Did y’all catch Kendrick Lamar’s halftime present? Between the rapper dragging Drake in entrance of untold tens of millions after a 12 months of feuding and likewise dispensing a scathing critique concerning the state of America, it was quite a bit to course of. So if, within the midst of all that, you didn’t occur to catch the online game reference within the present, you could be forgiven for lacking it. That’s proper, Lamar put a direct reference to PlayStation in his efficiency.
Wired has a deep dive into the making of Lamar’s present, together with interviews with the efficiency’s artwork director Shelley Rodgers and inventive director Mike Carson, who defined that the premise of the present’s staging was to painting Lamar’s life “as a online game.” This included areas on stage that had been made to appear to be the face buttons of a PlayStation controller; a triangle, circle, X, and sq..
“I believe the was symbolic, his method to attain younger folks,” Rodgers advised Wired. “Quite a lot of it’s exhibiting his journey, touring by way of the American dream.”
The efficiency itself wasn’t too overt with the online game motif, with Carson saying the group needed to remain “clear and minimal.”
“We went with a monochromatic concrete look and allowed the online game motif to come back alive by way of dialogue, lighting, choreography, and music,” Carson mentioned.
Wired’s story has much more behind-the-scenes data, together with some photographs of the stage being constructed. After noticing the PlayStation buttons within the set, some followers are saying the online game motif provides one other layer to the continuing feud between Lamar and Drake, basically making this a “sport over” second for the Canadian rapper.
The entire present felt like a victory lap for the unimaginable 12 months Kendrick’s had. Between successful the Drake feud by a landslide, releasing a superb album in GNX, and co-headlining an upcoming tour with R&B goddess SZA, the man can’t cease successful.