I haven't been able to stop thinking about this shot from Kendrick's show. The surveillance cameras. I'm not qualified to unpack the layers; I'm not sure that any white person is. Makes me want to read more afro-pess. I'm reminded of the Danziger Bridge shootings in New Orleans during Katrina. - ThreadSky

chadloder.bsky.social • 11 days ago

I haven't been able to stop thinking about this shot from Kendrick's show. The surveillance cameras. I'm not qualified to unpack the layers; I'm not sure that any white person is. Makes me want to read more afro-pess.

I'm reminded of the Danziger Bridge shootings in New Orleans during Katrina.

Comments

rootstockmaine.bsky.social•11 days ago

Just amazing.

pammygrapey.bsky.social•11 days ago

https://youtu.be/aB1PZHeXzHA?si=bvplhBxBdlXF51Dn

thewordfairy.bsky.social•11 days ago

📌

elusivejay.bsky.social•11 days ago

Look at swastika shapes of the bodies.

cheetodusty.bsky.social•11 days ago

It surpassed everything I wanted from K.- icing on the cake was all the people I watched with had no idea of any of his songs, what the message was- I was by myself grooving and enjoying the show- they would love if KISS did the halftime

radical-care.bsky.social•11 days ago

Can’t help myself but one of thee first reading selections (3 works in conversation) of the salon I just started IS Afropessimism 🤓 + a lil Butler for good measure
https://www.patreon.com/posts/121365167

nicoleintrovert.bsky.social•11 days ago

Thank you for linking the imagery to the event. I was stunned during this time, choking up. I didn't realize there was a very grim correlation.

chadloder.bsky.social•11 days ago

The Irish poet David White wrote that poetry is "a language against which we have no defenses."

Good art gets under your skin. It rattles around. It shakes things loose inside you. I love all the interpretations and unpacking that's going on.

chadloder.bsky.social•11 days ago

More depth. Compton specifically was well-represented on that stage last night too, which I love

chadloder.bsky.social•11 days ago

The Palestine/Sudan flag in the show is canon now as far as I'm concerned

chadloder.bsky.social•11 days ago

ellevonhee.bsky.social•11 days ago

This is incredible artistry. I live in the UK so didn't watch but am following the discussions here about this powerful image. Something else jumped out to me: shape of ppl wearing white towards the top -- looks like a white ribbon, which = stop violence against women & girls, a symbol of hope.

mistresscaution.bsky.social•11 days ago

chadloder.bsky.social•11 days ago

I hope he gets his bag

mistresscaution.bsky.social•11 days ago

orcrist86.bsky.social•11 days ago

The black women as a greek chorus explaining the plot to the audience while dressed all in white jumped out hard at me. The metatext in this whole thing is amazing

barrieabalard.bsky.social•11 days ago

Definitely nods to Squid Game. Everything went by so fast (at least, for me) that it was hard to catch it all. A lot of food for thought by Lamar yesterday.

capnfurious.bsky.social•11 days ago

I thought Squid Games too. I'm reading every analysis I come across

tracyabell.bsky.social•11 days ago

Damn, thinking about the countless Superbowl halftime shows I endured before ignoring the entire program yesterday, only to find out how incredible it was.

hexbear.bsky.social•11 days ago

literally me

jussomechika.edm.blue•11 days ago

If ya zoom in you'll see many dancers arms + legs form a swastika. Might not be intentional; could just be that's how they landed but I find it interesting 🤔🤷🏻‍♀️

sluggishcheetah.bsky.social•11 days ago

Looks like mostly the blue ones. That seems appropriate.

dstillings.bsky.social•11 days ago

Here is a great analysis of yesterday’s half time protest? https://open.substack.com/pub/thepettyauntie/p/kendrick-lamars-super-bowl-59-halftime?r=y84vb&utm_medium=ios

koikka.bsky.social•11 days ago

Same here, powerful shot that sticks in your brain!
I see the united white group and all the rest dead on the field, not a single color in their (inner)circle.
I see this as art which is rising awareness, telling a story, waking up, flipping sides, opening minds.

marycateismary.bsky.social•11 days ago

I feel the same way about making comments. I’d like to know more about halftime show. I know i didn’t get it bc im 73 & don’t listen to Kendrick’s music nor do I get all the symbolism/references. I wish I understood it all better. But I’m happy the right has their panties twisted!

katherineintx.bsky.social•11 days ago

Reminded me of his 2018 Grammys performance. Same brilliant choreographer (Charm La'Donna), flag imagery, Greek chorus (Chapelle/Jackson) giving commentary. Last song, a modified King's Dead, had the dancers in similar red costumes were "shot dead" and on the ground.
https://www.grammy.com/videos/watch-kendrick-lamar-u2-dave-chappelle-open-2018-grammys-grammy-rewind

lastthird.bsky.social•11 days ago

Was this supposed to say "afro-press", or is "afro-pess" a thing I've just never heard of?

chadloder.bsky.social•11 days ago

Afro-pessimism.

fourmoyle.bsky.social•11 days ago

📌

lastthird.bsky.social•11 days ago

So definitely the latter: a thing I'd never heard of until now.

newblue25.bsky.social•11 days ago

Thank-you for this thoughtful interpretation of what was presented last night. I was unable to watch it live on a tv, so I needed more input to understand better. Especially the overhead images of the whole area and what I didn’t know were surveillance cameras.

Tonight I’ll stream it somewhere.

myrearend.bsky.social•11 days ago

And while there are people dressed in all three colors among the "dead," the only ones standing are in white.

hexbear.bsky.social•11 days ago

oh shit

vashetc.bsky.social•11 days ago

This part of the performance artistically is what stuck out to me most!

chadloder.bsky.social•11 days ago

It went by in a flash. The amount of detail that went into not just the set design and costume design but the shot selection. What did it evoke for you?

vashetc.bsky.social•11 days ago

I’m going to be processing it for months lmao. My first automatic thought was his Rigamortous music video “don’t ask for your favorite rapper… he dead… I killed him…” 💀 section.80 was him just straight gassing lyrically which was the vibes he was also aiming for based on his superbowl interview

chadloder.bsky.social•11 days ago

Section.80 was pretty amazing

vashetc.bsky.social•11 days ago

Section.80 was incredible, straight bars. Nothing flamboyant or bouncy like gnx or gkmc (not that either of those are bad obvi lol). But easily proved he would be one of the greatest. Pen game crazy.

vashetc.bsky.social•11 days ago

But of course there’s the deeper meanings. Dead bodies in the street. Black bodies. The American flag colors but also bloods and crips both ongoing themes for k dot. Laid out in the middle of the street. In the silhouette of the dead body crime scene symbols

vashetc.bsky.social•11 days ago

and dead bodies/crime scene/Black death as a performance/spectacle for a wealthy audience in a stadium/city ravaged by legacies of state violence particularly with Katrina but also transatlantic slavery, it was just layers and layers of meaning LOL

chadloder.bsky.social•11 days ago

It's the performance/spectacle/surveillance aspect that I keep coming back to this morning

vashetc.bsky.social•11 days ago

My bad for the lengthy response lol I get so hyped by Kendrick and Dave’s minds

notthecops.bsky.social•11 days ago

Oh wow, honestly that completely went over my head. It’s really not surprising why the people upset by it are actually mad vs why they claim they’re mad

nateo.bsky.social•11 days ago

I think it’s so brilliant that it’s also classic inner-city lamp poles and the dancers on top make reference to Alright, but anyone that’s lived in specific neighbourhoods know it also looks like the surveillance cameras, it is all of them!

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