BAD Bunny has asked Drake to join him on stage during the Super Bowl halftime show just a year after the rapper’s bitter Kendrick Lamar fall-out, insiders have told The U.S. Sun.
The Puerto Rican rapper has bagged the coveted slot at the NFL showpiece in Santa Clara next February, with sources claiming performance plans are already in motion.
Drake and Bad Bunny have collaborated before and The U.S. Sun understands the Puerto Rican star wants him as part of his Super Bowl show[/caption]
Kendrick Lamar caused a storm in New Orleans earlier this year by dropping his smash-hit diss track Not Like Us during the Super Bowl[/caption]
Twelve months after Kendrick Lamar’s controversial performance featuring Drake diss track Not Like Us, the Canadian superstar is set to be the center of attention once again- in a much more positive way.
Drake and Bad Bunny famously collaborated in 2018 on the song MIA.
The song not only cemented Bad Bunny’s crossover appeal, but also showcased Drake’s appreciation for Latin music.
Drake’s potential appearance at the Super Bowl also comes as his lawsuit against music company UMG continues to rage behind the scenes.
Drake is suing his label for defamation, accusing them of deliberately pushing Kendrick’s controversial track Not Like Us – in which there are not-so-subtle accusations of him having sexual involvment with minors – to tarnish his brand and pressure him into a new deal.
Universal Music Group has hit back, with CEO Lucian Grainge dismissing the case as “farcical” and moving to have it thrown out.
The dispute is now in discovery, with Drake demanding internal records on the song’s rollout, related contracts, and possible evidence of bot-driven streaming inflation.
A source close to Bad Bunny has told The U.S. Sun that he wants to use his appearance on a truly global stage to “showcase his creativity and talent” and wants his performance to be “a tribute to the history of Latin music and Puerto Rico.”
The insider claims artists like Jennifer Lopez and J Balvin are being eyed. Cardi B has also been mentioned.
But Drake’s appearance would set tongues seriously wagging.
Bad Bunny, whose real name is Benito Antonio Martínez Ocasio, “doesn’t care about the beef or the controversies from last year with Kendrick Lamar; he wants to show support to his brother, as Drake helped him a lot in the first years of his career,” the source said.
“He is a loyal guy who always wants to show gratitude to the people who have worked with him or helped him, and Drake is a very important person in his journey as an artist.”
A second source added: “He knows that Drake would deserve a full halftime show for himself, to be the main artist for this kind of event, but Benito absolutely wants him on stage for some songs.”
FIGHT ERUPTED
The U.S. Sun reported extensively about Kendrick’s refusal to bow to NFL demands in New Orleans ahead of the clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles and not include the controversial parts of the track which has won multiple Grammy awards.
The Super Bowl halftime show is managed by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation, but in the aftermath of the fall-out earlier this year, insiders said NFL bosses regretted the move to give Kendrick the gig ahead of local favorite Lil Wayne.
As The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed, Kendrick didn’t dial back despite pressure to soften his performance.
DRAKE & KENDRICK FEUD TIMELINE
On October 6, 2023, Drake and J. Cole released First Person Shooter, in which J. Cole claimed that himself, Drake, and Kendrick are the “big three” of hip-hop.
On March 22, 2024, Kendrick responded to the claim of a “big three” in his verse on Metro Boomin and Future’s song Like That, where he instead stated, “It’s just big me,” and accused both rappers of sneak dissing.
On April 5, 2024, J. Cole dropped his Kendrick diss track, 7 Minute Drill, in which he fired “warning shots” at the rapper as he accused the good kid, m.A.A.d city artist of seeking “attention” and slammed his latest music releases as “tragic.”
But on April 7, 2024, two days after releasing the Kendrick diss, J. Cole retracted his statement and backed out of the feud, as he stated he felt pressured to respond because “the world wanna see blood.”
On April 13, 2024, Drake responded to Kendrick with Push Ups, which had lyrics ridiculing Kendrick’s height and his mainstream collaborations with Taylor Swift and Maroon 5.
The track also dissed rappers Future and Rick Ross and producer Metro Boomin.
On April 19, 2024, Drake dropped another diss track, Taylor Made Freestyle, that used AI-generated voices of Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur to pressure Kendrick to respond.
On April 30, 2024, Kendrick dropped Euphoria, a six-minute diss track, in which he criticized Drake’s biracial identity, questioned the rapper’s ability as a father, and claimed that Drake is a “scam artist.”
On May 1, 2024, Drake responded to Kendrick’s diss by posting a clip from the 1999 film 10 Things I Hate About You on his Instagram Story in which Julia Stiles’ character Kat lists the reasons she hates Heath Ledger’s character Patrick – mirroring a Euphoria bar where Lamar provides reasons he hates Drake.
On May 3, 2024, Kendrick dropped a second Drake diss track, 6:16 in LA in which Kendrick alleges Drake’s own team is working against him as he rapped, “Everyone inside your team is whispering that you deserve it,” and stated Drake “can’t Toosie Slide up out of this one.”
After Drake responded with his diss track Family Matters, where he called accused Kendrick of infidelity, the Humble hitmaker would release Meet the Grahams, his fourth diss track against the Canadian rapper.
While he skipped actually singing the word “pedophile” before a global TV audience of hundreds of millions, he delivered the rest of the lyrics with full force — including the notorious “A minor” line that the crowd loudly joined in on.
According to a friend of Kendrick’s, even his stage jewelry carried a message: the glittering, $1.2 million necklace he wore, set with 515 diamonds and featuring a lowercase “a,” was another pointed jab at Drake.
Bad Bunny’s show, however, will aim to steer clear of any controversies and instead send out a message of “peace, love, and respect” in what is being billed as a “unique” show.
“He is a voice for minorities and the Latino community, and he wants to use that platform to its fullest during the halftime show,” said the source.
“He won’t soften up his social engagement and commitments to be a voice for the people just because of the halftime show.
“It has all the makings of a historic night.”
Sources close to Bad Bunny are predicting his performance in Santa Clara will be one for the ages on February 8 next year[/caption]
Drake’s legal action against music label UMG following the release of Not Like Us is on-going[/caption]
