The performers have been set for the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show, featuring an All-Star roster of hip-hop and rap talent new and old: Dr. Dre, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige.
The NFL announced the performers on Thursday, and the big show takes place on Super Bowl Sunday on Feb. 13, 2022.
This year’s five performers have 43 Grammys and 19 No. 1 Billboard albums between them. They take over from last time’s standalone performer in The Weeknd, and Jennifer Lopez and Shakira in 2020 before him.
Dr. Dre, Snoop and Lamar are all hometown heroes of sorts for the Los Angeles crowd, with Dr. Dre famously being Straight Outta Compton and Snoop calling Long Beach home, while Lamar also hails from Compton. And the pairing of Mary J. Blige and Eminem as part of the super group is an exciting prospect.
“The opportunity to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime show, and to do it in my own backyard, will be one of the biggest thrills of my career,” Dr. Dre said in a statement. “I’m grateful to JAY-Z, Roc Nation, the NFL, and Pepsi as well as Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar for joining me in what will be an unforgettable cultural moment.”
“On Feb. 13, 2022, at the Super Bowl LVI in Inglewood, CA, in the new SoFi Stadium, Dr. Dre, a musical visionary from Compton, Snoop Dogg, an icon from Long Beach and Kendrick Lamar, a young musical pioneer in his own right, also from Compton, will take center field for a performance of a lifetime,” Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter added. “They will be joined by the lyrical genius, Eminem and the timeless Queen, Mary J. Blige. This is the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show. This is history in the making.”
“Artists like Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg were at the forefront of the West Coast hip hop revolution, so to be able to bring them back to LA, where it all began alongside Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar will prove to be an epic, unforgettable celebration of the impact hip hop has today,” Todd Kaplan, VP of Marketing with Pepsi, said in a statement. “The Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show has become a landmark cultural moment, bringing about some of the most iconic performances over the years – from JLo and Shakira to Lady Gaga to The Weeknd – and we are thrilled to bring together such an incredible array of talented, record-breaking musicians to put on a performance for the ages.”
“This year we are blowing the roof off the concept of collaboration,” Adam Harter, SVP of Media, Sports and Entertainment at PepsiCo, said in a statement. “Along with the NFL and Roc Nation, we continue to try and push the limits on what fans can expect during the most exciting 12 minutes in music; this year’s superstar line-up is sure to deliver a mind-blowing performance.”
Pepsi and the NFL are also teaming up to support the launch of Regional School No. 1, a magnet high school in South Los Angeles that is set to open for students next fall as part of the LA Unified School District. The high school is based on the USC Iovine and Young Academy, a program founded by Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young, that will offer a unique educational model focused on the theme of Integrated Design, Technology, and Entrepreneurship.