The revolution cannot be televised
Illustration by Killian Goodale-Porter.
Kyler Gilliam, Staff Writer
As the Philadelphia Eagles were defeating the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half of Super Bowl LIX, I sat at a Super Bowl party where the full focus shifted to the halftime show that was set to come on in 10 minutes.
Kendrick Lamar, the Grammy and Pulitzer prize-winning artist, was set to perform the first primarily rap Super Bowl Halftime performance. Everyone at the party was discussing what song he should start with: “Alright,” “N95,” “m.A.A.d city” and “Backseat Freestyle” were all songs that people at the party said he should do first.
The host shut the lights off while everybody huddled around the television to see what Lamar was about to display at the largest sporting event in America.
The performance opened with Samuel L. Jackson dressed as Uncle Sam, welcoming the viewer to the “Great American Game.”
It then cut to Kendrick squatting on the Black GNX Cruiser that was on the cover of his latest album release, “GNX,” in November 2024, rapping an extended version of a snippet that was released 30 minutes before the album was released.
After the snippet, Lamar said one distant statement that embodied his performance: “The revolution is about to be televised. You picked the right time, but the wrong guy.”
In that moment, everyone at the party — including myself — did a collective “Ooooh,” signaling that we were in for a show, and Lamar delivered on that assumption.
Lamar did an excellent job critiquing the policing of Black art and how it is not seen as legitimate or appropriate. The inclusion of the Uncle Sam character played by Jackson allowed Lamar to control the narrative.
Uncle Sam described Kendrick’s first part of his performance as, “Too loud, too ghetto.” This shows how middle-America was probably describing the performance at the time. Then Kendrick played two of his biggest commercial hits, “HUMBLE” and “DNA.”
Kendrick used his next few songs to take back his narrative, doing the songs he wanted to perform and making the Uncle Sam character mad again. Throughout this struggle, Kendrick teased “Not Like Us,” the biggest song of 2024, that won five Grammys two weeks prior.
Drake, who the song is primarily about, is currently suing Universal Music Group for defamation over the song, according to CNN.
There were concerns that Kendrick would not even perform the song due to the lawsuit, but Lamar played it anyway. This combined as both a victory lap for Lamar over Drake and helped his narrative on the policing of Black art.
In the end, everybody at the party was entertained and while the Eagles continued to defeat the Chiefs, the party talked about the performance.
But after the show and three full rewatches, I’ve come to the conclusion that the revolution cannot be televised.
The reference to Gil Scott-Heron’s, “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” in the moment is good — but after deeper analysis, the message falls flat.
The National Football League is the standard of American exceptionalism in the sports world, a game primarily played in the United States, and it is the most watched sport in American households.
Billionaire owners, protection of domestic abusers, Black, brown and poor bodies being used for our entertainment, military propaganda and the dismissal of racial and socioeconomic problems that were brought up by players such as former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick are all issues that the NFL faces.
Lamar’s performance cannot be a revolutionary piece on a stage owned by the NFL. Apple cannot sponsor the revolution. Advertisements for Mountain Dew and Uber Eats cannot air after the revolution.
The NFL had fully approved Lamar’s performance, thus co-opting the message. The oppressor cannot co-opt your message if it is meant to revolutionize the people. That means the threat of revolution is not there.
What I took away from Lamar’s performance is a well-thought critique of Black artists playing the “game” and either appealing to a white audience or staying authentic within themselves, not a revolution for the people. However, we can still use the artistry of Lamar to highlight the growing issues in today’s America.
