The first Super Bowl in the Los Angeles area in nearly three decades will have a definite Hollywood feel for its halftime show.
The NFL announced Thursday that the Super Bowl LVI halftime show on Feb. 13, 2022, will feature Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Mary J. Blige and Kendrick Lamar. The game and halftime show will be held at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California. The show will be aired on NBC and Telemundo, and will be streamed live on Peacock, the NFL said in a statement.
The show will be produced in partnership between the NFL, Pepsi and Roc Nation and will be the first time all five headliners will share the stage.
This will be the eighth Super Bowl held in the Los Angeles area. The last one was held on Jan. 21, 1993, at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, when the Dallas Cowboys routed the Buffalo Bills 52-17 in Super Bowl XXVII. Michael Jackson was the halftime entertainment and O.J. Simpson handled the coin flip.
The first Super Bowl halftime show, held at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Jan. 15, 1967, featured trumpeter Al Hirt, the marching bands of Grambling State University and the University of Arizona, and the Anaheim High School Ana-Hi-Steppers Drill Team and Flag Girls.
“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.”
Eminem shared the news on his Instagram account, writing, “Dre day in February. I’m there!” Meanwhile, Blige and Snopp Dogg wrote, “Let’s go!”
Dr. Dre has produced several songs and albums by each of the other four performers, according to Billboard. He produced all of Snoop Dogg’s debut album, “Doggystyle,” while Eminem and Lamar spent large portions of their careers signed to Dre’s Aftermath Records. Each artist has also appeared with Dr. Dre on his albums through the years, according to Billboard.
“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, vice president of marketing at Pepsi, said in a news release, according to People.
This year’s halftime show will be the third collaboration among the NFL, Pepsi and Roc Nation. In 2020, Jennifer Lopez and Shakira performed at Super Bowl LIV in Miami, while The Weeknd headlined the halftime show for Super Bowl LV earlier this year in Tampa, Florida.
“This year we are blowing the roof off the concept of collaboration,” Adam Harter, PepsiCo.’s senior vice president for media, sports and entertainment 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 lineup is sure to deliver a mind-blowing performance.”