Will Kendrick Lamar Perform "Not Like Us" at Super Bowl LIX?

On February 9, Kendrick Lamar will take to the field at New Orleans’ Caesars Superdome as the Super Bowl’s halftime performer. And, of course, the one question on everybody’s mind is: Will he perform “Not Like Us”?

Yes, the song that solidified his win against Drake during their feud last year may or may not make an appearance in his setlist. Sure, there are the obvious reasons it should be: it’s a hit and is extremely (at least beat-wise) sports-friendly, serving as a song that numerous HBCU bands have played during games and other events. But there’s also clear reasons why maybe it won’t, particularly in regard to Drake’s federal lawsuit against Universal Music Group (Lamar is not listed as a defendant), which accuses the rapper’s longtime label of defamation for promoting “Not Like Us.” As we all know, the track declares that Drake is a “certified pedophile,” a claim that Drake argues has put him and his family in danger.

So, if Lamar decides to perform “Not Like Us” — and actually get to the lyrics where he refers to Drake as a pedophile — during the most watched TV broadcast every year, will he be in trouble?

Well, according to the Los Angeles Times, which spoke to a First Amendment litigator and criminal defense attorney ahead of the West Coast rapper’s performance, it’s highly unlikely because, even in his lawsuit, he’s blaming UMG rather than Kendrick himself.

“All he would be able to do is say, ‘UMG promoted this song at the Super Bowl, their hands got Kendrick Lamar the gig.’ It doesn’t seem to increase Lamar’s threat profile much. It’s already a widely known song, so the stance Drake seems to take is, ‘I’m going to go after kind of the unpopular defendant no one likes, a big record label.’”

And what about the NFL or Fox, the TV network that’ll be hosting the Super Bowl game and its halftime show?

“It increases the damages in theory. But does middle America listening to Kendrick at the Super Bowl really damage Drake’s reputation more than it’s already been damaged? Probably not,” White said. “It does potentially bring in other people who are responsible for helping to publish what he says are false statements. I’m sure the NFL and the network and all have thought about that. It wouldn’t surprise me if they’re trying to stop it from being done at the Super Bowl.”

“I’m a defense lawyer, so of course I’m going to say, ‘Guys, don’t do this. It’s just going to give me a headache,’” he added. “I’m sure every general counsel with the network or the NFL is saying, ‘No, for the love of God, don’t do it.’ But the halftime show has always been willing to showcase stuff that is somewhat edgy. So I don’t really know how they’ll play it, but if I were an in-house counsel, I’d be telling them not to do it.”

It’s worth noting that the NFL apparently doesn’t intend to stop Lamar from performing “Not Like Us” — at least, according to author and media personality Marc Lamont Hill. During a recent episode of The Joe Budden Podcast, Hill said that he asked an NFL executive if the football organization was going to “block” the GNX artist from going playing the diss track.

“What they said was, ‘Kendrick can do whatever he wants at the Super Bowl. The NFL does not control what he does. … We asked Snoop not to crip walk or throw up gang signs. He did it anyway, nobody died,’” Hill said.

But also — and as this piece has hinted toward already — even if Lamar does “Not Like Us,” there’s a possibility that he skips over the Drake pedophile lyrics entirely, or figures out a way to allude to them without being overt (which is the chess-level approach to lyrical warfare one would expect from Lamar).

Regardless, the second Sunday of February is going to be an interesting one, as we await and see if Lamar will perform “Not Like Us,” as well as what the rest of his set will include.