No, that wasn’t a Gators jacket.
During this past Sunday’s Apple Music Super Bowl Halftime Show in New Orleans, Kendrick Lamar, fresh off a “Not Like Us”-powered Grammys sweep, took the world’s biggest stage in a custom jacket from Martine Rose. While some viewers did indeed falsely label the jacket as being one of the Florida Gators variety, the letters emblazoned across the front of the leather jacket actually read, “Gloria.”
Kendrick fans will note that GNX, the 22-time Grammy winner’s most recent album, closes with a SZA-featuring track titled “Gloria.” In it, Kendrick continues the lineage of rap songs written about the all-consuming nature of the creative process itself, with Kendrick rapping in the opening lines of the first verse, “Me and my bitch got a complicated relationship.”
From there, Kendrick details this “complicated relationship,” ultimately landing at the triumphant closing line of the track’s third verse, “Ain’t no bitch like my bitch ‘cause that bitch been my pen.”
The track is in line with similarly structured tracks from deeper into hip-hop’s history, namely Common’s “I Used to Love H.E.R” and Nas’ “I Gave You Power.” For artists, the relationship with the source—or their muse, inspiration, whatever you want to call it—can, at times, be a surprisingly contentious one. Ultimately, as Kendrick himself touches on in the final moments of “Gloria,” the oft-unsung sacrifices are more than worth it for a shot at true glory.
While “Gloria” didn’t land in Kendrick’s Super Bowl show, GNX was well-represented in Sunday night’s setlist. “Squabble Up,” “Man at the Garden,” “Peekaboo,” “Luther,” and “TV Off” all got significant airtime during the show. Expectedly, the full set had no shortage of Easter eggs, all of which were recently ranked by Complex here.
For his Super Bowl look, Kendrick again turned to stylist Taylor McNeill, whose name should be familiar for those fond of the sartorial choices of Timothée Chalamet and other top-tier names. Fittingly, Lamar and Chalamet recently linked up for a special interview in commemoration of the Kendrick Bowl set.
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