Kendrick Lamar References Drake Feud During Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, But Drops ‘Pedophile’ Line From “Not Like Us”

Kendrick Lamar made a bold statement during his Super Bowl LIX halftime performance by referencing his ongoing feud with Drake.

The rapper performed a segment of his diss track Not Like Us at Caesars Superdome on Sunday, delivering some of his most pointed lines against his Toronto-based rival.

After teasing the crowd with several intentional false starts, Lamar finally launched into the song, which has become one of his biggest hits. He included scathing lyrics such as, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young” and “Tryna strike a chord, and it’s probably A minor,” which the audience shouted along with him.

However, Lamar appeared to hold back on one of his most direct accusations against Drake, possibly due to FCC regulations. Instead of explicitly calling Drake a pedophile, as he has in past performances, he altered the lyrics mid-line. “Certified Lover Boy? Certified—” he rapped, before cutting himself off with a pre-recorded scream sound effect.

One of the most surprising moments of the performance came when tennis star Serena Williams took the stage in the middle of Not Like Us.

Williams, who was rumored to have dated Drake in the mid-2010s, danced as the song played—a move many interpreted as a direct jab at the Canadian rapper.

The feud between Lamar and Drake began in October 2023 when J. Cole and Drake released First Person Shooter, in which Cole referred to himself, Drake, and Lamar as “the Big Three” of hip-hop. Lamar remained silent until March 2024, when he took aim at both artists on Future and Metro Boomin’s song Like That, rapping, “Motherf— the big three, it’s just big me.”

Drake responded in April with Push Ups and Taylor Made Freestyle, the latter of which controversially featured AI-generated vocals of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg.