It was five years ago when Jay-Z's Roc Nation entered into a partnership with the NFL. The alignment was, in many ways, the league's clumsy attempt to make amends for how badly it blew the handling of Colin Kaepernick's protest movement.
"Roc Nation, the entertainment company founded by rapper and businessman Shawn 'Jay-Z' Carter, is entering into a multiyear partnership with the NFL to enhance the NFL's live game experiences and to amplify the league's social justice efforts," the NFL said at the time.
What's happened since? Unless Jay-Z is doing something we can't publicly see, his "social justice efforts" remain non-existent.
The live game experience part? That's completely different.
Jay-Z continues to engineer how the NFL presents itself to the public by utilizing the popularity of its biggest event: the Super Bowl.
Jay-Z in fact is reshaping the image of the NFL in ways no one ever has. He is unabashedly injecting Black culture into the league's Super Bowl bloodstream. MAGA may hate this. The right wing may hate this. But for now, the NFL's mostly conservative owners are allowing Jay-Z to have this type of influence. It's been a remarkable thing to watch.
The latest proof of this came on Sunday when the NFL, Roc Nation and Apple Music announced that Kendrick Lamar will captain this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show .
“Rap music is still the most impactful genre to date. And I’ll be there to remind the world why,” Lamar said in a statement. “They got the right one.”
Yeah, they did.
Jay-Z, who co-produces the halftime show, said in a statement: “Kendrick Lamar is truly a once-in-a-generation artist and performer. His deep love for hip-hop and culture informs his artistic vision. He has an unparalleled ability to define and influence culture globally. Kendrick’s work transcends music, and his impact will be felt for years to come.”
The league doesn't seem content with a football game, it wants to be a factor in the culture game.
Specifically, the Black culture game. Lamar is an extremely Black choice. Yes, Lamar has appeal outside of the Black community but make no mistake, while Lamar is one of the most culturally significant forces today, he is unabashedly Black, just like the medium in which he excels.
There are some NFL owners who'd probably rather watch Kid Rock perform. No one else would. But they would. So the fact Jay-Z keeps pushing through rappers in the NFL's premier event is a stunning thing. We are a long way from Maroon 5.
There's an irony here, of course. The league hasn't always treated its Black players and coaches well with Kaepernick being one of the key examples of this. Yet, the NFL wants to use Black culture as fuel to attract younger fans who do embrace it.
Even Jay-Z hasn't always been, well, understanding of the importance of the Kaepernick movement. During his initial press conference in 2019, he sat next to Roger Goodell, commissioner of the league, and said : “I think we’ve moved past kneeling. I think it’s time to go on to actionable items.”
"I'm really into action – I'm into real work," he told the media at the time. "I'm not into how it looks. How it looks only lasts for a couple months until we start doing the work. I've been in this position many times. Take Tidal as a great example from five years ago. Now, people look at it today, people have a different outlook on it. But at the time, people didn't see what was going on.
"So I've been in this position many times. I just show up and do the work, I'm not interested in how things look on the outside. If protesting on the field is the most effective way, then protest on the field. But, if you have a vehicle that you can inspire change and you can speak to the masses and educate at the same time."
Jay-Z has thrown all of his NFL-affiliated resources into the culture part of the game. That part, at least, is working. Probably beyond his wildest dreams.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Kendrick Lamar halftime show another example of Jay-Z influence on NFL owners
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