Kanye West has revealed that he’s a fan of Kendrick Lamar‘s recent Super Bowl Halftime Show, calling it his “favourite” since Michael Jackson‘s iconic 1993 performance.
- READ MORE: Ranking the 10 best Super Bowl halftime shows in history
Yesterday (February 10), Compton rapper Kendrick Lamar made history by becoming the first solo rapper to headline the coveted Halftime Show. For the performance, he was joined by SZA and featured cameos from Samuel L. Jackson and Serena Williams.
He performed a slew of tracks from his latest offering ‘GNX’, some cuts off ‘DAMN.’ and two Drake disses ‘Euphoria’ and the acclaimed, Grammy-winning ‘Not Like Us’.
Following the head-turning performance, Kanye West spoke about Kendrick’s performance. The video, captured and shared via NFR Podcast on X (formerly Twitter), sees Kanye praising Lamar’s performance.
Kanye said: “A few people been asking me ‘What did you think of the Kendrick Halftime Show?’ and I really loved the show. It was my favourite Halftime Show since the Michael Jackson era, which I kind of just barely remember, I just be seeing clips of it.”
He went on to explain: “It was super simple, the flag was fresh. When they did [‘HUMBLE.’], the way people’s heads were moving. I was like, shook. This is like, super fresh. The man’s voice control and all that. And you know, of course they built up the controversy on whether he’s going to do [‘Not Like Us’]. And at the end, I saw people saying this is the worst Halftime Show and I’m just like ‘everybody I talked to in real life said this is the best Halftime Show’”.
Kanye speaks on Kendrick Lamar’s #SUPERBOWL Halftime Show 👀
“I really loved the show. It was my favorite show since the Michael Jackson era.” pic.twitter.com/A7opyTrwTs
— NFR Podcast (@nfr_podcast) February 10, 2025
Lamar’s performance has received mixed reactions from fans and viewers. Some have labelled it a “masterpiece”, while some have called it the “worst Super Bowl performance in the last decade”.
NME has ranked Kendrick’s performance as the third best Super Bowl performance of all time, only behind Michael Jackson’s 1993 showcase in second place and Prince‘s 2007 performance in first.
West’s – now legally known as Ye – approval of Kendrick Lamar’s performance comes after a series of bizarre and controversial tweets he posted on X over the weekend before his account was deactivated.
- READ MORE: With his “White Lives Matter” stunt, has Kanye West finally hit the point of no return?
Over the weekend, Ye launched a string of controversial posts that saw him withdraw his apology to the Jewish community for past anti-Semitic comments, as well as declaring himself as “a Nazi”.
He had also tweeted “I love Hitler”, praised billionaire and X-owner Elon Musk as “the most lit person that [has] ever been on Twitter” and claimed that all other people look up to him. Musk himself had drawn criticism and allegations of Nazism earlier this year when he made two Nazi-like gestures during Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration.
He would go on to claim “dominion” over his wife Bianca Censori, who at the Grammys red carpet event revealed a fully see-through dress exposing her nude body: “I have dominion over my wife. This ain’t no woke as feminist shit. She’s with a billionaire, why would she listen to any of you dumb ass broke bitches? People say the red carpet look was her decision… Yes, I don’t make her do nothing she doesn’t want to, but she definitely wouldn’t have been able to do it without my approval, you stupid ass woke pawns.”
Ye also voiced his support for Diddy and Chris Brown, and urged for the former to be released from prison amid sexual abuse allegations, and has since wiped his website and is only selling a white t-shirt with a large swastika on the chest listed as “HH-01”. The garment is priced at $20, with the listing’s name of “HH-01” possibly a reference to the ‘Heil Hitler’ chant that would accompany Nazi gestures.
