A year ago, it would’ve been a long-shot bet to pick Kendrick Lamar to be the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show headliner. In fact, it seemed as if his moment to play the biggest stage in the game had already come and gone in 2022’s Dr.

Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, 50 Cent, and Snoop Dogg, from left, perform during the halftime show during the NFL Super Bowl 56 football game between the Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals on Feb. 13, 2022, in Inglewood, Calif. (AP Photo/Adam Hunger, File)

Lamar, himself, is no stranger to the halftime show. Three years ago at the Super Bowl LVI, he performed alongside two of the greatest rappers to come from the West Coast: Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. But what feels so monumental about this moment, in particular, is that Lamar has been able to puncture the mainstream in his own way—on his own terms.