She was in a relationship with Drake. 7 years after it ended and she was married and had a child, he released a diss track attacking her H. Thus, she was dancing to a diss track that takes aim at Drake.
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At the risk of going way off topic, I am a shameless consumer of celebrity gossip 
and I’ve read varying reports of whether they were actually in a relationship or not. Some say it was more that he was stalking her and trying to use her for clout, and then when she surprised everyone by getting married, he went after her husband with a lyric.
Drake also briefly dated SZA 
This superbowl was by far the lamest one I have ever seen. Hardly any of the ads were interesting and the halftime show was BORING.
We were a group of 8 last night. One of the guys commented that it would be hilarious to hear us commenting on the half time show. We had no idea what was going on. Officially old 
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I still remember visiting my FIL many years ago and we were watching SNL and the musical guest was REM. And him saying, well I sure don’t see any talent on that stage at all. I loved him, but I’m trying never to be that guy.
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I believe it was a a friendship that he wanted to be more. His behavior was considered very strange by observers .I had no idea he dated SZA!
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I vow to never diss a half time show and consider that if I’m going to watch it, then it’s my job to learn about the artist ahead of time. It’s not like they choose no-name artists to appear.
Everyone will have their own top 10. Here is a 2025 version:
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See, we took it as an opportunity to become more current event literate. So I found out more about Kendrick (a Pulitzer!) and the diss track, and the reason LA loves Not One of Us.
I was an English major, so rap hits me like poetry but I do often look up the lyrics bc they go by so fast. One of my growing older rules is to be reasonably well acquainted with current famous faces. Nobody needs another boy band
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You hit on my main issue with the halftime show - I didn’t look up lyrics ahead of time, and he goes so fast that I just couldn’t understand the words. I think it would’ve felt a lot more meaningful if I knew the words. So I didn’t get it at the time, but I’ve tried to read more today to understand what a saw. I got enough to know I was missing something, I just didn’t know what.
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That’s the interesting part to me. She knows the Crip colors. She knows it’s a Crip Walk. She knows her half sister was murdered by a Crip. Serena not so subtly repped the Crips in front of 100M+ people.
Or maybe there are other layers to this, culturally, that are not entirely familiar to all of us.
Was your takeaway from her appearance that she advocates gang violence? (Genuine question!)
Mine was that she wanted to rep Compton and the specific vision that Lamar articulated in Not Like Us (which has become an anthem for that city)
But she is also mysterious which is one of the things that makes her interesting (aside from her immense talent)
ETA: I definitely relate to your sense of incredulity, BTW. I am still surprised that the NFL legal dept. gave that performance a green light, but it was obviously scrutinized down to the finest detail so what do I know 
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That this could even be a question someone might ask indicates she may have had a lapse in judgement.
Are the Crips known for anything else? Maybe she’s just glorifying gang violence, rather than advocating for it. If my close relative was murdered by a Crip I can’t imagine emulating them period, let alone for a worldwide audience.
I think this is where the cultural knowledge comes in.
“Williams also has a personal connection to the specific dance she performed on the Super Bowl stage. It recalled her celebration at the Wimbledon court in London after beating Maria Sharapova to secure the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics. At the time, she faced an onslaught of criticism for what commentators described as crass and inappropriate. “What Serena did was akin to cracking a tasteless, X-rated joke inside a church,” Fox Sports’ Jason Whitlock said. Others, like Los Angeles Times sports columnist Bill Plaschke, suggested the dance glamorized gang violence. “It was just a dance,” Williams, whose older sister Yetunde Price was killed by a member of the Southside Crips gang in 2003, responded when questioned in 2012.
More than 12 years later, however, she still remembers the backlash, which defenders long claimed was overblown and racist: “Man, I did not crip walk like that at Wimbledon. Ooh, I would’ve been fined,” Williams joked on social media on Sunday night.”
Sounds like her dance was about more than just Drake.
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@abasket…my list would be pretty close to yours!
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I am awake still helping to explain parts of the performance to friends via Messenger. I love that I have friends who are curious and want to learn rather than deride something just because they don’t get it. I don’t pretend to have understood all of it, but thanks to my kid with an American Music History degree (or something like that) I know more than someone my age probably should. 
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I watched the half time show. Did not get most of the symbolism.
This article explained a lot. Appreciate Kendrick more.
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How many of you had parents who complained about popular music? Or videos if they happened to catch MTv while channel surfing? You may have turned into your parents.
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@rphcfb - thank you for linking that article.
I am one of those people who grew up with parents who just didn’t “ get” popular culture. I don’t always get it either, but I make an effort to learn. I ask my kids to explain things sometimes find other sources so that I can understand.
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My 25 years old girl loves rap music. My husband and I were and still are rock’n roll fans from the 60’s, 70’s. She grew up with our music and likes some of it. We are still not sure why or how she has gone the rap route.
She watched the half time show with us (for once because it’s Lamar). She has “educated” us about her music. For the most part, we still don’t get her music, but that’s what she (and many of her friends) likes.
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I too didn’t get the half time show. Mostly, because I couldn’t understand a word he said (didn’t think of putting on the captions). However, my 30 year old daughter also didn’t think much of it either. So, I don’t have to feel like the old out-of-touch parent!
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We put the captions on early, but they didn’t necessarily match what was being sung.
My kids aren’t into Kendrick Lamar, but my S is into music that I don’t get. And that’s okay. Music is art. Art speaks to each of us differently. And art is often used to push back, protest, make a point … or reflect things of importance to a culture. None of it is wrong or suspect, even if we don’t understand it.
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