The Resurgence of Conscious Rap: Kendrick Lamar Headlining the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show

1. Introduction

The resurgence of conscious rap before Kendrick Lamar is announced as the Super Bowl headliner in 2025, I want to make sure we have the context underneath it. Over the last few years, rap music seems to have made a shift back to the consciousness that was so pivotal in the late 1980s with Public Enemy and N.W.A. and the 1990s of Public Enemy, Ice Cube, Tupac, The Notorious B.I.G., and countless others, took over the airwaves. This certainly is not to suggest that rap has become entirely conscious, as mixtape and singles culture has made it quite easy to have great political or consciousness-raising music all but ignored by mainstream audiences. However, it seems that there has been a shorter timespan between when someone says something relevant, timely, and new about any number of social justice issues and when the inevitable think-pieces follow.

This last summer, Chance the Rapper and Steph Curry were having the most fun either one of them could with their respective craft because, according to Slim Thug and Lil Wayne, "You Can't Go" into the greatest national honor a black performer could have. The most high-profile case of this comes from 2015's To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar. Instead of the outsized response to "Alright" being universal, as in certain times as a nation we will always overcome, because recent events suggest otherwise the song now has struck a national chord for very few reasons, including the ones mentioned above. However, what a performance of the entirety of "Alright" would actually mean, though not the focus of this essay, is something worthwhile to think about as this reality sort of runs parallel to the intersection of the aesthetic and the political that we explore.

1.1. Background on Kendrick Lamar

Rapper Kendrick Lamar was born in 1987 and raised in the notorious gang-ridden Compton, California. The UCLA Med School graduate started getting attention with his mixtapes, and eventually, he signed with Top Dawg Entertainment, though it took two more years until he gained mainstream buzz with his second studio album, "good kid, m.A.A.d city". This album, considered his breakthrough by many, used Lamar’s storytelling style to convey the dangers of his upbringing and how he grew up respecting and despising gang culture. In a method typically characteristic of conscious rappers, Lamar preached anti-violence and anti-gang messages, saying, “I’m trying to tell the way I grew up, gotta make your own decisions. Take your own stand, make your own lane.”

After "good kid, m.A.A.d city", Lamar continued to grow in popularity and acclaim and quickly became a major figure in hip-hop. In 2015, Lamar released "To Pimp a Butterfly", widely praised as one of the decade’s best albums and a seminal work of conscious rap. With it, Lamar set the tone for the new wave of sociopolitically charged work belonging to various subgenres, such as invigorating, genre-blending releases from the likes of Ty Dolla $ign, Saba, Jay Rock, and Dej Loaf. The album garnered the already popular rapper even more attention, critical acclaim, and further importance due to the verses tying to the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson and Baltimore protesting racist policing and income inequality. He won a Pulitzer for his full-throated lyrics, covering issues such as black exploitation, music, and ludic symbolism.

1.2. Significance of the Super Bowl Halftime Show

The entertainment of choice for 100 million Americans and an estimated global audience of 1 billion people, the Super Bowl has served as a lightning rod of the American entertainment calendar. Commercials aired during the game cost millions of dollars, with a 30-second ad slot during the 2019 championship game averaging $5.25 million. Featuring the most highly skilled and paid American football players, the halftime show has developed into an incredible performance. Whether implicitly referenced or employed prominently, music at the Super Bowl celebrates and represents both high and low art in America and on the international stage. Some of the artists who have headlined the Halftime Show in the past include Martha Graham (1990), New Kids on the Block (1991), Local Minnesota Winter Music (1992), Michael Jackson (1993), The Judds (1994), Clint Black, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, and the Judds (1994), Stevie Wonder, Christina Aguilera, Enrique Iglesias, and Phil Collins (2000), Aerosmith, NSYNC, Britney Spears, Mary J. Blige, and Nelly (2001), and Lady Gaga (2017).

The idea of Kendrick Lamar, a politically and artistically conscious act, ascending to a mainstage as mainstream as the Super Bowl Halftime show would have been unthinkable when To Pimp a Butterfly debuted in 2015. That Lamar's presence on the halftime stage, headlining alongside Rihanna and arguably the most mainstream artist of the moment, would have seemed inevitable within 10 years of Butterfly is its own surprise. Kimberly Foster, former editor of Nashville-based Black Feminists, would be among those not surprised if Kendrick Lamar PSA starred in the Halftime Show simply because she understands the commercial opportunity of aligning the most popular television event with the popular political movement of this moment.

2. The Evolution of Conscious Rap

With the advent of the streaming era, record labels and radio stations found new ways to tailor consumer-driven playlists. Music that often had substance, a message, and lyrical complexity was sidelined in favor of party tracks, bangers, and quick hits; easily digestible numbers that fit nicely in a playlist to hook listeners for what would hopefully be quick stream revenues. However, this tension between art and the economic engine of the internet underwent a resurgence in the late 2010s. The music industry once again started to carve out space for artists who had something to say with conscious rap, a genre pioneered by the likes of Flagranin 5+2, Dead Prez, Common, and Talib Kweli in the 80s-90s.

The genre took root in a unique time period in the 80s when hip-hop was more than just a genre of music but a cultural movement. As such, rappers blended plainspoken talk with social consciousness. As the 90s came to an end, the formula took some flak as too much of a rap purism. However, with the cultural, economic, and societal climate especially infertile in the 2020s, the old guard was seen in a new light. Blistering op-eds championed the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Joey Badass, Chance the Rapper, and Common as the conscience of new America and their critical opuses, as the new Shakespearean theatre. The Super Bowl has often been seen as a microcosm of culture, democracy, celebrity, politics, and more all wrapped up in a multi-million-dollar sheen. Over these years, hip-hop has seen a place on this stage, but it has, for the majority, been dominated by pleasure-rap nomads.

2.1. Origins and Pioneers

In the beginning, conscious rap was known as 'reality rap' because of its focus on the socially conscious lyrical base. Boogie DesMiant, who released the album 'Reality Rap' in 1992, is by far the most influential and motivating pioneer in music for an entire younger generation of lyricists in conscious rap. By dramatically changing the music and political world of the West Coast of the United States, Boogie was able to resurface a very conscious and black Afro-centric musical theme much like Curtis Mayfield's "Super Fly" album during the "Blaxploitation" movie era of the 70s. Boogie was so influential, in fact, on the scene that he was able to change even a hardcore gangsta rapper towards a more positive mind, as well as many other rappers around the world. As time went by, the more accessible and socially conscious lyrics began to develop into what is now currently known as "conscious rap".

Names and groups such as Public Enemy, Arrested Development, NWA, Me-Shell Ndegeocello, Michael Franti, Black Star, The Ice Cube Group, Divine Styler, KRS1, and UMI Says have been powerfully influential. These groups and rappers brought about a change and revolution of consciousness in music. Artists like 2Pac, for instance, have subsequently used their fuel to project a voice on the microphone towards an activist direction for a wide range of non-socially conscious lyricists reborn to many young people who are both accusing their record companies of collaborations and themselves of "selling out" or being "bought into the system" or "taking orders" from the record industry big-shots in order to sell records. Today's generation is, however, the most populous demographic of an increase of millions of both socially conscious and folksy/rugged, raw artists. For a larger body of Black America, it's now again quite fashionable to write conscious music.

2.2. Themes and Messages

The resurgence in popularity of conscious rap is indicative that there are common thematic elements and messages within the subgenre. Drawing upon the works of prior academics, a general typology of thematic elements can be proposed. There exists an emphasis on the lyrics that are politically and socially challenging the status quo. The political element often intends to inspire awareness and indeed change—deliberately choosing lyrical content that goes against dominant social opinion. Classic rap thematics, such as self-referential lyrics or boasting and rearing masculinity, are often rejected in conscious rap.

Instead, the opposite is depicted, with many rappers expressing a subverted idea of self. Lyrics also often refer, in depth, to personal and emotional mannerisms. There is a poignant awareness of life struggles and their ultimately dour consequences in the lyrics of many conscious rappers. Their raison d'être is often a self-imposed responsibility or duty to reveal the true nature of circumstances, highlighting societal or personal ills. The lyrical content of conscious rappers serves a deeply self-reflective and critical nature. The focus is steering away from these typical topics and highlighting the lyric-centric messages that prove popular with the listening public. This has led to a renaissance in consciousness in rap music, gaining attention from media, music commentators, and the wider public. The topics expressed by such artists as Common, Talib Kweli, and Yasiin Bey are equally thought-provoking as they are publicly available—point transcripts of the songs are available on the web. These include such tracks as Talib Kweli's ultra-political 'Violations', to Common's 'Love of my Life', expressing the beauty and purity of love. A full list of songs analyzed in this study is included in Table 2. These rappers typically discuss the problems that stem from the inequities that are apparent in capitalist societies—from which the audience is most likely from. They also often offer scathing polemics and critiques of political elites and commercial operators alike. Many rappers infuse their lyrics with anarchist or radical leftist tendencies.

3. Kendrick Lamar's Impact on the Genre

Lamar’s career began in the midst of the decade’s shift toward "conscious rap," a genre that values spirituality and social commentary and denounces materialism and bling culture. The shift from gangsta rap frame of the late 20th century to conscious rap is a lens to gaze upon this period in hip hop history, particularly in the midst of the Black Lives Matter era. Kendrick Lamar is often used as the accurate yardstick for when rap made a definitive shift toward the conscious. While these analyses could be over-deterministic, it is certain that the collective hip hop intelligentsia does consider Kendrick integral to the current resurgence of conscious rap interests.

Incorporating elements of bebop and avant-garde jazz, meta lyrics, and the now widely recognized plethora of stages and personas, To Pimp A Butterfly exemplified hip hop's slide toward the conscious. The entire album is rich and dense, textured and complicated, layered, and profound. Each song on its own could be scholarly deconstructed, carefully revealing the "millions of dollars, but yet no one to call." The album’s pre-release single "i," which spoke to the virtues of self-love and the difficulties of inner-city life, was released on September 23, 2014, one week before George Floyd was attacked by police in a Minneapolis building. Similarly, "The Blacker The Berry," the album’s angrier, close-cousin second single didn’t help to dispel the fire. The song took aim at urban black-on-black crime. Both songs were highly political and ideological. With the release of To Pimp A Butterfly, Lamar completed his journey toward conscious self-performance – the album is self-reflective, attending to Lamar’s process of becoming, and universal in its treatment of the American condition – both in social, economic, and literary fields. In this way, Lamar is central to the history of rap concerning consciousness, reality, self, and community. He is one of the most powerful figures to emerge from the inner conflict between straining to go beyond rap’s limits, tradition, and song.

3.1. Critical Acclaim and Awards

It is difficult to represent Kendrick Lamar’s impact appropriately, yet the time his work speaks to on his own proudly proves its worth. Lamar’s discography continuously receives widespread critical acclaim and, in some cases, a considerable amount of commercial success. Take his album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015) for example, considered one of the most important records of the 2010s. The album was awarded 11 Grammy nominations, and though it won 'only' five awards (Best Rap Album, Best Rap/Sung Performance, Best Music Video, Best Rap Song and Best Rap Performance), it was still further nominated for Album Of The Year and carried an immeasurable impact on pop culture when acclaimed as a modern classic. Both good kid, m.A.A.d city and DAMN. were also further nominated for Best Rap Album, and the latter won the award, while its lead single, "HUMBLE.", received Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. Lamar has been demi-godified, no matter whether or not he was trying to be. His performances receive attention as well. He performed at the halftime show for the College Football Playoff National Championship in 2018 and the 2019 ESL One event, both during halftime. And in 2025, on February 9th, he headlined the Super Bowl LIX halftime show several months after surprise-dropping his fourth album, Z.

3.2. Social and Political Commentary

As referenced less directly in the quote above, conscious rappers like Kendrick often take their platform as an opportunity to offer social or political commentary. His art has become celebrated, in part, for the serious subject matter he typically addresses in his lyrics. Between discussing his upbringing as a Compton native, the music industry, white privilege and wealth, the legacy of slavery, and his calls to spirituality, Kendrick has something to say about the state of the world. As a result, the rapper is interviewed for major publications far outside the realm of music, including Time, Rolling Stone, and The Guardian. Kendrick’s popularity with a broad base of fans has introduced these topics into the conversation in mainstream culture, discussed in a variety of formal and informal publications—including "DAMN." as required listening on college syllabi. Lori Nugent Smith, Chair of the University of Florida’s African American Studies Program, says, "It’s a classic double thing. We sell our wares to the masters, whether he’s a neo-master or the literal old neo-master; we sell our wares, but at the same time, we’re guarding it, we’re sending messages, we’re doing resistance. That’s why I love hip hop. It’s been blowing up the subliminal message for ages." Although certainly there are many ways of reading the music of underground rappers, conscious hip hop relies heavily on the increased attention to the nuggets of truth hidden in artworks that seem, at first glance, like nothing but formulaic pop.

4. Mainstream Recognition and Commercial Success

Kendrick Lamar’s discography hit the mainstream with "good kid, m.A.A.d city", but it wasn’t until his third studio album, "To Pimp a Butterfly", where the rapper really retained the attention of commercial music listeners and his peers. That album beautifully combined rap and jazz while Lamar tackles themes of personal growth, mental health, African-American identity, American culture, and politics. Lamar varies his flow in a lot of the songs on "To Pimp a Butterfly" and always takes a melodic and inherent rhythmic approach to his delivery. The timing of the album’s success meshed well with the Black Lives Matter movement "losing steam". In a past interview, his main passion was to help the situation but coming from a good place in his heart gave way to pressure and asked himself what did he want to do. The album, including the song "Alright", did not propose an anti-message but one of hope. That song has become a shouting chant at protests and inspired a teenagers’ organization.

In 2018, Kendrick Lamar received the Pulitzer Prize for Music as the first rapper to accomplish this feat after it was honored to him that year. The foundation was "distinguishing itself in 100 years", a board member said. MTV stated that Lamar is "one of the most critically acclaimed and successful rappers of any generation". He became a member of Time’s annual list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2016 and 2018. He is also a key figure contributing to the genre of rap that is seen as "conscious". This sub-genre focuses on social issues such as police brutality, gang violence, racism, Black empowerment, religion, and social commentary. It relies on a politically-charged agenda and being a voice of African Americans to deliver themes that truly resonate with those who hail from poor neighborhoods and marginalized communities. The rapper, born Anthony Tiffith, was inspired by Black individuals who spoke up about poor socio-economic conditions after watching gangs and illegal drugs plague the streets of Compton. He delivered hip hop to spread important information. The "crowd is shouting", he told Forbes, and maybe someone from the crowd "could go out and execute some of these hood-rumors", so Lamar holds a high responsibility in his mind in regards to what he reports. Lamar’s "social consciousness" translates in his studio albums' revolutionary style. He offers "good vibes" along with the political messages, stated Russell The Rap Analyst in a Forbes interview, as opposed to negatively charged albums.

5. The 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show Announcement

Historically, the Super Bowl has been relatively mainstream in the selection of its artists at the Halftime Show. Over the last three years, however, the NFL has increasingly moved towards promoting consciousness and inclusion. This has been most notably shown in making the momentous selection of Kendrick Lamar headlining the 2025 Super Bowl. His influence goes deeper, in that he is not only a rapper-headliner, but also embodies a conscious and 'woke' attitude about acceptance and equality in his music. The selection of artistic talent serves as a national reflection at large and presents a physical representation of those individuals we admire and hold on a pedestal.

Given most famously by the passing of Michael Jackson, the relationship between love of music, artists themselves, and a collective American culture has been displayed in moments of Super Bowl prominence and at the Halftime stage. Lamar’s “good kid, m.A.A.d. city” released in 2012 and was Lamar’s commercial success. Upon receiving many critics' favorite new album of the year award, it’s impossible to now discredit Lamar’s rise to the top and be where we have settled today. By consolidating recognizable aspects from his two earlier LPs, “Good Kid, M.A.A.D City” and the experimental and standalone “To Pimp a Butterfly,” Lamar’s new album, “Dam,” envelops an undeniably all-natural, much more polished sound while retaining the artist’s iconoclastic confer, albums, music, ideologies, and general “conscious” rap.

5.1. Historical Context

On September 13, 2024, E. Keene of ESPN announced that Kendrick Lamar would be headlining the Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2025. This not only is significant for it solidifies Lamar as a prodigious artist but also seems to provide a significant social statement from the NFL. Expanding the appreciation of entertainment does seem to correlate directly with the NFL's goals for "globalizing" the sport. This decision forces a greater national and global reckoning with who Lamar is (including the more political aspects of his career), what it means to nationalize him, and (my personal interest, especially because of the timing) the potential stakes of "conscious rap" in 2025.

Since the 1980s, there has been some level of conversation on the implications and uses of conscious rap, but in the last three years, there has been a dramatic uptick in national conversation: the first and only Pulitzer awarded to a rapper (Kendrick Lamar) in 2018, the Super Bowl decision of 2024, and a trove of critical essays and articles arguing various stakes of the art form. These conversations leverage the tendency to view music as either pure entertainment or an essential political force, possibly providing Lamar with additional relevance (both among audiences and music critics). Or, if music is understood (like many digital equity platforms such as YouTube) as "subject to emotional contagion," these essays should be read as an attempt to control the feelings associated with Lamar's work and the people who engage with it.

5.2. Reactions and Expectations

Informants’ Reactions to Kendrick Lamar’s Announcement

As this event will not occur for another 6 months, informants could only hypothesize about the actual performance. However, people were incredibly excited and shared their expectations, hopes, and predictions for Lamar’s performance. This half of the results is broken down into three themes: reactions and expectations for Kendrick, the Super Bowl, and football, as well as critiques of Lamar and the rapper role. To the following research question, “What were people’s initial reactions to Kendrick Lamar headlining the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show?” these are the results of the implications of Kendrick Lamar’s headline performance for the Super Bowl’s cultural significance.

I see this as a transformative cultural event. I think this is going to be huge. I’m excited for it. This will be a big moment that reflects the cultural influences of the time. It’s the first on this scale. I predict there will not be a bigger pop culture event for the rest of 2025. That’s including movies and all this other shit. A lot of time when I’m talking about hip-hop and football I mean it as a kind of snide joke but this is serious crossover. Some compared Ed Sheeran’s 2022 show to the present one. They shared, “This is the total opposite of Ed fucking Sheeran but that’s not necessarily a good thing”

6. The Influence of Conscious Rap on Society

The influence of conscious rap stretches far beyond casual music fans and commercial radio into society. Sure, those artists well known for being conscious rappers will often perform during Super Bowl halftime shows, but they utilize their platform to provide a different point of view. Many people feel empowered when they listen to conscious rap music because of the artists' ability to evoke emotions through lyrics while discussing topics that others shy away from. Conscious rappers helped to ignite like-minded movements and members into action for acts of civil unrest and protests, especially over the last few years. As a result, it is easy to see the educational value present in the genre, and some even consider conscious rap mostly to be political.

The invocation of vulnerability and relatability through conscious rap stands in stark contrast to current chart-topping negativity and violence. It sheds light on complex issues brought to the mic for the listener to ponder on. Proposing answers that refuse a callous society focused on crime, violence, addiction, sex, and materialism, conscious rappers choose to install self-reliance, a connection to one's legitimate drive, a respect towards oneself that can't be bought, and the voice to stand up against those doing wrong. It promotes better morality. In an era of gratuitous violence and hostility, men and women, boys and girls, have been listening to violent rappers, and through their lyrics watched and even idealized them as they made millions. However, through conscious rap, and nestled between the lines of lyrics that neither celebrate hate, cause womanizing, nor celebrate murder, there is a passion, whether it is to entertain, make a better life or just elevate one's spirits. Some rappers spark this fire in the street for those with ambitions, these messages do resonate with many artists reaching diamond selling status.

6.1. Empowerment and Activism

Empowerment Empowerment is one of the fundamental discourses within activism. Ideologically aligned to Locke's concept of the social contract, it is a motivating factor that empowers people to act towards societal change. The dense socio-political content works synonymously with populism, which can be identified by its dualistic in-group versus out-group power structures, the conflation of social change with threats to national identity, and the representation of the people as motivated by grievances from political and/or economic establishments. The individualized discourse that empowers people as individuals is also guided by the concept of citizenship. Academic studies into discourses of empowerment often focus upon those marginalized by society either demographically, culturally, or ideologically. It also often presents as an attempt to facilitate progression and change in terms of either economic, social, or environmental issues or a combination of these.

Activism Activism is a tool by which people can aspire towards change but is also a principal component of the discursive struggles for the same. There are many forms of activism and positions in which people take in activism. Bottici avers that activism operates within a system in which brute facts of the material world are always discursively talked into being by the mechanisms of power. In her words, "activists and the forces they resist are engaged in a struggle over the control and interpretation of facts on the subjective as well as the objective level." Social activists argue that the worth or value of human functioning must be contextualized in terms of whether people have the capability to achieve the things that they have reason to value.

6.2. Educational Value

Conscious rap music, and this review of the genre, carry an educational value for listeners and non-listeners, and members of pedagogy and society, for a few reasons. Tubeville notes that it requires a lot of work and labor to deconstruct the layers of consciousness that rap offers. Part of the burden that rap therefore offers springs from its refraining from one-level answers: conscious rap at its best illuminates the vast labyrinth of the social, political, cultural, religious, economic life world, but it points each listener into the heart of the labyrinth to do intensive work to concretize the complexity subjectively, to see within the mind's eye previously veiled sickness—and potentialities.

In "In Search of Monsters: Cartographies of the Dark," Jin Haritaworn, Adi Kuntsman, and Silvia Posocco argue that scholars must seize the labor some rap music demands and make its lyrics meaningful. The three draw on Judith Butler for the insight that to hear and attempt to tangibly understand something holds a responsibility toward the sounding source. "A...way of listening to the Other that remains haunting and unsettling are modes in which address is not fully decolonized. That is to say, I do not fully catch on" (2007, 20). This review holds together a full history of "catching on" as if toward consciousness, acknowledging limits of listening in scholar, fan and rapper, with assumptions on the cultural bankruptcy of rap fans.

Part of the educational burden stored within "The Resurgence of Conscious Rap" is "Light of the World, Vol. 1" – the title track of this mixtape offers a withering critique of the Friday Night lights upon us, in film, football, and in life. To critically read this text draws, in part, two insights derived from this introduction. First, beginning with the Christian tradition of the Black Church, enunciations of human death, expressions of human limitations, predominate Christian rituals and discipline. "The ordo salutis begins with the gut-wrenching knowledge and condemnation of the body's limited freedom" (Foulkes 2023, 144). Although wisdom presupposes this limit and the body that bears it, enlightenment science and Christian faith alike can fall into capax, over and above vital connections, imaginings declaring that the bodily realities of death are too distant to remain against or Kevin Covach erode everyday existence. Merely naming Christian asceticism of body, disciplines of care for vital corporeal connections turn into neo-Jansenism, the limitless extension of death to innocent life. The technologies of death derived from embracing the Christian self-discipline become the praxis of necropolitics. To say that educationally conscious rappers layer concerns with life-death categories acknowledges the essential features of our social world where we work, communicate, hurt and rest. Good rap could breach our anesthetized epidermis and inject a racialized trans- and post-humanism for deepest fears and greatest living yearnings. "After effects shocks sent in. We scarred up plumb the bleeding normal. Titanic is our metaphor" (Tautangwu 2023).

7. Conclusion

In conclusion, the resurgence of conscious rap played an important role in Kendrick Lamar being the choice selection for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show. Although the NFL has returned to a pre-Kaepernick environment and brought the playlist back in-house, the country rebranded the Kaepernick Era and moved forward with what they deemed "Conscious Rap". Lamar being able to blend social commentary with traditional lyricism in a way that does not completely alienate potential fans, while at least giving it some form of access to those fans, allows for a creative combination that almost forces the NFL to select Lamar. Used correctly, Conscious Rap can be the cause for a paradigm shift and Lamar’s inclusiveness and socially ardent lyrics would be utilized into that exact paradigm shift. So, the NFL would recognize those things within Lamar and perceive them as the creation of its own narrative — the kind of narrative that the NFL could share social media posts about in an attempt to seam social progress within this nation’s most popular and lucrative product.

Alongside the NFL, what Lamar’s selection would really illustrate is the way 2025 has chosen to celebrate Black History Month as a country. The undertones of that month are largely ignored, and we have adopted this month as a yearly response to the nation's once "ill mistreatment" of African Americans. Lamar’s selection for the Super Bowl decides once and for all whether people are comfortable with possibly disquieting content, or if they really don't want the NFL pushing Blackness in their face at this time of the year to begin with. Either way, Lamar forces everyone to either let the players truly differentiate for themselves or allows the rest of us to emphasize — for better or worse — the kind of public relations product the league has become. At the end of the day, Lamar's halftime show is most likely the antithesis of the show we will actually receive in 2025. It is doubtful the league would have the nerve to stand behind Lamar and show the confidence in their brand by picking Lamar to be their halftime showcase.

7.1. Summary of Key Points

Conscious rap has played an important role in the development of the genre. However, during its peak, it was considered peripheral and served a small, niche audience. Since the early 2000s, the genre has experienced significant growth and has entered the mainstream. Today, there is a wide variety of sub-genres that can be heard on the radio and streamed by listeners worldwide.

In recent years, there has been a resurgence of conscious rap. This sub-genre is characterized by its pessimism, open discussion of social and economic injustice, and protest rap. It is critical of the established codes represented by the colors red and blue. This resurgence has also made its way into the mainstream.

An investigation of these trends provides insight into Kendrick Lamar's performance at the halftime show. It allows us to understand that his headlining is just one culmination of a process that has been driven from the underground up.

At its core, this essay examines Lamar's rap performance that is intended for everyone. This argument is based on two main pillars. The first part discusses his career in the context of broader trends in consumption and production, drawing on both global and Chicago-centric hip-hop trends. It is important to note that Lamar's trajectory is not unique.

The second half of Lamar's career focuses on the creation of his album DAMN. and its promotion through the Be Humble. World tour. The location of the tour is used to justify our argument, and highlights from Chicago are used to further illustrate this point.

The HALFTIME section of the essay shifts the focus to the performers' podiums, demonstrating how the contemporary mainstream has embraced elements from the underground and brought Lamar to the main stage.

7.2. Future Outlook for Conscious Rap

The success and evolution of conscious rap proves that overall trends of popular music are very difficult to predict. With the first major conscious rapper garnering widespread attention less than a century ago, it is hard to imagine the genre falling out of public favor in the near future. A more realistic risk undercutting the extended success of conscious rap might be the possibility of mainstream artists and producers capitalizing too much on the genre's recent popularity. If this trend continues at its current pace, popular music will eventually become packed with superficial music by entertainers who only pretend to be rappers with something meaningful to express. Such a trend could ultimately undermine the credibility of other, more authentic conscious rappers. Even if this scenario does play out, these former mainstream rappers would have still done something positive in popularizing the values of the conscious rap movement. Emboldened by their legacy, the best conscious rappers would continue making great songs and changing hearts and minds.

One sign that conscious rap is not a fad, but might have longevity, is the deep sense of relevance that artists and audiences attach to the genre. The best conscious rap is not just a reflection of popular attitudes; it is also an exploration of right and wrong, and aims to stretch the current boundaries of societal discourse. If an honest, talented rapper feels like he has a message to stop a genocide, or just to help his buddy stop smoking, he will create a song about these issues in whatever genre provides him with the most expressive capacity. If genuine appeal to the deepest values and morals of an audience acts as the major driving force behind the creative expression we call conscious rap, then the genre will persist, even if popularity in "gangsta" rap or crunk music dwindles.