By: Julia Swee

The Super Bowl is notably one of the most famous events in America. Families from all over the country come together to watch the football game, and a lot of the time people will host parties to view the game with their friends. A huge part of the Super Bowl is the guests they have for the halftime show. The halftime show is a pretty big deal, and even if people don’t necessarily like to watch football, most will still watch the halftime performance. 

For this year’s Super Bowl, the special guests performing were famous rappers Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, as well as featured guests Kendrick Lamar and Eminem. This year’s show was the third straight show to be co-produced by Roc Nation, an entertainment and sports company founded by the famous rapper Jay-Z.

Dre, 56, took the stage first as he opened with his 2000 hit single “The Next Episode”, featuring Snoop Dogg. Dre had become famous with his rap group N.W.A, as they set the template for ‘West Coast gangster rap’ with their 1988 album ‘Straight Outta Compton’.  Dre had gone on to become an in-demand producer and businessman, as his last personal album was released in 2015. 

After the opening performance by Dre, fellow rapper Eminem took to the stage to perform his number one hit “Lose Yourself”. The performance featured rapper Anderson.Paak on the drums and as the song ended, Eminem knelt on his knees while Dre moved to the piano to play the chords to his most famous song “Still D.R.E.”

As they were finishing up, artists from New York took to the stage to perform. 50 Cent arrived to perform his version of the 2003 hit “In Da Club”, followed by Mary J. Blige performing her two most beloved anthems; “Family Affair” and “No More Drama”.

After Blige, Kendrick Lamar took the stage, the youngest performer in the show at the age of 34. According to The New York Times, in 2018 Lamar received a Pulitzer Prize for his music, specifically his fourth album ‘DAMN.’, which Kendrick performed songs from. This album was famous for tackling issues of race, faith, and the burdens of commercial success. Overall, the performance touched many people’s hearts as they came together to view the country’s most famous social event.