- Rihanna, one of Roc Nation’s biggest artists, performed at Super Bowl LVII on Sunday.
- Roc Nation, Jay-Z’s record label, partnered with the NFL in 2019 as music entertainment strategists.
- Jay-Z previously said he disagreed with how the NFL chose its halftime performers.
The NFL’s 57th Super Bowl halftime performance with Rihanna was the fourth show spearheaded by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation since the entertainment agency entered into a long-term partnership with the league in 2019.
Since then, the NFL’s popular live music show has brought in superstar headliners such as Jennifer Lopez, The Weeknd, and, in 2022, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar, among other artists.
Roc Nation’s association with Rihanna may have been a steering hand in changing the pop star’s tune about performing at the halftime show — an offer she rejected in 2018, a year before the NFL-Roc Nation partnership came into fruition — but there are other ways Jay-Z’s entertainment company helped shape one of the most-watched live music performances in the world.
In a 2019 conference led by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the music mogul, Jay-Z talked about his vision for the Super Bowl’s music entertainment option and how he originally disagreed with the league’s artist selection process.
The changes were first noted by Dan Runcie, founder of Trapital, on a Twitter thread on Sunday.
“The process of selection was fractured,” he said, after being asked why he has personally chosen not to play the halftime show.
“You take four artists and everyone thinks they’re playing the Super Bowl. It’s almost like this interview process,” he said. When an artist is finally chosen, now there are three “upset” performers, he added.
“That’s not even good math. After three years, nine people are upset and three people play,” he said. “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.”
Instead, Jay-Z suggested that the NFL should approach artists one by one.
The “Empire State of Mind” rapper also said that partnering with the NFL was one way to make large platforms like the halftime show more inclusive of hip-hop.
“I think that for a long time, and not just the NFL, but America in general looked at rap as this fad thing,” he said. “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.”
