Giving Big Stars High Ratings

Article by Zach Schafer, Journalism Student

Ever wanted to somewhat time travel and see someone you loved back in the nineties? Well now’s your chance! Big names from the nineties, Snoop Dogg, Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blidge, you name it, all came to the Super Bowl 56 halftime show. 
Located in SoFi Stadium in California, this year’s Super Bowl was a first-time performance for all of these artists, except for Blige, who performed in 2001. The trailer for the show has been released since January 20th and can be found on the NFL’s official Twitter page, as well as the full show. Kendrick Lamar is the only person who is from today’s generation of music who performed, but overall the five performers have a total of 43 Grammys and 21 Billboard No. 1 Albums. 
In terms of the show, overall it was amazing, nostalgic, and to say the least, well-deserved for the artists and the audience. With Covid-19 still a thing two years later, it was good to see a normal halftime show. No masks, no distancing, nothing. Last year’s halftime show had distancing and masks, and 2020’s show was before Covid-19 even hit the U.S.. This year’s show was awesome. There was a large house set in which Snoop and Dre could not have appeared more comfortable performing in. It was their “love letter” to their city, and what made it more authentic was that it was a literal house, and it really helped show off their creative sides, which was classic 90’s West-side rap. They had two special guests join the stage, 50 Cent and Anderson Paak. 50 Cent joined as a result of his “In Da Club” video reaching over a billion views, and Anderson joined the show to play the drums for Eminem’s set. Mary J. Blige killed it on the stage, while rocking some killer boots! She gave all her heart and soul into her songs. At the end of her bit, she threw herself to the ground and dropped to the floor. Eminem once again stirred possible controversy during the show. He decided to take a knee, possibly in an unspoken tribute to Colin Kaepernick, who was banished because of his stance against racism and violence but also possibly as a tribute to Tupac, whose song was performed by Dr. Dre at the moment.      
Some background details on each artist: Snoop was born Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr, 1972, and has been recently well known as a TV personality. In 2016, he began co-hosting “Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party” with Martha Stewart. Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III, 1972 and is well known for his alter ego, “Slim Shady” which began in 1996. He has 15 Grammys to his name but has gone on many hiatuses to fight personal problems. Dr Dre. was born Andre Romelle Young in 1965. He founded Aftermath Entertainment and Beats headphones, and is CEO for both.  Mary Jane Blige was born in 1971. As of this year, she has eight grammys and 13 studio albums. Kendrick Lamar was born 1987, and is the youngest of the bunch. He made an album in 2017, “DAMN” which got him a Pulitzer Prize in 2018, and he wrote the Black Panther soundtrack in 2018 as well.
All in all, the setlist was amazing, with some great throwbacks such as “Still D.R.E.” and “California Love”. This show is definitely a 10/10 for performance.