Sports
How Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Made the Super Bowl Halftime Show Cool Again
The partnership has helped revive the show over the past five years, but how long it will last remains to be seen.
Jay-Z at the Super Bowl LVIII Pregame in Las Vegas on Feb. 11, 2024.
Photographer: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images
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The first Super Bowl halftime show in 1967 featured jazz trumpeter Al Hirt and a pair of student marching bands. This year, Kendrick Lamar, the hottest rapper on the planet, will perform.
That evolution hits at how much of a spectacle American sports have become, with the NFL title game at the center of it all. But even with all that pomp and circumstance, Super Bowl halftime has often been a hit-or-miss event.