We Don’t Need No Haters*

I’m not a football fan. I respect the athleticism, but there are more negatives around the professional sport than I can tolerate, like the over $5 billion dollar SOFI stadium in LA. 

SOFI is a student loan company. There’s something about putting that name on a stadium when scores of people are struggling to repay student debt that screams “out of touch”.

And then there was the nod finally given to Hip-Hop at this year’s Super Bowl. Since 2017 R&B / Hip-Hop has been dominant on billboard charts, but the NFL wasn’t ready to add more controversy to the storm already brewing until now.

I watched to see how the super star ensemble would handle the moment. I wasn’t let down. It was an energizing performance by all. I confess I need to read lyrics to catch some of the words, but the passion and the insights are well worth the time. 

Mary J. Blige sang her hit from twenty years ago (Family Affair) and if you missed the line “We don’t need no haters” then you missed the point. Artists of every generation have been the ones to chronicle the suffering of people and call out  – in their own way – hope and triumph. This is what the half time show gave us, if we could hear it.

Fifteen time Grammy winner, Eminem knelt for almost a minute during his song, “Lose Yourself”. It’s still a hot debate whether Eminem’s replay of Kaepernick’s protest against racism and police brutality was ok’d by the NFL ahead of time or censored and ignored. Either way, it was a telling moment and as I watched the replay of the half time performances, I found myself hoping he took the knee as an “ask” of forgiveness for white inhumanity through the years

• “We Don’t Need No Haters” – from Mary J. Blige’s “Family Affair”.