I’m not black and I’m sure I missed so many nuances simply because it’s hard to process all the levels of artistic GENIUS I witnessed yesterday. Can I appreciate it for what I did understand? Because I appreciated it more than any art I’ve seen in YEARS. A performance for the history books.
I loved the show and picked up on some of the digs he was getting in. Honestly, that’s what I enjoyed the most! After it was over, I saw other things that I didn’t pick up on during the performance and that made me live it even more!
Not disagreeing, but this white lady thinks the parts she could understand were absolutely fantastic. Thank you, Mr. Lamar, for speaking truth to power!
Well I didn't watch anything - it's a Canadian thing at the moment. And I'm just not a fan of Rap. But jeepers this man's accomplishments need to be respected regardless of genre. Old white people like me need to calm the eff down. Next year they should have freeform jazz see how that goes.
I'm White. I understood. I support and ❤️ There is no place for division and hate in this world. It's been left unfettered for far too long. So happy to see you Lizzo.
The show was amazing 🤩 and he breathed fire into our souls!!! It was beautiful and poetic! Anyone who didn't understand or complained, outted themselves as complicit with Trump's takeover. When they show you who they are, believe them.
Ok. Here’s the thing.
Now what?
It needs to propel people to act. To unite and fight. Will it? I sure hope so otherwise it was just a half time show and your country is lost.
lol I’m not black but I don’t think we can include you in understanding the plight of the majority . Weren’t we all blocking you on TikTok six months ago for your silence ? 🤫
Really? I disagree.
I see it as a cultural thing. I’m white. GenX. Gay. I and many of my peers understood the message in the art. I absolutely loved it! I watched it 4 times the next morning🤘
Others my age were having meltdowns …
Can confirm. The white men at my Super Bowl party were as lost as last year’s Easter eggs! The youngest son explained to them and they were even more confused.
I was 1/2 asleep from the boring first half and crashed right after his performance and I wasn't even drinking.
I wouldn't have understood the Rolling Stones.
Enough "us and them". I'm sure that we white people don't get it, so instead of creating division please elucidate us. We're already great at division is all I'm saying.
Comparing culture with color is ridiculous. You can learn anything you want about culture, but color is identity, you can't just go to a library and learn identity.
What really divides us is not blk vs white. It’s those with a spiritual connection to the Creator vs those who prefer power and greed. This worldly game will not be won by the ladder. A TRUE child of God would prefer living by his Grace not at the expensive of another.
I know you are not saying that people that don't have "a spiritual connection to the Creator" are bad! Not every good person is religious and not every religious person is good. Case in point: "Christian" nationalists replaced Jesus with trump and use religion as an excuse for hate and cruelty.
I don’t believe I said anything about religion. That’s man made manipulation for control.
I’m talking about the Spirit of kindness, inclusion, compassion, love, honesty, and so on. The Spirit of the Creator, that does not abide injustice, hate,….lies or liars.
Yes it is nice to share culture, especially a culture with such riches.
As a student I enjoyed folk music from Ireland, I think that because there had been such a history of suffering there, the poetic expression was amazing.
i'm a middle-age white guy and I watched the show, I know nothing about Kendrick Lamar, I don't really like his music that much. The show was good, But I understand that it's not for me and I'm not gonna be a little bitch about it like MAGA.
No, I don't fully understand. I live in a skin that doesn't lend itself to ever fully understanding. But, I sure can respect it and it was a fantastic show no matter.
That was STILL a very racist comment…just because i don’t like rap, i still thought it was great dancing/Choreography…to insinuate white people can’t appreciate it is not nice
Oh, I think every one of us who hates what is happening in right now understands, my friend. Even if we didn’t get every granular nuance, we absolutely FELT the biting spirit of resistance & FU commentary inherent in that brilliant performance, trust me. We may be white, but we ain’t all blind. ✊🏼✊🏼✊🏼
Well said. In comparison, I don’t necessarily like all opera or understand every word. But I get the spirit and intensity of the music and performance. If I want to know ‘words’ I can go to the Google.
Ooookkkk well I’m also old, not dead. The mixing was so bad I didn’t catch most of the words/lyric’s. But honestly anything that makes MAGA and Rump so upset sit just fine with me! Go Birds.
I’m a 53 y/o WW & 4 me this was a Masterclass in Black history w/ a stark warning for the future. It made me think. It made me uncomfortable in my whiteness in a way that is healthy. I can’t understand but I can appreciate the unbelievably intelligent talent on that stage & be better bc if it
I know that many people incorrectly attribute a specific meaning to art all the time. I just think the OP is overthinking/overanalyzing things a bit and are probably wrong in their assessment If the artist wants to come out and agree with the OP's assessment I'll retract my statement.
Dear fellow white people, I have a homework assignment if you’re open. Watch the movies Bamboozled, Sorry to Bother You, and Childish Gambino’s This Is America music video. There are a lot more, but these stood out to me. Love, someone raised in a small white town who wants to do better.
I understood the performance and it was fantastic. I'm grateful that I have the opportunity to see performances like this. They are magnificant artistic performances and I am here for it. I know I have a lot to learn still, but this halftime show was another opportunity to learn more. Perfect!
He is a Pulitzer Prize winner. That alone makes him important enough for people of every race to know what he is about and to do the work to understand his art.
We all felt it and were brokenhearted. My daughter knew every word and gave us background. (Philly). I listened through the week to understand and learn, and when I heard 40 acres and a mule I was sick to my stomach. 🙏🏼
Watched it a couple times on YouTube. I'm white & I thought it was brilliantly done. There's a reason the man has a Pulitzer. So much symbolism from the Squid Game yard to the costumes to the prison yard... SLJ's Uncle Sam & so much more. Those who didn't get it are the problem.
Couple of YT Black influencers broke it down for me but the Kendrick/Drake stuff is very layered if you didn’t follow the play-by-play as it all went down. SBJ as Uncle Sam was 💯 and his commentary was chef’s kiss. Loved it.
It really ain't. Its a money thing and everbody knows it. Please stop. Still its *Crickets* about the Diddy ring, even when everybody knew him for years, and when they find out what Kendrick is involved in, it'll be same shit. Trafficking is trafficking.
I actually understood a lot of it. Lamar is a genius! I am an older American. Still saw it. Loved Uncle Sam. Loved revolution message. Royal DNA. It was great! Go Kendrick!
Music is a way, a path to understanding. It doesn’t exclude, it doesn’t have a skin color and it couldn’t care less whose ears it goes into or whose mind it opens up. Last I looked, love of music is universal. So, I respectfully disagree.
Hmm. I’ve seen people say that it’s not a fact because it wasn’t too hard to figure out. (I mean, it’s not biochemistry.) In fact that’s mostly what I’ve seen…not “that’s racist” or “I’m a good one”
Correct! ✅
But I’m so grateful to him, his talent, his vision, and for sending a huge FUCK YOU to The Pussygrabber Regime! And I bow to his understanding of efficiency (since it’s all the rage rn) in calling out the grown up dudes who like the MINORS, because there were quite a few in the house.
To whom are you directing this? If this was a tweet I’d understand, this isn’t twitler. I have yet to see one negative post or comment about Kendrick, but I’m seeing a clear division placed by you. I thought you were against shaming…
White gramma who has loved Kendrick's genius for years. (needed some help from my millennial children to fully understand the Drake history.) I am blown away by what we experienced. Each time I watch it, I'm aware of something new. Maybe this is a teaching moment for some of White America. Some.
I’m white and did understand. I loved it. Please don’t be like republicans and assume the worst of others. By the way I would have loved you playing the flute with them.
We can understand in the sense that we listened to black people and believed them, but as white people we will never truly understand cause the black experience is not our lived experience.
It's not an insult or an assumption.
I’m white. I understood.
I heard the message. Don’t say because someone isn’t black that we don’t understand. We stand in solidarity with our black/African American friends. Let’s focus on the real war, Lizzo- OLIGARCHY AND FASCISM
Yeah I think she’s trying to say that no matter how hard we try, if we’re white we really can’t understand what the Great American Game (being black in the US) is like.
I have always been a progressive liberal. I’ve always been on the side of BLM. I even marched with them in 2020-2021. I hate it when Lizzo does this. I get that minorities are repressed, but that was not one of those moments.
I can live in Finland the rest of my life, embrace lake swimming in summer and cross country skiing over the lake... I can use a bolt action rifle to repel Russian aggression in the middle of winter, even do the impossible and learn Finnish.
I'll be honest, it flew over my head, but good on him to rally his people and to send a message to those who needed to hear it. I hope it makes a difference. America and their people are in need of help.
This white gal understood most - and for what I didn’t, I looked it up. It was clearly an important moment and deserves to be understood. Don’t think white folks aren’t willing or capable of understanding!
Meh. I grew up on 70’s-80’s rap/hip hop/ska/dancehall and others but, I just watched the halftime show and I can say I’m NOT a fan of current pop or rap. I’m old old skool. It’s got zero to do with empathy or knowing the lingo. This was discernible as English
It was a lot of other races who understood. But it’s also great that some who didn’t understand did some research on who is Kendrick Lamar and wanted to understand instead of saying halftime show was the worst.
I mean it wasn't very nuanced or subtle. Anybody who says they didn't get it is either lying and unable to face the reality of the USA or just reading at or above a 5th grade reading level.
I knew that while watching, but I knew it was art with a message Today I, a 60 yo white woman, am choosing to learn the message and several friends have too. Don’t give up on us all, some choose to learn and not judge. Just no enough of us yet.
Comments
https://bsky.app/profile/chasingoz.bsky.social/post/3lhu4jtaqwk2p
Fanning the flames of racial division on the platform of people pushing back on racists helps nobody.
I’m glow-in-the-dark white and I enjoyed it.
Know where your enemies are.
Maybe she doesn’t understand.
and
B) why does it seem every time she comments it needs to be justified?
But I’ll never have to think about it again.
The show was fantastic
I'm a history nerd, I understood enough.
Now what?
It needs to propel people to act. To unite and fight. Will it? I sure hope so otherwise it was just a half time show and your country is lost.
I see it as a cultural thing. I’m white. GenX. Gay. I and many of my peers understood the message in the art. I absolutely loved it! I watched it 4 times the next morning🤘
Others my age were having meltdowns …
I wouldn't have understood the Rolling Stones.
But also… it was really good and people should enjoy what they got to see.
I’m an old head and I didn’t watch the game (boycott), but I saw KDOT on a clip.
Great performance should be recognized as a great performance.
He did his thang.
I’m talking about the Spirit of kindness, inclusion, compassion, love, honesty, and so on. The Spirit of the Creator, that does not abide injustice, hate,….lies or liars.
As a student I enjoyed folk music from Ireland, I think that because there had been such a history of suffering there, the poetic expression was amazing.
Fascism won.
But yer right, it wasn't nice.
That's all I need to understand
I'm a 69 year old Canadian white woman. Loved it!
https://bsky.app/profile/5narktwain.bsky.social/post/3lhtxhhfysc2s
I thought I partially understood but certainly I’m not going to understand that experience in the way my black friends do
This is part if the reason DJT got elected again.
We’re better on the same team then we are alienating people who, although a different skin color think alike. That’s some petty shit.
It was a powerful message we needed to hear.
We don't have to make everything about us my fellow white people.
But I’m so grateful to him, his talent, his vision, and for sending a huge FUCK YOU to The Pussygrabber Regime! And I bow to his understanding of efficiency (since it’s all the rage rn) in calling out the grown up dudes who like the MINORS, because there were quite a few in the house.
It's not an insult or an assumption.
I heard the message. Don’t say because someone isn’t black that we don’t understand. We stand in solidarity with our black/African American friends. Let’s focus on the real war, Lizzo- OLIGARCHY AND FASCISM
But Hobby horses? I shall never understand...
Tbf some of those hobby horses can jump pretty high 🤣.
Be kind.
“Life Ain’t Been No Crystal Stair! But don’t you stop because things get kinda hard”