Did y’all catch Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show? Between the rapper dragging Drake in front of untold millions after a year of feuding and also dishing out a scathing critique about the state of America, it was a lot to process. So if, in the midst of all that, you didn’t happen to catch the video game reference in the show, you can be forgiven for missing it. That’s right, Lamar put a direct reference to PlayStation in his performance.
Wired has a deep dive into the making of Lamar’s show, including interviews with the performance’s art director Shelley Rodgers and creative director Mike Carson, who explained that the premise of the show’s staging was to portray Lamar’s life “as a video game.” This included spaces on stage that were made to look like the face buttons of a PlayStation controller; a triangle, circle, X, and square.
“I think the [video game theme] was symbolic, his way to reach young people,” Rodgers told Wired. “A lot of it is showing his journey, traveling through the American dream.”
The performance itself wasn’t too overt with the video game motif, with Carson saying the team wanted to stay “clean and minimal.”
“We went with a monochromatic concrete look and allowed the video game motif to come alive through dialogue, lighting, choreography, and music,” Carson said.
Wired’s story has a lot more behind-the-scenes information, including some photos of the stage being built. After noticing the PlayStation buttons in the set, some fans are saying the video game motif adds another layer to the ongoing feud between Lamar and Drake, essentially making this a “game over” moment for the Canadian rapper.
The whole show felt like a victory lap for the incredible year Kendrick’s had. Between winning the Drake feud by a landslide, releasing an excellent album in GNX, and co-headlining an upcoming tour with R&B goddess SZA, the guy can’t stop winning.