While the 2025 Super Bowl’s overall game was rather disappointing this year (I was rooting for the Chiefs to win), Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show did not disappoint in the slightest. Lamar delivered what has certainly become an iconic halftime show performance, including duets with SZA, him name-dropping Drake while delivering his Grammy-winning diss track “Not Like Us,” and even a surprise Serena Williams cameo. The Easter egg hunters also had plenty to discover, including the bling around Lamar’s neck. Those who are fans of the rapper’s political messaging — first made prominent in his 2014 To Pimp a Butterfly album— were also satisfied by the presence of “Uncle Sam,” played by Samuel L. Jackson. In case you missed the importance of this symbolism, here’s the rundown.
The red, white, and blue with a star-spangled top hat made the American representation of Jackson’s character immediately clear. He opened the show for Lamar, introducing himself as “Your uncle… Sam,” before saying, “And this is the great, American game.”
While Uncle Sam is perhaps most well-known for the historic “I want you” posters from World War I, the character has a specific meaning to the Black community that Lamar so often focuses on. As a personification of the American government, Uncle Sam is often an oppressive character in the Black consciousness, and the term can even be used as an insult when someone is perceived as working against the interests of the Black community or favoring the government over their own people.
Uncle Sam is important to Lamar in particular. His second studio album, To Pimp a Butterfly, featured the character throughout the project. In TPAB, Uncle Sam represents discrimination and capitalist oppression of Black people and is an antagonist along with the devil.
During the Halftime Show, Uncle Sam appeared to represent the parts of America that are attempting to stifle Lamar’s efforts to bring Black culture and struggle back to the forefront of the American consciousness. Uncle Sam’s first introduction comes after Lamar’s performance of “squabble up,” with him saying, “No, no, no! Too loud, too reckless, too… ghetto. Mr. Lamar? Do you really know how to play the game? Then tighten up!”
Suddenly, “the game” being played seemed more than just football. On a PlayStation controller stage, Lamar appeared to be playing a cultural game in which Uncle Sam was the referee. Uncle Sam then declared, “Scorekeeper: deduct one life” after Lamar preferred a low key version of “man at the garden,” with a refrain of “I deserve it all.” Uncle Sam didn’t want anyone getting ideas about deserving more than he thought they were owed.
When SZA appeared for the slower songs “luther” and “All the Stars,” Uncle Sam was pleased. He said, “That’s what I’m talking about! That’s what America wants, nice, calm! You’re almost there. Don’t mess this —” His praise was interrupted by the instrumental to “Not Like Us,” the song that was lingering under the show and teased throughout.
“Not Like Us” was what Uncle Sam was trying to prevent — it’s loud, unapologetically Black, and criticizes American history in its third verse. But, as Lamar declared victory at the close of his show, he said, “They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.”