There was about as much hip-hop as a stadium can hold at Super Bowl halftime, with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar spitting a fiery medley of their hits as expected, and a surprise appearance by 50 Cent.
It was a rare Super Bowl halftime show performed in the daylight, but it still had a feeling of a nightclub at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, with a set made up to look like the houses of nearby Compton and South LA.
Dre and Snoop opened the show with “Next Episode” and “California Love.”
50 Cent, not among the announced performers, started his “In Da Club” while hanging upside inside one of the rooms.
Blige was decked out in silver sparkles and surrounded by backup dancers as she sang a medley of her hits.
Eminem was surrounded by a rock band as he performed “Lose Yourself,” at one point taking a knee in apparent tribute to Colin Kaepernick’s protests.
The set was surrounded by what looked like a lit-up cityscape from above, with classic convertibles and replicas of the Tam's Burgers stand and the sculpture outside the Compton Courthouse.
The crowd had lanyards with LED lights that flashed in coordination with the show’s beats, turning the whole stadium into a light show.
An explosion of fireworks lit up the sky as the sun set outside and the show ended with Dre’s “Still DRE."