Kendrick Lamar was the inaugural musical guest for the halftime show of the College Football Playoff National Championships, which took place in Atlanta, Georgia this week.
Lamar performed a medley of hits from DAMN., arguable 2017’s best album: after walking on to the music of FEEL., he ripped his way through DNA., ELEMENT., and HUMBLE., as well as his new track from the Black Panther soundtrack, All the Stars, albeit without collaborator SZA on vocals.
Taking the family-friendly audience into consideration, Lamar was careful to censor his entire show. Preventing viewers from having to deal with annoying bleeps and mutes, he either replaced profanities with alternate words, or left some lines totally blank, leaving the audience to fill in the gaps.
There had been speculation that Lamar would use his performance to address President Donald Trump, who made an appearance at the game. Instead, he rightfully ignored his presence completely, leaving his powerful, often-political lyrics to do the talking. In any case, Trump left the game before the halftime performance even began. Figures.
While the game took place at the Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Lamar’s performance actually happened at the nearby Centennial Olympic Park. It was projected onto screens in the stadium. Watch the brilliant ten-minute performance right here:
Watch Kendrick’s full Halftime Show performance for the CFP National Championship. pic.twitter.com/zGgzU3pKRA
— DUCKWORTH TDE (@DuckworthTDE) January 9, 2018