America is getting geared up to celebrate Super Bowl LVI, capping off the 2021 National Football League (NFL) season and in what is traditionally the most-watched television broadcast of the year.
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The big game is taking place in Los Angeles' new SoFi Stadium, where home team the LA Rams will face the Cincinnati Bengals in what will hopefully be a big celebration for the city of angels, topped by a much-anticipated halftime performance led by hometown hero and music mogul Dr. Dre.
Born in the city of Compton where he co-founded ground-breaking gangsta rap group N.W.A. back in the mid 1980's, the rapper/producer turned billionaire, thanks to his Beats Electronics company, Dr. Dre will headline the performance and welcome several artists who will join him, including protégés Eminem and Snoop Dogg who have become trailblazing recording artists in their own right.
"This should've happened a long time ago," said Dre at a press conference in Los Angeles ahead of the performance, "Hip-hop is the biggest genre of music on the planet right now, so it's crazy that it took all of this time for us to be recognized. I think we're going to go on and do a fantastic show and we're going to do it so big that they can't deny us anymore in the future."
Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige say the NFL was late in embracing hip-hop, vowing that their #SuperBowl halftime performance would open doors for other artists. pic.twitter.com/rqAHM8Gbzr
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) February 13, 2022
By the end of the press event, Dre reiterated: "We want to make sure that everybody knows this is the best halftime show ever - I know we're going to kill this!".
The performance will also feature Compton's Kendrick Lamar, who has emerged as one of the most influential and acclaimed rappers over this past decade, and lastly, none other than "Queen of Hip-Hop Soul", Mary J. Blige.
In a career spanning three decades, Blige has won nine Grammy Awards and in recent years expanded her acting credits which culminated in two Academy Award nominations for 2017's "Mudbound", making her the first person nominated for acting and songwriting Oscars in the same year.
And to clarify, none of the artists are getting compensated for their participation, has as always been the case with Super Bowl halftime shows.
"Listen, you're going to be paid for the rest of your life off of this,", said Blige at the event, "People are going to be knocking at your doors. They don't have to pay me, but if they were paying it would be a lot of money."
Blige further explained her excitement and added that she is ready to "do what I do, leave it all on the stage. I can't please the world and I can't save the world. I just have to live. That's the example that I set. Live fearlessly and don't let anything get in your way. Not one thing".
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