1. Introduction

Whenever a mainstream artist that has a stake in woke politics steps onto center stage, people pay attention. For many, the most coveted and scrutinized stage of all is one reserved for the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Why do we care so much about who performs at it? Perhaps it's because the Super Bowl is the most watched social event in America, and for half the game, a whole lot of the world's attention is fixed on what happens out on the field. But it's not just any pop star we care for, after all. In the past, Big Boi, frontman for the South music scene, enlightened us all with his presence and politics. This year — in an act of unironic, Super Bowl-esque woke consumerism — that art is none other than Kendrick Lamar, conscious hip-hop superstar. Kendrick's Halftime Show debut is ironic for the same reason conscious hip-hop is; it's performed out of the ghetto.

In the mid-2010s, when woke hip-hop relics were in full force, the term "woke" began to be popularly applied to and critiqued from the pop culture world. The term became shorthand for the social circle of many a hippy-dippy, performative liberal arts high school, being a critical buzzword of its time. Decades after the term's inception, you still can't turn a corner of Twitter without hearing or using it. The kids in Too $hort's background aren't usually the kids that make it to the front row at Super Bowls, and that's at least a little because Too $hort is also too right. For all its good intentions, eye-widening casework, and crossover with less privileged circles of critique, there's something circumspect about the implications of popular over-the-counter members of society using woke as a double-edged diss and a badge of honor without reckoning for its origins as an underground clubhouse joke. Can anyone, living with or away from it, ever really feel wokeness happening at all? Is living underground something one can just do while living out in polite society, too?

2. The Rise of Conscious Hip Hop

Ironically, conscious hip hop has dominated the genre du jour for only the last 15 years. Initially, the music produced by the originators of hip hop exhibited essentially cultural preoccupations or the explorations of such topical themes as party-going, radio DJ stylizing, loyalty to hip hop traditionalism, devotion to the ways one admires, bawdiness, and so forth. However, the prevalence of recurring separations of a new inventory of interested record labels from a stale supply of jaded talent emerging from conventional U.S. settler capitalist systems has been historically characterized by a growing mainstream acceptance of crossover artists finding engagement among that initial span of the now focally aimed arena of a youthful, urbanized audience. To wit, fashioners of a then current brand of intermittently conscious hip hop agreed to make social commentary accessible by way of a white proletarian subculture. The underground, however, soon became a viable outlet for a nihilistic hip hop reasserting unapologetically grimy moral economies, marginalized ethnicities from Black to Brown, and propagations of 'reel hip hop,' a catch-all that compounded real fidelity to underground access with substantive engagement of popular music markets entirely. This would only intensify, in response to social-political movements of the 1970s-1980s and new coalitional politics of the 'multiculturalist' climate of the youthful anti-racist left in the 1990s onward, a growing slice of young people of color who reject an imperial society, despite being out of work and duped, being recruited through access to premium technical education by imperialist corporatists directly responsible for a vanishing sky, the age of mass extinction, and the otherwise epidemic rate of another honest day of falling farther into a climate catastrophe now proven ecological. 'Conscious hip hop,' as the spirit of this proposal, represents 'ressentiment,' an emancipatory affect—a disdain ultimately out of love—in resistance to the dominion of liberals on the right and on the left, one that discharges the dialectical interconnection between economic struggle and milieu. Conscious hip hop femininity is, then, the internal realization of the 'second sex' inside 'Grillz.' Thus, Kendrick Lamar and his kind should feel he represents the unconscious militia of all who are now coping.

2.1. Origins and Evolution

The very beginnings of this genre could be classified as hearkening back to the consciousness-raising tendencies of the late 60s and 70s. As early hip hop emerged, poor urban-area youth grappled with the newly confrontational vices of U.S. culture, making sense by mixing vulnerable inner-city blues with this boldest of national criticisms. Because of this socio-political pedigree, conscious hip hop has existed very much from the start. The role of socio-political storytelling in the culture can be further traced throughout the 80s with handfuls of notable early "conscious" tracks as well as early entire conscious rap groups.

The events of the late 90s and early 2000s begin to contrast with the times during which public protest against the Vietnam War illustrated mass hip awareness. The socio-political climate began to replace the Cold War fear factor with U.S. pearl-clutching over drugs and violence, developing what now seems a type of crack-era cultural amnesia. The rampant connections to the crack cocaine epidemic, the WTO protests in Seattle, the anti-war fervor in light of the U.S. Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, as well as renewed critiques against U.S. operations in Vietnam in 2004, coupled well with the discontent and critique that has been notable since the animosity following 9/11. Of course, the genre did not end with the crack culture sensibilities of the early 2000s, but has certainly expanded its critique into highly publicized issues that provide a more tendentious line of modern cultural and socio-political brooding. This modern critique expands broadly, ranging from methods of assembly-line production to capitalistic aggression, and including the demonstration of the media's own schismatic and syndicate-heavy tendencies. Commercially, the more highly publicized critiques led to significant commercial success in the xenophobic mainstream music world.

2.2. Key Themes and Messages

Conscious hip hop has a rich and complex culture. It is a genre that draws on the Black American tradition of spoken word, a lyrical expression of truth to power. When it is done well, it conveys a message that is at its core a call for social justice. No wonder songs about the theme of identity and resistance to systems of oppression are gaining in popularity. None of these issues are new, but in recent years, we have seen a significant shift in who is speaking out and where, largely as a response to the demonizing of these messages. Music that speaks to the wound of an injury being sustained need no longer be confined to people's own living rooms; it can comfort and gather like-minded others together in our cities or even into our towns. Conscious hip hop’s defining elements include themes of both social and self-identity, resistance to systems of power, and the idea that racism operates within the United States of America according to a traditional abundant ethos and not an aberrant scarcity. Conscious hip hop contains inherently positive messages, and it uses those messages to foster a hypothetical black community, creating temporary integration across dividing lines. The music often exalts the individual, encouraging self-exploration and expression, a process vital to many of the genre’s fans. Lyrically, it uses simpler and more explicit hooks to aid in live performance and audience participation. This gives the music its storytelling ethos, with lyrics often representing slices of life portraying the speaker’s frustration, anger, and hope as they overcome systemic oppression. Conscious hip hop, as an outgrowth of the Black community’s desire to instigate radical change in the wake of 1970s doo-wop, has continued to serve as a counter-narrative to mainstream media and popular sentiment. This aligns directly with the narrative of growth that consciously political hip hop tells its story and thereby connects the artist’s personal experience to the larger structural makeup. Conscious hip hop not only promotes an emancipatory belief in music: that it should also convey life experiences, ideals, and frustrations, but it also captures a period in time when New York City was undergoing its first fiscal crisis and Black and Puerto Rican communities were dealing with the fallout of the civil rights movement. Simply put, conscious hip hop has grown to paint a private struggle within a larger world of systemic oppression. In short, the genre of conscious hip hop promotes a political rejection of dominant culture and its individualism and capitalist materialism, expressed musically and lyrically in rhymes that condemn such values, and a longing to return to the ways of sharing and mutual support that elders held dear. In short, hip hop represents a collective critique of the social tension felt in a post-Reagan America. These themes echo the sentiment of those who recently embraced performing as a hip hop artist again because it’s important to talk consciously. This writing goes beyond merely an investment in telling stories; while it could exist as simply a plea to consumers to open their eyes, it serves to frame the lyrical enjoyment of sharing a tighter community of like-minded individuals who work hard and implicitly understand the nature of the land they live in. It must be made clear, though, that the goals of hip hop are to love teenage girls and have sex, and because we know how to do that, we have to know how to talk to drug dealers. We have to talk to police; we want to go to police stations and engage with the police. We could do that; a lot of people have good talents and they get right in the ring. That’s how hip hop should be.

3. Kendrick Lamar: A Trailblazer in Conscious Hip Hop

Kendrick Lamar has been a visible force in hip hop since the release of his debut album Section.80 in 2011 and is widely regarded as being at the peak of his career. His work is unique in the current landscape of mainstream hip hop for its conscious and political perspective, differing from the commercialized sound of much contemporary music beyond even that of conscious peers. While Lamar’s conscious lyrics have become known as a principal feature of his music, it would be a mistake to relegate him to the nebulous category of ‘conscious hip hop’; the quality of his narrative songwriting is as noticeable as the themes he explores.

Lamar’s lyrics deftly combine autobiographical and broader social themes associated with the Black experience, enabling some parts of his work to offer windows into aspects of his own life, while others comment generally on systemic injustice in America. This intriguing cross-section between the personal and the social represents Kendrick Lamar’s most sophisticated work at its best. This perspective continues to evolve and maintain relevance across his discography, with standout tracks offering an in-depth exploration of race, identity, and social justice in contemporary America. The records themselves are emotive and convey their themes well even outside of the rapping. The album was lauded as an extensive survey of the social movement surrounding race wars, its discussion of revolutionary sympathies, and its ‘era defining’ lyrics came to define this period in Lamar’s songwriting. The album was released to critical acclaim and went on to win a prestigious award.

4. The Superbowl Halftime Show: A Platform with Cultural Significance

The Super Bowl Halftime Show has evolved into a platform within the entertainment industry that provides artists with a precious moment of 15 minutes of undivided attention and visibility for their music to a captive audience of over 60 million viewers. Primarily envisioned as a showcase for major pop stars, the Halftime Show has attempted to garner a wider audience by featuring a variety of artists, reflecting the cultural diversity of music. Most recently, the Super Bowl Halftime Show turned social and showcased not just Black artists, but especially the Black tapestry of the African American experience in the United States.

Amidst the coronavirus pandemic and increased focus on racial issues, some of the greatest artists turned out any and all of the negative circumstances to present a variety of acts for the live crowd as well as a television-only audience. The show received overwhelming positive reviews, with most mainstream news entities naming the concert as an inspired and larger-than-life performance. The question then becomes, “Can the last half of the Super Bowl show be considered a true art form of modern Black music?” Moreover, “What is ‘art’ on such a grand commercial stage?” Can an artist truly express themselves or must they – at minimum – think of the broadcaster? These are the key questions that I will address in this study. The bigger questions are how and why does it – or does it not – matter when displaying art in a very public, astoundingly commercial setting like the United States’ Super Bowl Halftime Show.

More specifically for this year’s event, what does it mean, culturally, aesthetically, and musically, to a United States society deeply divided and currently demonizing ‘woke’ society, to feature a conscious hip hop artist as a headliner performer? The focus of this paper is to examine the dialectical nature of multi-million dollar concerts, showcasing the struggle against institutional discrimination faced by African Americans.

5. The Demonization of Woke Society in Contemporary Discourse

The rise of what has come to be known as "woke" or "cancel" culture has become one of the dominant narratives in contemporary American society. In this narrative, many people are afraid of being falsely accused of something bigoted and then losing their job as a result. This often happens when they say something that is subsequently misrepresented by the media via out-of-context or an overuse of journalistic tropes. In reaction to this, many now seem to feel afraid to express an opinion, a shift that proponents of this narrative see as a limitation to free speech and a threat to America's freedoms and values. It can be especially threatening when emerging within the contemporary moral panic regarding what some see as a pervasive "political correctness" threatening traditional Western values and institutions.

Opposition to so-called cancel culture and the threat of this wokeness and 'political correctness' is by no means limited to the general public. In direct proportion to the backlash against 'wokeness' is corporate support for 'anti-woke' perspectives. Executives at major tech companies frequently condemn cancel culture on earnings calls. In their coverage of the stock market alone, this is a 'refrain' far more pronounced than anywhere outside the world of competitive markets or even the legal realm of earnings predictions. Together with other social justice activists, the group's views wokeness as a significant threat to Western civilization and its primary law. This, in turn, is to harm their charitable foundation and, further, it is, in the words of a lawyer who works for them, "the influence of the forces of wokeness and anti-Semitism in American life".

6. Analyzing the Irony of Kendrick Lamar's Performance at the Superbowl

The announcement that Kendrick Lamar would headline the Super Bowl halftime show presents us with the image of the urbane, locally conscious intellectual sauntering through a rousing spectacle of American commercial values, and the irony of it slaps with a chilly metal echo. Here is a rapper who clothes his rhymes in image-laden philosophical appeals for human awareness, societal justice, moral choice-making, and the comic-tragic complexities of forgiveness. How do we square this? Quick on the heels of the announcement arrives an implicit dismissal in the narrative that his booking is merely the NFL’s exertion of a financial effort at mollifying critics of its controversially managed product. However authentically we can focus on his art as a vehicle for the social criticism that might please cynics, we are always already wallowing in a shared irony. Some of us only feign perplexing moral discomfort by staging a critical performance of the performance, garnering the precious attention it was intended to snare in the first place. We know we live large in an image culture. But what does it mean for Lamar to be speaking these truth claims amidst images of excess? That vantage places Lamar on offsetting terms with his own critical tradition of hip hop’s African American creative streams. More than any Western cross-section of his peers, his fans disbelieve mystifications. His booking provides its viewership the shared opportunity for contemplation over Lamar: truthful barbarian at pedestaled images or celebrated wisdom mouthpiece of a broader culture? As of this writing, we reside in Lamar’s irksomely symbiotic dialectic between perceptions of hip hop culture as still too crass and woke culture as debasingly inoffensive. In both cases, the concern remains whether the confinement of our image language constrains morality. If the Super Bowl wishes to make a statement, they’ve chosen the perfect man to do so.

7. Conclusion

In conclusion, Kendrick Lamar is interesting because of his place in popular culture as a mainstream artist. He was one of the artists who continued to expand the limits of commercial hip hop and is also one of the reasons the term "conscious hip hop" started popping up again. What insights does Lamar bring to the genre that is more commercial than the indie and underground scenes? How do these musings affect popular culture's rededication to the topics of politics, race, and morality? While Lamar has shied away from the label of the conscious rapper, it is a move that no longer makes sense. Kendrick Lamar has reestablished the subculture of conscious artistry in a commercial league. But what does sacred popular art signify? What about the spectacle of consciousness? The controversies and conflicts that Lamar provokes remind us and warrant our engagement with these questions, ones that are forever twisting and changing.

What is to be made of the impacts of Lamar's performance? What is Lamar doing, and is there an importance to it? As Lamar increases the profile and awareness of a "consciousness" brand, national attention shifts between discussions on the state of wokeness in the USA and whether Lamar exhibits wokeness. How do Lamar's artistic choices and their consequences call our attention to systems of representation? Kendrick Lamar, as the great character that he is, again asks us to be split towards him and his defiance, a defiance reflected by so many constituents of hip-hop culture. But then, in that same spacious, free-flowing space, let's continue to ask questions about the future of radical artistry that counts in atmospheres of corporate institutions and the stadiums of capitalism. Is the future to be found in these kinds of collaborations, or is the future to be awaited in concerns over where we locate revolutions? Commencing discussions about such questions in the field of popular music would be a great legacy to Lamar's accomplishments.