At Super Bowl 56, viewers got treated to an entertaining football game as well as an epic halftime show thanks to Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Snoop Dogg.
It featured the hip-hop stars performing a medley of their most recognizable and popular hits, as well as a surprise appearance from 50 Cent, who performed part of his hit song, In Da Club.
There was also a moment that featured Eminem taking a knee during his performance. After the event, Dr. Dre commented about what happened with the halftime show and about his post-performance splurge.
Dr. Dre talks about Eminem taking knee during halftime show
The Super Bowl halftime show gave many fans a trip down memory lane, including performances by five hip-hop heavyweights. Among the songs that viewers witnessed them perform were Dr. Dre and Snoop’s Next Episode, Mary J. Blige’s Family Affair, and Eminem’s Lose Yourself.
Of the performance, there was originally a rumor Eminem defied the NFL’s request by taking a knee as a nod to former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick. However, Dr. Dre told TMZ that the NFL was OK with that part of the show.
“There were a few things we had to change, but it was like, really minor things,” he told TMZ. “Em taking a knee, that was Em doing that on his own, and there was no problem with that.”
During the halftime show, Slim Shady performed a portion of his mega-hit song Lose Yourself (below), and following the chorus, he took a knee on stage. The gesture was a tribute to former NFL QB Colin Kaepernick, who knelt during the national anthem at the start of NFL games in 2016 to protest police brutality and racial inequality within the United States.
Beyond that, Dre explained that the NFL requested a slight change with Kendrick Lamar’s words during his verse from the song m.A.A.d city.
“I think the beginning of Kendrick’s set, he says ‘If Pirus and Crips all got along,’ they had a problem with that, so we had to take that out. No big deal, we did it, but all in all, everybody came in, we were professional, everybody was on time, and everybody really felt the magnitude of what this thing was and what we were gonna be able to accomplish,” Dre said.
According to an ESPN report, this year’s Super Bowl brought in an estimated 101.1 million viewers, which was a decent increase over the previous year’s game. Many were likely tuning in to see the halftime show based on the lineup.
Dre admitted to big splurge after halftime show
The halftime show artists all looked to be in fabulous shape as they performed their hits on a set consisting of a house with multiple rooms stretched across the football house. Performers went from room to room and level to level with some dancing along with their deliveries.
Viewers saw Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg walking across the top of the structure and moving quite a bit. The two artists also seemed to perform more than their four counterparts as far as total time during the show.
That likely meant many calories were burned in the process as it was a high-energy halftime performance. Dr. Dre even confessed he had to stop for a special treat after the show.
TMZ’s Harvey Levin asked Dre about the trip he heard he made to Burger King.
“You know what? My trainer’s gonna be upset about this conversation,” Dre told TMZ, adding, “I made a turn. Instead of Burger King, I went to McDonald’s. There’s something about those McDonald’s french fries.”
A few fries shouldn’t be too bad, especially with all those calories Dr. Dre burned during that impressive Super Bowl halftime show.