Sunday’s Super Bowl halftime show features star power fit for Los Angeles — with a New York flair.
Producers of the much-watched annual performance didn’t hold back for the Super Bowl’s first appearance in L.A. in nearly three decades, enlisting five of the biggest names in hip hop to headline the 2022 halftime extravaganza.
Southern California natives Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar will be joined by Bronx-born R&B standout Mary J. Blige and self-proclaimed rap god Eminem for what will be the first performance ever to feature the five artists together.
“This year we are blowing the roof off the concept of collaboration,” said Adam Harter, a senior vice president at PepsiCo, which sponsors the event.
The Super Bowl is almost always the most-viewed TV broadcast in the United States every year, and around 100 million people tune in annually for the halftime show.
There’s been no shortage of memorable moments during past performances, from Lady Gaga descending from the sky to the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake wardrobe malfunction to Katy Perry’s backup dancer, dressed as a shark, going viral for his out-of-sync moves.
Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the 2022 halftime show.
Where is it?
Sunday’s Super Bowl LVI will be the first ever at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, which cost more than $5 billion to construct. The massive venue opened in 2020 and is the home of the Los Angeles Rams, who face the Cincinnati Bengals in Sunday’s game.
It’s only the second Super Bowl ever to feature a team playing on its home field. The first instance occurred last year, when Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers won at Raymond James Stadium.
The last Super Bowl to take place in the Los Angeles area was in 1993, when Michael Jackson headlined the halftime show at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena.
Who are the performers?
This year’s halftime show features multiple generations of influential performers, with Jay-Z and his Roc Nation entertainment company playing a key role in selecting the lineup.
The Compton-born Dr. Dre, who rose to fame during the 1980s as an original member of N.W.A., has worked as a collaborator or producer with each of Sunday’s other headliners.
“The opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime show, and to do it in my own backyard, will be one of the biggest thrills of my career,” said Dre, 56.
Dr. Dre is bringing in deaf stars Warren “Wawa” Snipe and Sean Forbes to interpret the songs in American Sign Language.
Snoop Dogg, known for hits such as “Gin and Juice” and “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” and Blige, whose songs include “Real Love” and “Family Affair,” both released their critically beloved debut albums during the early 1990s.
Blige, 51, spent much of her childhood in Yonkers before getting her start on the New York music scene. Known as the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, she is a nine-time Grammy winner.
The fast-rapping Eminem, meanwhile, hails from Detroit and has frequently worked with Dre, including signing with the producer’s Aftermath Entertainment label in the late 1990s. His hits include “The Real Slim Shady” — which was co-written and produced by Dre — as well as “Lose Yourself” and “‘Till I Collapse.”
And the 34-year-old Lamar, who was also born in Compton, has already established himself as an all-time great through his thought-provoking songs and clever lyrics. His songs include “Swimming Pools” and “HUMBLE.”
“Artists like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were at the forefront of the West Coast hip hop revolution, so to be able to bring them back to LA, where it all began alongside Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar will prove to be an epic, unforgettable celebration of the impact hip hop has today,” said Todd Kaplan, Pepsi’s vice president of marketing.
The five stars have a combined 43 Grammys in their careers, with 22 chart-topping albums between them.
“This is history in the making,” Jay-Z said.
How do I watch?
Sunday’s Super Bowl will air on NBC and Telemundo, and will also be broadcast live on the Peacock streaming service. All three providers will carry the halftime show, too.
The big game kicks off at 6:30 p.m. EDT.
Halftime at the Super Bowl usually lasts for more than 20 minutes, with the performance taking up a large chunk of the time. The halftime period in a standard regular season NFL game is usually about 12 minutes long.
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