Football followers spent months making ready for Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX halftime present, however nobody was anticipating to see the artist take one other dig at Drake with a stadium-sized PlayStation Easter Egg.
Most of the rapper’s set went off as anticipated. While the gang cheered to spins on hits from data like DAMN and GNX, appearances from stars like Samuel Jackson and SZA helped take the present to new heights. Of course, there have been loads of references to Lamar’s notorious 2024 beef with Drake, too, however what audiences didn’t count on was how the Super Bowl performer selected to lastly shut the door on the previous Degrassi star. As the lights went down, the phrases “Game Over” could possibly be seen illuminated on the facet of the stadium, whereas the stage was revealed to function PlayStation’s iconic cross, circle, triangle, and sq. symbols.
Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime present was at all times going to be seen as a victory lap when it got here to his beef with Drake, however bringing Sony into the battle to lastly shut that chapter in grand vogue felt particularly brutal. Although it’s not fairly clear why the To Pimp a Butterfly artist selected to seemingly channel PlayStation for the tip of his year-long battle, music and gaming followers have taken to social media to share their appreciation for the dig nonetheless. At the very least, Lamar’s already nice efficiency is perhaps higher on rewatch when you notice the stage is one massive online game reference.
Kendrick Lamar introduced out the PlayStation symbols and mentioned “Game Over” 😭https://t.co/MfkDEJ1F9G
— KAMI (@Okami13_) February 10, 2025
the stage for Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl efficiency has the PlayStation controller buttons 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/DnkrJGRDtI
— Radec (@realradec) February 10, 2025
Serena Williams, Samuel Jackson, PlayStation references, the GNX, the entire stadium yelling “AMINORR” ugh the dancers in crimson, white & blue, SZA?! Thank you Kendrick. The revolution might be televised. pic.twitter.com/cKazFowRIC
— Nelly J. 🇯🇲 (@Xo__Jenny) February 10, 2025
With Lamar’s present now lastly placing the meat to mattress, it’s exhausting not to take a look at the weekend as one among PlayStation’s greatest (and strangest) ever. Aside from its shock spot within the Super Bowl halftime present, the gaming firm discovered itself making headlines on Friday and Saturday morning when avid gamers have been locked out of accessing PSN for an prolonged time period. The unscheduled occasion noticed followers unable to play any on-line titles for round a full day, leading to one of many longest durations of downtime for the reason that notorious outage of 2011. PlayStation was ultimately capable of carry PSN again on-line later yesterday and has said will probably be gifting PlayStation Plus customers an extra 5 days onto their subscriptions.
Meanwhile, the Super Bowl nonetheless has time to go, and which means extra trailers and commercials for a few of the greatest motion pictures and TV reveals of 2025. Highlights up to now embody teasers for Jurassic World Rebirth, Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning, and Thunderbolts*. For every part included on this yr’s Big Game, you possibly can see our business roundup right here.
Is this a PlayStation reference? Too quickly after this PSN outage, Kendrick. pic.twitter.com/o9DFae1DAH
— Rob Keyes (@rob_keyes) February 10, 2025
Photo by David Buono/Icon Sportswire by way of Getty Images.
Michael Cripe is a contract contributor with IGN. He’s greatest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. Be positive to provide him a comply with on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).
