by Jasmine Bhoodwah
22-time Grammy Award winner Kendrick Lamar stunned audiences both digital and physical performing hits such as “HUMBLE.” on the NFL Super Bowl LIX stage on Sunday night. The legendary rapper, who recently won ‘Song of the Year’ at the 2025 Grammy Awards, has been on a roll following his viral back-and-forth feud with Toronto artist Drake. The discourse, which has now resulted in a lawsuit in which Drake accuses Universal Music Group for defamation follows the release of “Not Like Us”: Lamar’s single in which he alleges that Drake is a pedophile. Lamar continued to take shots at the Toronto musician during the Apple Music Halftime Show, performing the popular diss track to the packed Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.
As the Kendrick Lamar and Drake beef shows no signs of being resolved, the fallout may be coming to Toronto itself. Lamar’s upcoming Grand National Tour, during which he will be accompanied by popular singer SZA, will be making a stop at Toronto’s Rogers Centre on June 12th and 13th. With the concerts’ ticket resale prices starting at $400 on Ticketmaster, it poses the question of how Toronto citizens feel about the Super Bowl performance.
Seneca at York students are having mixed reaction to both the beef and yesterday’s show. Mature student Tana D’Amico expressed her feelings about last night’s Halftime Show. “The show started off strong,” She said, “The visuals and energy were great. However, by the time he got to playing ‘Not Like Us’, it felt anticlimactic.” D’Amico felt that the song’s impact peaked when he played it 5 times in a row for a prior live show and says that it now feels overplayed.
“I found Kendrick’s show very exciting and meaningful,” 18-year-old Alyssa Rennie says, “I was pretty excited for it; However, I found the performance better than I expected. The cameos pulled it all together.”
Journalism student Rebecca Buraimo states, “The performance was lacklustre. I didn’t care too much for it.”
As the days inch forward towards June 12th, the Toronto date for Kendrick Lamar and SZA’s Grand National Tour, it seems that Seneca students are going to have mixed feelings about him and his dispute with Drake. The 2018 Pulitzer Prize winning artist will be kicking off the upcoming tour on April 19th, 2025, in Minneapolis at the US Bank Stadium.
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