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Hip-hop Generations To Stage a Star-Studded 2022 Superbowl LVI Halftime Show

By Matthew Denis October 6, 2021

Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre performing at Coachella, April 22, 2012.

1990s and 2000s hip-hop, meet the 2010s. Millennial-era bars, let me introduce you to Gen-X verses.

Announced on Thursday, Sept. 30, Pepsi, the NFL, and Roc Nation will officially host the greatest collection of Super Bowl halftime talent the event has ever seen. The Pepsi Super Bowl LVI halftime show (airing on NBC) will bring Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar to SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, CA on Sunday, Feb. 13, 2022.

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Together these artists have collected 43 Grammy awards and posted 22 number one Billboard albums. This concert marks the first time that these five multi-award-winning artists will perform together on stage.

“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 L.A., 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, Pepsi’s vice president of marketing, said in a press release.

Dr. Dre is widely credited with being one of the most influential figures in hip-hop culture and a driving force behind its mass popularity. His 1992 album, The Chronic, helped introduce the world to Snoop’s sly, stoned lyricism. And his 2000 single, Forgot About Dre, introduced the world to Eminem’s in-your-face, rat-a-tat delivery.

“We have 11 or 12 minutes to go out and do something spectacular,” Dre said in a preview video. “We have to figure out creatively how we’re going to blow people’s minds.”

All five artists have deeply influenced music, each bringing a unique style that forever altered hip-hop. In 1992, for example, Blige released her debut album, What’s the 411?, which is credited for introducing and popularizing rap as a featured act within R&B. It was the first album by a singer to have a rapper on every song.

After two critically acclaimed hip-hop releases, Lamar continued hip-hop’s transcendence into mainstream appeal with 2015’s To Pimp a Butterfly and 2017’s Damn, incorporating elements of funk, soul, jazz, and spoken word in a resounding personal plea and socio-political statement. Damn’s lead single, Humble, topped the US Billboard Hot 100, while the album became the first non-classical/non-jazz album to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music.

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Not only does the lineup create anticipation for music fans worldwide, it holds a special significance for the greater Los Angeles community. Dre, Snoop and Lamar native Angelinos helping the city to host its first Super Bowl in nearly 30 years.

As part of this nod to the City of Angels, Pepsi and the NFL have joined together to support Regional School #1’s launch, a South L.A. magnet school opening to students next fall. The secondary academy will offer a unique educational model focused on integrated design, technology, and entrepreneurship, based on a program founded by Jimmy Iovine and Andre “Dr. Dre” Young.

“This effort will help develop and inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators,” Los Angeles Unified Interim Superintendent Megan K. Reilly said. “We are excited about the additional opportunities this partnership will bring to our students.”

With the incredible collaboration all set to go, the only question that remains is, will just over 10 minutes of music be enough?

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The 30 Best Albums of 2021 and 2022 (So Far)

Tyler the Creator performs during 2021 Lollapalooza at Grant Park on July 30, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois.

Tyler the Creator performs during the 2021 Lollapalooza at Grant Park. (Photo by Erika Goldring/WireImage)

It's September, the end of summer, and while there is still more than a quarter of the year to go before the new year, we here at The Manual feel it's time to count our audio blessings. In fact, we're counting 30 -- 30 of the best albums released so far in 2021 and 2022. Granted, with as fast as time has seemed to move, it's hard to remember when some of these dropped in the gaussian past. But any record, of any genre, was eligible, provided it was released on January 1 or later. This is a subjective list. Lists, by their nature, are subjective. But from what we've seen (and what we've heard), these are the top albums of the year, and we're certain most will remain by New Year's Eve.
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Yartzi performs at the Alamo Shock Studio in Madrid, Spain on November 27, 2019.

When Yartzi attends Red Bull Batalla’s U.S. qualifiers on August 13 over Twitch, the two-time U.S. champ is, ironically, a man without a country. With a move to Miami in October from his native Puerto Rico, the 27-year-old rap battle great (think 8 Mile in Spanish) bid his home goodbye, and there’s a clear reason why: “You raise a rock [in Puerto Rico] and you find 15 good reggaeton artists,” he tells The Manual. “Hip-hop is not viewed as entertainment, but I think that can change.”

Yartzi, Zooming in from his sparse, monochromatic apartment in South Florida, dresses in grays, a matching hooded sweatshirt and ball cap. He’s equally understated in tone: Earnest, workmanlike, and without the affectations of a hip-hop star. Born to artistically inclined parents with normal jobs, the former William Giovanni Manzano Serrano says his stage name comes from the way his mother described his interests in poetry and music to others; as her “artsy” child. Add a Y to the top, swap in a Z, and he liked the way it sounded.
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Meet Salvatore Ferragamo’s Grandson Edo, the Best-Dressed Rock Star

edo ferragamo feature ferragamo40488

Edo Ferragamo at The Box in New York City.

“I’m not a huge fashion guy,” says Edo Ferragamo, the grandson of iconic Italian shoemaker Salvatore Ferragamo. You wouldn’t know it from scrolling through the wide-brimmed hats and unbuttoned linen shirts on his Instagram, but the 28-year-old musician and Berklee College of Music grad only goes shopping once a year. “When I buy clothes, I’m thinking about what I could wear onstage.” Having grown up in Florence until the ripe age of 19, Edo (pronounced “eh-doh”) immersed himself in his native country’s culture, music, and yes, even style. (The latter comes naturally and effortlessly.) During lockdown, the New York transplant wrote roughly 20 songs in his Chelsea apartment — one of which chronicles Ferragamo's quarantine relationship and expresses his unrelenting feelings for his girlfriend. Ahead of the release of Somehow I Need You, due out February 25, Ferragamo talked to The Manual about the new single, Italian food, and the strong family values he inherited from his grandfather.