"This is so iconic" — Fans react to Kendrick Lamar’s dancers forming an American flag around him during Super Bowl performance

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime show on February 9 was filled with surprises as celebrities like Samuel L. Jackson, Serena Williams, and SZA appeared during his performance. The California rapper performed several hit songs, including tracks from his latest album GNX, and his Drake diss, Not Like Us, during the halftime show, of the game between Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles.

Lamar was surrounded by backup dancers dressed in white, red, and blue outfits, reminiscent of the American flag. At one point during the show, the dancers gathered around Lamar to form the flag as the rapper performed Humble from his 2017 Pulitzer Prize-winning album, DAMN.

Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl performance was met with mixed response on X. Many praised the rapper for the performance, calling the flag formation "iconic."

"This is so iconic."

Several netizens echoed this sentiment. Here are some of their reactions.

"Oh wait this set eats," one person tweeted.

"I'll be the first to say Kendrick put together a great show tonight," another person added.

"That was a whole moment, the vibe was unreal," someone else commented.

"Ppl be really saying this the worst halftime show when this image literally goes hard," another user wrote.

However, others criticized the rapper's performance, calling it "awful."

"He flipped off all of America at the end. That was an awful halftime show," one user wrote.

"This is the worst SB halftime show I can remember," another person added.

"#TrashTimeShow what a disappointment," someone else commented.

"“Iconic” we js throwing that word at anything these days, It’s been lowkey a**," another user posted.

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Kendrick Lamar closed his set with TV Off

Kendrick Lamar's 13-minute Super Bowl Halftime set was filled with hits from the rapper's career, including an unreleased snippet, Bodies, which kicked off his performance. Samuel L. Jackson emceed the show as "Uncle Sam," dressed up in American flag colors.

Following Bodies, Kendrick Lamar performed Squabble Up, from his latest album, GNX, followed by Humble and DNA from DAMN. Singer SZA joined Lamar to perform their duets like All the Stars, the Oscar-nominated song from the Black Panther soundtrack, and Luther from Lamar's album GNX.

Throughout his performance, Kendrick Lamar teased Not Like Us, playing the song's beats as he referred to Drake's ongoing defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group regarding the track.

"I want to play their favourite song... but you know they love to sue," Lamar said.

Not Like Us came as the rapper's penultimate song during his performance, with the rapper grinning directly at the camera as he name-dropped Drake. While Kendrick Lamar censored himself from saying the "certified p*dophile," line, he did not hold back when he rapped, "Tryin' to strike a chord and it's probably A minor," as the crowd joined him.

Another surprise cameo was from Serena Wiliams, who joined the performance to dance to Not Like Us in a blue skirt and top. For context, Drake and Williams allegedly dated briefly in 2011.

Kendrick Lamar closed his set with TV Off, bringing Mustard, the song's producer, to join him. The song became popular after GNX's release due to the rapper's prolonged "Mustard" yell in the middle.

In a January interview with Grammy, Mustard said he was unaware that Lamar had included the yell in the song, adding that the rapper told him he felt the need to do so because the song's beat made him feel like the Dragon Ball protagonist Goku.

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In other news, the Philadelphia Eagles won the Super Bowl LIX game against the Kansas City Chiefs with a 40-22 victory.