The Super Bowl Halftime show is an anticipated event during the Super Bowl. It is an honor to be asked to perform during the halftime show. Each time, musical artists go all out to amaze everyone watching. The Super Bowl was hosted in the new Los Angeles Rams stadium, Sofi Stadium. The stadium is in Inglewood, California, and it helped influence what artists would be performing because of the location. 

Three of the artists who performed, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, and Kendrick Lamar, grew up in Southern California, making the performance more personal. The other two performers were Mary J. Blige and Eminem. This Super Bowl is even more important for them because they wanted to bring more opportunities to the Hip-Hop genre. Another important first was the inclusion of two deaf musicians, Warren “Wawa” Snipe and Sean Forbes. This was the first time deaf musicians have ever performed at the Super Bowl.

The performance opens up with buildings from Compton and a map of Southern LA County projecting on the floor. Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg sang “The Next Episode.” They transitioned into “California Love” on the roof of one of the buildings. Then 50 Cent hung from the ceiling of one of the rooms that turned red and sang “In Da Club.” All the performers turned their attention to Mary J. Blige, who was wearing a bedazzled bodysuit with thigh-high boots. She sang  “Family Affair” and transitioned into “No More Drama,” which ended with her falling on her back to finish her performance. The camera panned back to the ground where Kendrick Lamar and many dancers, wearing Dre Day sashes, were surrounded by boxes and singing “m.A.A.d City,” then “Alright.” Suddenly, Eminem popped out of one of the buildings and began singing alongside Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar to “Forget About Dre.” After that, Eminem sang “Lose Yourself” and ended his performance by taking a knee, referencing Colin Kaepernick’s 2016 protest against police brutality and racism. The final song, “Still D.R.E,” concluded the 2022 halftime show.

Online, the halftime show was well-received and praised for being more diverse with its music and performers. This halftime show did stuff never done before and gave a voice to people within the Black community. Usually, they are always flashy and try to beat the previous year, but for this one, it was not about trying to be the best of the best but bringing together communities. It also focused more attention on other genres other than pop, which is performed most of the time at the Super Bowl.

I thought that it was an alright performance since I do not listen to rap that often, but it was pretty cool. Mary J. Blige definitely stole the show with her outfit, and I enjoyed her songs.