A stellar cast of hip-hop royalty served up a barnstorming Super Bowl half-time show yesterday, with performances from Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Mary J Blige, Kendrick Lamar and Eminem setting the SoFi Stadium in LA alight.
Dre served as ringmaster, rising up behind a huge mixing desk and turning up the faders on the 15-minute set. Joined by Snoop Dogg, he immediately launched into The Next Episode, and the pair then tackled 2Pac’s California Love.
Next, an upside-down 50 Cent gave an unbilled performance of In Da Club, before Mary J Blige took control of proceedings with soulful and passionate renditions of Family Affair and No More Drama, with the latter interpolating the piano line from Tears For Fears’ Head Over Heels.
Next came Kendrick Lamar, switching quickly from m.A.A.A.d City into Alright, before a quick blast of Forgot About Dre led us into Eminem’s performance of Lose Yourself, which featured none other than Anderson .Paak on drums.
Dre then jumped on the piano, giving another nod to 2Pac by reciting the piano progression from I Ain’t Mad at Cha, before leading his hip-hop all-stars through a set-closing Still Dre.
You can check out the full performance on the NFL YouTube channel.