Kendrick Lamar has been tapped to headline the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show. The NFL, Apple Music and Roc Nation, which organizes the massive football championship, revealed the rapper as next year’s performer in an announcement on Sunday that coincided with the league’s start of their season.
Apple Music Super Bowl LIX takes place on February 9, 2025 at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. It will mark a return for Lamar, the 17-time Grammy Award-winning artist who has made waves this year with his hit “Not Like Us,” which stems from a widely publicized musical feud with hip-hop star Drake.
But the upcoming halftime festivities are Lamar’s first to headline after performing at the 2022 Super Bowl during an ensemble act that also featured the likes of Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and 50 Cent.
“My name is Kendrick Lamar and I will be performing at Super Bowl LIX,” Lamar says in a promotional video released in time for the Super Bowl announcement, where he stands on a field in front of a huge American flag and launches footballs at the camera from a machine which is used in training.
“Will you pull up? I hope so,” the rapper continues. “You know, there’s only one opportunity to win a championship. No Round 2.”
Lamar’s latest album, “Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers,” was released in 2022. In addition to “Not Like Us,” the rapper this year featured on the chart-topper “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin. He paid tribute to his genre in a statement released when the headline news broke on Sunday.
“Rap music remains the most impactful genre to date. And I’ll be there to remind the world why. They got it right,” Lamar said.