‘I Hope Kendrick Got His Message Across During Superbowl Halftime’

by Ernie McCray

I don’t see how anybody

who took time

to really watch

Kendrick Lamar do his thing

between halves

at the Super Bowl Game,

could call his performance

boring and trashy

as it was very entertaining

to me,

and I’m hearing

in debates,

that entertaining was not the show’s intent,

that it was historical,

about real change,

about African Americans

finally

getting our due,

about us going for it

all out like we’re supposed to do

and I am way down with that

with a whole lot

of fancy handshakes

on top of that –

but beyond that,

all I could do

was be entertained.

How can one not

when all of a sudden

Samuel L. Jackson

is filling your TV screen

dressed

in a star-spangled suit,

as Uncle Sam

with an Uncle Tom

smile on his face,

talking about

a great American Game?

I couldn’t avoid thinking

that something is going to be said

on this Super Bowl Day

and then Kendrick Lamar

pops up on the scene

to rhythms and beats

that made me want to rise from my seat

and boogie on my feet

with my walking cane

and he said right before my very eyes:

“The revolution is about to be televised.

You picked the right time

but the wrong guy.”

And now I’m remembering,

my man, Gil Scott-Heron,

who gave us

“The Revolution will not be Televised”

so, I couldn’t wait

to hear

what Kendrick’s more recent take on insurgency

was going to be,

because all my life

this kind of thing

has made my heart sing

and I got into

the images that played out

in colors red white and blue,

the moves, the grooves,

with serious-ass body attitudes,

giving forth with the news,

minus the how-do-you-dos,

letting myself go with the flow

of the music,

moving my old aching body

to the rhythm and the beats

as the musical sounds

soothe me

and bring cheer to my soul,

just being as entertained as

I could possibly be

having sensed that a message

was being said

that was about making a world

better for me

but as it has always been with me and rap music,

I can only decipher a word or two at the most

and I could barely hear a word Kendrick said

but I feel from what little I do hear

about him that a few issues got addressed

pertaining to culture and race

and injustice,

keeping the struggle

for bigger slices of the social and political pie

alive.

Nothing boring and trashy

about any of that

if you ask me.

But I just wish

that I could hear the lyrics

more clearly

in real time

and not have to get the “411” (is that still a term)

later on, from someone.

I hope enough people got the message.