At one point it seemed as if Ricky Kirshner, the sole producer of every Halftime from BEP until Maroon 5 and who up until that point was known for mounting the Tony Awards, was pulling selections from internet popularity polls. Coldplay are internationally popular right? I guess so. Let’s get them to play the Halftime despite 80% of their best and most popular songs being ballads. It is the most important football game of the year after all.
Dre’s booking, as well as The Weeknd and Jennifer Lopez and Shakira’s split bill pushes a much needed change since Jay-Z and Roc Nation took over as producers: just put on a damn good show.
Dre and Snoop as the first real legacy hip hop act Halftime show feels bigger than anything Jay-Z, who is on TV more often and tours far more, could have created by headlining. The performance is being kept tightly under wraps and organizers have been blaring music outside SoFi Stadium in order to not give away the setlist or details. Some suspect Kendrick Lamar has been rehearsing his first new music in years within earshot. Many wonder what Dre will do this time since his last public concert at Coachella 2012 featured a performing hologram of Tupac Shakur.
The performers have predictably been in the press daily.
Eminem announced his viral Mom’s Spaghetti pop up will be coming to downtown L.A. and will be available for delivery through Post Mates this week. He’ll also be bringing deaf rapper interpreters to give sign language renderings of his songs, marking another first for the Super Bowl. Let’s hope they don’t have to do “Rap God.”
The often ecstatic Mary J. Blige has been making the rounds through magazines and Good Morning America to reveal that she’ll likely be performing the Dre-produced “Family Affair” at Halftime. Kendrick Lamar booked a rare interview with The Big Hit Show to talk about his classic To Pimp a Butterfly on February 16, a few days after the Super Bowl.
But none of this compares to the press that Snoop Dogg has been getting. It was announced yesterday (Feb 9) that Snoop struck a deal with MNRK Music Group and while its terms have yet to be disclosed, Variety confirmed that Snoop is now the owner of Death Row Records, the label that initially signed him and released his music throughout the 90s. He’s also got a new album coming out this Friday timely named Bacc on Death Row. In significantly worse news, Snoop is also now being sued for sex assault by a former employee who claims she forced her to have oral sex in 2013 to which he’s denied vehemently.
Dre in the meantime has been assumingly hard at work ensuring his vision will be realized this Sunday. Surely the only way of topping himself involves the metaverse in some kind of way, putting on glasses and converting his body into an Optimus Prime sized figure and then rapping half a verse of “Forgot About Dre” before stomping through the streets of San Diego. Or maybe now he’s competing in a more saturated headphone market and a twelve minute Super Bowl block has an opportunity cost too great not to plug his Apple-owned company in some kind of way. Maybe.
We’re left with only prediction bets and guesses to formulate some kind of setlist here from a 30 year career legacy, albeit the fact that much of it can’t actually be played on television. So in order to facilitate these guesses by process of elimination here are the songs Dre, Snoop, Eminem, Kendrick, & Mary definitely won’t play this Sunday:
“Fuck You”
‘Deep Cover”
“Pause 4 Porno”
“The Day Tha Niggaz Took Over”
“Bitches Ain’t Shit”
“Murder was the Case”
“The Car Bomb”
“The $20 Sack Pyramid”
“Drug Ballad”
“Natural Born Killaz”
“Amityville”
“Some L.A. Niggaz”
“Cum On Everybody”
“Sing About Me I’m Dying of Thirst”
“Just Don’t Give a Fuck”
“WBallz (interlude)”
“Lyrical Gangbang”
“Shittin' on the World”
“Bathtub
“A Nigga Witta Gun
“Serial Killa”
“Housewife”
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