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When the cameras turned to tennis legend Serena Williams during the finale of Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl 2025 halftime show, fans saw her flawlessly crip walking — the “did she or didn’t she” dance that caused a stir after she won Wimbledon in 2012.
But, the meaning behind her scene-stealing cameo had many layers to it that go beyond her just being a fan of the rapper — ones that only her and Lamar’s super-fans may have picked up on.
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For starters, Williams, 43, and Drake, 38, who has a mega-feud with Lamar, 37, were rumored to have dated in 2011. Drake later said in a clip obtained by 100 Gigs that the 2012 song “Too Good,” with lyrics such as “I’m way too good to you, You take my love for granted,” was inspired by the athlete. So, when Lamar sang his Drake diss track at the end of his halftime show, fans went wild to see Williams gleefully dancing — on a prop made to look like Drake’s grave.
“We just witnessed a PUBLIC BURIAL,” wrote sportswriter Degenerate George on X (formerly Twitter). “RIP DRAKE. Even Serena Williams is dancing on his grave.”
Why so much animosity?
Because Drake didn’t stop at “Too Good,” which he considered “light-hearted.”
In his 2013 song “Worst Behavior,” he rapped, “I’m with my whole set, tennis matches at the crib; I swear I could beat Serena when she playin’ with her left.”
In 2023, six years after Williams married entrepreneur Alexis Ohanian, Drake sang in the song “Worst Behavior,” “Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie; He claim we don’t got a problem but no, boo, it is like you comin’ for sushi.”
In Lamar’s “Not Like Us” finale song — the infamous Drake diss track — he stands up for pal Williams, saying Drake had “better not speak on Serena.” In other words, it’s time to leave her alone.
