*Earlier today on Apple Music 1, Zane Lowe was joined by Ebro Darden and Eddie Francis to break down the performances and dive into the most unforgettable moments. See highlights from their conversation below.
Zane, Ebro, and Eddie on The Historical Significance of the Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show…
Zane Lowe: Wow. Goosebumps, man. I got chills all over again. Yeah, let’s give it. Let’s give it. Let’s give it a minute. Super Bowl is one of those only performances as well, where they don’t fake the crowd noise. That’s legit. That’s legit.
Ebro Darden: It was genuine. You could tell when they’re faking it. People were excited. They were more excited for this than they were when the Rams won.
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Zane Lowe: It was something emotional at times. We spoke to Vince Staples about it, and he made a very good point, Eddie, as well. Didn’t he?
Eddie Francis: He was talking about like how hip hop has always been here and we don’t necessarily need that validation. It’s always been in the room. This just kind of pushes it even more forward. I think as hip hop heads, we always have that chip on our shirt. We’re always kind of like, we deserve this, we deserve this, we deserve this. We’ve never seen it on this scale. You got Snoop, full blown, fully cripped out, screaming crip at the Halftime of the Super Bowl. Impalas, people C walking. When people always say it’s for the culture.
Zane Lowe: This was unapologetically for the culture.
Eddie Francis: Specifically, it being in Inglewood, the Super Bowl being in LA, them being LA Staples for the last 30 years. You’re not underselling it when you say you got emotional. That’s how I felt because to me, The Chronic was always my album. You guys just are a little bit older than me, just a little bit. But The Chronic was the first time I was like, this isn’t my older cousin’s music. This isn’t my mom’s music. This is my music. That Snoop, that Dre period, I hold that dear to me. To see where those men, those two, their journey has gone. They’re on stage in front of the world, in the Super Bowl. There was a point in time where, where Snoop was like a music criminal, number one. They didn’t want him in the room.
Zane Lowe: The Super Bowl Halftime Show, it really is for icons only. If you talk to anyone who’s ever done it, every one of them will tell you beforehand it’s nerve-wracking. No matter how many shows you do, no matter how many big stages you step on, this is a whole other level. That minute, in the first sort of two minutes, or not even that. First 60 seconds, where Dre smiles that smile he has, and it’s like a natural, organic, like I’m going to enjoy this smile. I was like, oh, we’re in good shape now. How did you feel when it started, and the studio opened up? I thought it was iconic.
Ebro Darden: I don’t even know what people thought or even questioned what they were going to get. It was going to be the best of the best. It’s the best of the best. I think to really highlight what Eddie was pointing out, which is, I think something I hope people get from this moment. This music that you heard during the Halftime, was music from the individuals that mainstream America did not want to embrace 20, 30 years ago. Now you see what’s happening on social media today. It’s becoming political, because these individuals representing these neighborhood, and these black life experiences on that stage is making America, reminding America, to look at whom we are. This is American music. This is who we are. It’s beautiful that it’s happening in a city that currently is going through a culture shift. A new stadium in a neighborhood that was traditionally black. A new team and hometown heroes. Icons. They were able to navigate the beginnings of life in neighborhoods that America loves to hide from the mainstream. We’re able to turn their real life experiences and stories into multimillion, even some in some cases, billion-dollar revenue streams. I don’t see how you can be upset at that.
Zane, Ebro, and Eddie on Mary J. Blige’s Performance…
Zane Lowe: There was a lot of singing when Mary came on.
Eddie Francis: No, I didn’t expect “No More Drama” to hold weight like that.
Zane Lowe: “No More Drama” was incredibly powerful, but when everything went really quiet was when Kendrick came on. Everyone just went quiet and watched it.
Eddie Francis: … what Mary J. Blige did when she came out, she was the first woman, merging R&B and hip hop at that time. She spoke to a group of women that were voiceless at that moment. What we’ve had since Mary came out, a lot more women in music like her. People that represented and came from those hoods and they were unapologetically who they were. Women, they don’t get to speak. Mary changed the game. We haven’t spoke about Mary. We need to acknowledge her as the queen that she is. Everything she’s done for music. And be on that stage because she deserves to be, and she deserves all the credit for everything she’s been through.
Zane, Ebro, and Eddie on Kendrick Lamar’s Performance…
Ebro Darden: Serious business.
Zane Lowe: There was no whooping. There was no woo. It was just silent focus when he came on. It was crazy.
Eddie Francis: I was tripping because I couldn’t believe he did a deep pull from Meteor Man, which is a old classic Black movie that a lot of people don’t see. He fooled… Google “Meteor Man Golden Lords,” and I’m like, “That’s what you did?” But so… Shout out to Kendrick. Give us an album.
Ebro Darden: and he performed “Alright,” which was the soundtrack to protests and the Black Lives Matter movement and things like that, and it’s a very uplifting song, and it speaks to something that the Black community often and our elders often tell us, which is we going to be all right. Despite the many ways that society, in this greatest society, is attempting to erase us, we going to be all right, which also speaks once again to what I was saying previously about how powerful all of these individuals being on that stage together at this moment is, not just for hip hop but an American society at large. Which is these individuals withstood all of the oppression to become the individuals that we just celebrated on the biggest stage in entertainment. And Kendrick Lamar, the reason every household got quiet and any fan got quiet in that moment is because Kendrick is serious business. When he pulls up, you pay attention.
Zane Lowe: Even just seeing him, because he’s been so tucked away doing whatever he is doing, working on whatever he’s working on. So when you see him again for the first time in ages, it has a powerful impact because he understands the power of no, and he understands the power of sticking to himself and working on his music and working on what he needs to work on. He doesn’t play the attention game. So when he gives you some attention, it’s like, oh my God. You feel it. It’s a powerful thing.
Zane on Dr. Dre’s Genius…
Zane Lowe: As a Dr. Dre music fan, this moment right here is when it all came home. Because you’re reminded just how genius he is. You know who he looked like on the stage at that moment? Quincy Jones. He is that Quincy Jones. Just over a year ago, dr. Dre was recovering from one of those unexpected things that happened in life, that no one ever sees coming. If you’re lucky, you catch it, you get past it and you get that new lease on life. I feel like yesterday, Dr. Dre put his new lease on life, on the world’s stage. That’s how I felt about it. They assembled at the end of the Super Bowl Halftime Show, one of the greatest groups of contemporary artists and creatives in history.
Revisit all the iconic performances from Super Bowl LVI, stream the official Halftime Show playlist, and dive deeper into the discographies of the performers on Apple Music at apple.co/_DrDreAndFriends.
Jhené Aiko – “American The Beautiful” (Watch HERE)
Mickey Guyton – “The Star Spangled Banner” (Watch HERE)
Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, Kendrick Lamar & 50 Cent (Watch HERE)
source: Sam Citron – apple.com
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