Jay-Z's huge influence on who performs at Super Bowl halftime show despite never playing it himself
Topics: Music, Jay-Z, Super Bowl, Rihanna
Ali Condon
Featured Image Credit: UPI / Alamy Stock Photo / ESPN
Topics: Music, Jay-Z, Super Bowl, Rihanna
Rihanna collectively blew millions of minds during this year's Super Bowl half time show - marking her first live performance in years.
Fans were overjoyed to see the superstar make a long-awaited return to music without a single guest appearance.
There were whisperings of a drop-in from Eminem, Kanye, or Jay-Z during Rihanna's set, given her hit collaborations with the rappers, but the singer commanded the stage solo.
But, even though he might not have been on stage with her, Jay-Z would have played an instrumental part in Rihanna's headline slot.
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Jay-Z, who has featured in a number of songs with Rihanna including 'Umbrella' and 'Run This Town', has never played the Super Bowl half time show himself, but has a major influence over who gets picked to perform.
It all started back in 2019, when Jay-Z called out the NFL for the way they chose the headliners; narrowing it down to four potential acts before picking a winner.
In a press conference, led by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodwell, Jay-Z complained: "The process of selection was fractured.
"You take four artists and everyone thinks they're playing the Super Bowl. It's almost like this interview process."
He added that, when an act is finally chosen to headline, there are then three 'upset' artists who've been rejected.
"That's not even good math," Jay-Z pointed out.
"After three years, nine people are upset and three people play.
"Ain't that many superstars in the world. You're gonna run out of people that want to play.
"I just think the process could've been more definite."
And, with that, Jay-Z's company Roc Nation entered a partnership with the NFL to help curate one of the biggest live music events in the world.
Since then, the NFL has seen some of the biggest halftime shows ever, including 2022's West Coast hip hop line-up of Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Dr Dre, Mary J Blige, 50 Cent, and Kendrick Lamar, 2021's The Weeknd performance, and 2020's Jennifer Lopez and Shakira collaboration.
Jay-Z has also commented on how the Roc Nation NFL collaboration has made the Super Bowl more inclusive of hip hop as a genre.
He said: "I think that for a long time, and not just the NFL, but America in general looked at rap as this fad thing.
"It's the number one genre in the world and has been that way ... So I would love for these platforms as being more inclusive of our music."
So it's no wonder we haven't seen Jay-Z play the coveted slot yet - it seems he's way too busy for that.
But if he ever finds the time to squeeze a few rehearsals in... I'm sure no one would be opposed.