Kendrick Lamar has been riding high lately, and now he is poised to reach one of his highest heights yet.
Fresh off of winning five Grammy Awards, including Song and Record of the Year for his hit “Not Like Us,” Lamar is the featured performer for the Super Bowl LIX halftime show on Sunday.
Lamar sat for a rare interview during the Apple Music Super Bowl press conference on Thursday, where he was asked what people could expect in his set.
“Storytelling,” Lamar said. “I’ve always been very open about storytelling through all my catalogue and my history of music. And I’ve always had a passion about bringing that on whatever stage I’m on.”
There has been palpable excitement among fans of the rapper, but also interest in how he will handle “Not Like Us,” given both its content and a current lawsuit surrounding the hit.
The song is part of a viral-rap battle that occurred between Lamar and Drake last year that has led to a complicated legal case. Leah Stevenson, an entertainment attorney with MGL Law firm, said what began as a beef between two of the biggest stars in hip-hop, mushroomed far beyond that.
“This song became a much larger conversation for America about standing on morals, standing on values, standing on the beliefs that we have and the way that we move,” she told CNN. “It became a song that people started using in very big cultural moments, so this song has gotten way bigger than just a diss battle.”
For that reason and more, all eyes will be on Lamar when he takes the stage before millions at the Super Bowl.
The legality of it all
Last month, Drake filed a lawsuit against his own record label, UMG Recordings, Inc., in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The Canadian rapper and actor has accused the label of defamation in the publishing and promotion of “Not Like Us” and is seeking compensatory and punitive damages.
Drake is currently represented by Republic Records, a division of UMG, while Lamar is currently represented by Interscope Records, also a division of UMG. Lamar is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
“Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist—let alone Drake—is illogical,” a spokesperson for UMG said in a statement to CNN at the time the lawsuit was filed. “We have not and do not engage in defamation—against any individual. At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more that write a song.”
Part of what Drake objects to – and strongly denies – are Lamar’s lyrics in which he raps, “Say Drake, I hear you like ‘em young/You better not ever go to cell block one,” as well as Lamar saying “Certified lover boy? Certified pedophiles” and another portion in the song where he says “Tryna strike a cord and it’s probably A Minor.”
So might his performing it at the Super Bowl lead to more legal action by Drake, given that he has already come after UMG for defamation?
Not necessarily, said Stevenson, who noted that Lamar has several options for how he could handle it during the halftime show.
“Would there be a potential requirement where he’s not allowed to perform certain aspects, kind of like a radio edit, where we’re seeing the ‘A Minor’ and the other language that’s in ‘Not Like Us’ as problematic and therefore stripped and cut out from him being able to audibly perform that? That is quite possible,” she said. “There could be a situation where we see Kendrick not being able to say those words, but that doesn’t mean that the entire crowd at the Super Bowl, as well as the millions of Americans that are at home at their Super Bowl parties would not be singing those words.”
CNN has reached out to the NFL to determine if any limitations have been put on Lamar regarding performing the song.
Source: CNN
