Anderson .Paak has admitted he begged Dr. Dre to appear on the 2022 Super Bowl halftime show.
That year’s event saw performances from Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Mary J. Blige and 50 Cent with Paak making a guest appearance as a drummer.
Sitting down for a chat with Drink Champs, the Silk Sonic star revealed how he secured his slot on the stage.
He said: “They had already dropped a flyer for the Super Bowl. I was not on that shit.
“I hit Dre direct. ‘Dre, what the fuck? Let me get on that joint. Let me play drums, something. I gotta get in there some way’. He said, ‘Hey, it’s all good.’”
Paak then recalled what he was thinking while drumming during Eminem’s performance of “Lose Yourself”: “The way they orchestrated it, it went off without a hitch. That was a big moment for sure. I was like, ‘Should I smile?’ I couldn’t help it. And I’m like, ‘I’m going to be straight-faced.’ And then, as you can see, I had the biggest fucking smile the whole time. I tried. I was hyped.”
Kendrick Lamar would then return to the Super Bowl stage three years later for his record breaking performance which also saw a guest appearance by SZA.
Samuel L. Jackson, who made a cameo in the show, revealed that he believed Kendrick’s performance was “revolutionary”.
He said on Paloma Faith’s Mad Sad Bad podcast: “I didn’t know what they were doing. It was kinda trippy because it wasn’t until dress rehearsal that when I looked up and I looked on that stage and I go, ‘Oh shit, that’s a flag. Ah, fuck, we’re being revolutionaries.’ Because I wasn’t listening or paying attention.”
Jackson appeared throughout the performance, playing a version of Uncle Sam, essentially narrating Kendrick’s show.
Serena Williams and Mustard also made brief cameos during the performance which was highly acclaimed if controversial for its references to Kendrick’s beef with Drake, topped off with a rendition of “Not Like Us”.
During the actual performance of “Not Like Us”, Kendrick self-censored the “certified pedophile” line but smirked to the camera as he rapped: “Say Drake, I hear you like ’em young / You better not ever go to cell block one / To any [bitch] that talk to him and they in love / Just make sure you hide your lil’ sister from him.”
