LOS ANGELES (News4usonline) – In the days leading up to Super Bowl LVI, music master Dr. Dre made a not-so-startling statement about the hip-hop genre just now getting their feet wet on the grandest sports stage in the world.
During a Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show panel discussion on Feb. 10 at the Los Angeles Convention Center, Dr. Dre, flanked by Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige during an hour-long conversation, said the nod for hip-hop to be front and center of the halftime show was long overdue.
“This should have happened a long time ago as far as hip-hop,” Dr. Dre said during a portion of the discussion the three stars had with NFL Network hosts MJ Acosta-Ruiz and Nate Burleson. “Hip-hop is the biggest music, the biggest genre of music on the planet right now. So, it’s crazy that it took all of this and all of this time for us to be recognized. So, I think we’re going to go on and do a fantastic show, and we’re going to do it so big that they can’t deny us anymore in the future.”
Well, when it comes to the Super Bowl Halftime Show, there have been some memorable performances. When someone thinks of iconic halftime numbers at the single most-watched sporting event in the world, artists like Michael Jackson, Beyonce, and Prince come to mind.
Those are some real heavyweights to go up against. So when pressed about having to match or live up to previous super halftime performances, Dr. Dre, a Compton native, didn’t blink.
“Throughout all my life, I’ve always enjoyed being underestimated, you know,” Dr. Dre said. “I’m living in that space right now. And I know, we’re going to kill this [sh-t].”
That would be an understatement. Taking the stage on the field at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, Blige, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and 50 Cent, didn’t just kill it, they put on perhaps the greatest halftime show ever at a Super Bowl. Well, it’s arguably right up there next to Prince’s epic performance in Super Bowl XLI.
What was not to like about Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg opening the show with “The Next Episode” and closing the performance with the pulsating anthem “Still D.R.E.?” “Still D.R.E.,” which was first posted on YouTube in 2011, caught fire after the tandem’s halftime performance, going over a billion views.
How’s that for pressure and living up to expectations?
The aftermath of the halftime show was clearly in favor of the hip-hop stars as each one of them got big-time bumps in streaming sales and product buys. The proof is in the pudding when it comes to Dr. Dre, who is an excellent example of this.
The musical driving force behind the rise of N.W.A., Dr. Dre saw his Dr. Dre-2001 masterpiece soar back into the Billboard Top 10 albums list (No.9) after his super dance. The album, Dr. Dre-2001, was last reported making Billboard’s Top 10 list way back in 2000, according to Billboard.
The favor of playing a halftime gig in the Super Bowl proved to be beneficial to all the artists, not just Dr. Dre. Eminem, who performed his mega-hit “Lose Yourself” during intermission of the Los Angeles Rams-Cincinnati Bengals Super Bowl, also saw a musical revival on the music charts as his “Curtain Call” album soared into the No. 8 spot, according to Billboard.
Blige, Snoop Dogg, Lamar, and 50 Cent all got bumps in streaming sales and metric numbers increasing because of their showcase performance. The culture of hip-hop, whether you like it or not, was all over the place: in the stadium and on television sets across the world.
The 2022 Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show drew an average of 103.4 million viewers, up 7 percent from last year’s performance, according to the NFL.
“This is a great moment considering that the stadium was built a couple of years ago,” Snoop Dogg said. “I had people that I know that worked on building the stadium. The city of Inglewood gave opportunities to people to actually be part of creating this thing. So knowing that the stadium was built and the Super Bowl was going to be here and that we have an opportunity to perform on stage, this is a blessing because the Super Bowl is the biggest sporting event in the world and hip-hop is the biggest form of music in the world.”
Snoop Dogg, who hails from Long Beach, continued, “For us to have the opportunity to bring the two worlds together…We’ve got the queen of R&B. We’ve got the king of hip-hop. We’ve got all of his proteges in the place. This is what’s it’s about. This is what hip-hop and the NFL is supposed to be about, representing change, about moving forward. We appreciate the NFL for even entertaining hip-hop because we know a lot of people didn’t want hip-hop; we’re here now and there ain’t nothing you can do about it.”
For Dr. Dre, this is just the beginning for hip-hop artists getting an opportunity to perform during the halftime of a Super Bowl.
“We’re going to open more doors for hip-hop artists in the future and making sure that the NFL understands that this is what it should have been a long time ago,” remarked Dr. Dre. “We’re going to show exactly how professional we can be, how dope we can be onstage, and how exciting we’re going to be to the fans.”
And that they were.
Featured Image Caption: Dr. Dre (left) and Snoop Dogg perform during the Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. Photo by Mark Hammond/News4usonline
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, social justice, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University.