By Sarah Rumpf
Feb 13th, 2022
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.
Eminem took a knee during his Super Bowl LVI halftime show performance — a move that was reportedly in direct defiance of the NFL’s wishes.
The rapper was joined by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and surprise guests 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak in a high-energy Pepsi-sponsored extravaganza that celebrated the soundtrack to all your Gen X and Millennial friends’ college parties.
Many of these artists’ songs have bluntly and boldly addressed civil rights and other political topics, and while Dre’s 1988 N.W.A. song “F*** Tha Police” was most certainly not included in tonight’s playlist, this is not a group of people who shy away from hot-button issues.
Media reports in advance of the big game said that Eminem had made the request to kneel to honor Colin Kaepernick, but was turned down by the Powers That Be at the NFL because they wanted to avoid a “divisive culture war moment.”
Once the performance started and Eminem was up on the roof of the sprawling mansion constructed for the stage, there was not much the NFL brass could do. After he and Dre electrified the crowd with their 2000 hit “Forgot About Dre,” Eminem launched into the Oscar winning “Lose Yourself” from his 2002 film 8 Mile.
He dropped a final chorus…
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime
…and put his hand on his head and kneeled as the crowd roared.
Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.
Eminem took a knee during his Super Bowl LVI halftime show performance — a move that was reportedly in direct defiance of the NFL’s wishes.
The rapper was joined by Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar, and surprise guests 50 Cent and Anderson .Paak in a high-energy Pepsi-sponsored extravaganza that celebrated the soundtrack to all your Gen X and Millennial friends’ college parties.
Many of these artists’ songs have bluntly and boldly addressed civil rights and other political topics, and while Dre’s 1988 N.W.A. song “F*** Tha Police” was most certainly not included in tonight’s playlist, this is not a group of people who shy away from hot-button issues.
Media reports in advance of the big game said that Eminem had made the request to kneel to honor Colin Kaepernick, but was turned down by the Powers That Be at the NFL because they wanted to avoid a “divisive culture war moment.”
Once the performance started and Eminem was up on the roof of the sprawling mansion constructed for the stage, there was not much the NFL brass could do. After he and Dre electrified the crowd with their 2000 hit “Forgot About Dre,” Eminem launched into the Oscar winning “Lose Yourself” from his 2002 film 8 Mile.
He dropped a final chorus…
You better lose yourself in the music, the moment
You own it, you better never let it go
You only get one shot, do not miss your chance to blow
This opportunity comes once in a lifetime
…and put his hand on his head and kneeled as the crowd roared.
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