I Am Officially Tired Of Whiny White People

I fell in love with hip-hop in the fall of 1980, thanks to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. By 1992, I was fully immersed in the music business, founding the not-for-profit advocacy organization, Rap Coalition. Over the past 33 years, I’ve negotiated some of the most significant deals in rap history, and helped build many millionaires in this business. I take immense pride in that.

What I don’t take pride in, however, is the continued backlash against rap music–despite its importance for the past 50 or so years. Rap And R&B have dominated consumption and culture for years, since overtaking rock in 2017 as the most-consumed genre of music. That’s eight consecutive years at the top.

Yet, the Super Bowl halftime show featuring Kendrick Lamar made it clearer than ever that America still struggles to accept rap as entertainment. The sheer volume of criticism–turning a 13-minute performance into a weeklong news cycle and endless social media debates–was staggering. Instead of simply acknowledging that millions enjoyed the show, people felt the need to broadcast their entitlement and dissatisfaction, as if the halftime performance should cater exclusively to them.

I won’t immediately label this reaction as racism because I don’t believe the majority of Americans are the type of bigots who would put their house on the market if a nonwhite family moved in next door. Nor do I think most believe Black people deserve less. But what do we call this persistent resistance to embracing a genre of predominantly Black music that has shaped and defined modern music and popular culture?

I’m not talking about those who simply don’t like Kendrick Lamar’s music or didn’t enjoy the show. I’m talking about those who questioned his right to be on that stage at all. For those people, let me introduce you to Kendrick Lamar. He has:

• 22 Grammy Awards (third-most among rappers)

• A Pulitzer Prize (the first rapper ever awarded)

• A Primetime Emmy Award

• A Brit Award, 4 American Music Awards, 7 Billboard Music Awards, 11 MTV VMAs (including 2 Video of the Year wins), and a record 37 BET Hip Hop Awards

Yet, some still had the audacity to ask, Who is he? Why was he chosen?–as if his accolades and cultural impact weren’t enough. You have no access to Google? And, of course, media pundits eagerly amplified this ignorance. When did we become so self-absorbed that we dismiss anything that doesn’t cater directly to us?

For generations, people of color have been forced to navigate a world that wasn’t built for them. From beauty standards to job opportunities to choice of housing to policing to the justice system to even getting a damn taxi in New York City, the message has been clear: You don’t belong. And despite all the rhetoric about fairness and equality, that sentiment still shifts when people of color excel.

We give participation trophies to kids just for showing up to a competition, but suddenly, the playing field must tilt when highly qualified Black professionals earn their place. Why? Why can’t Kendrick Lamar–a globally celebrated artist–have 13 minutes on the biggest stage in entertainment? He had the biggest song of 2024 and had just won five Grammys a few days prior, including Song of the Year. Like it or not, those accolades are real.

The numbers speak for themselves. According to Billboard:

• Three of Kendrick’s albums shot into the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 after his performance:

• GNX moved from #4 to #1

• DAMN. (2017) jumped from #29 to #9

• good kid, m.A.A.d city (2012) climbed from #27 to #10

• First rapper in history to have three albums simultaneously in the Top 10. The last artist to achieve this? Taylor Swift (Dec 2023). The last male artist to do it? Prince–after his death in 2016. But he had to die to achieve it. The last living male artist? Herb Alpert in 1966.

• Kendrick is also the first Super Bowl halftime performer since 2018 to hit #1 on the Billboard 200 after the show.

And it wasn’t just him. His halftime show collaborator SZA also saw her album SOS climb to #2, making this the first time in history that two Super Bowl halftime performers held the top two spots on the Billboard 200 immediately after the game.

The audience wasn’t just there for the game. The 2025 Super Bowl set a record-breaking viewership of 134 million people–making it the most-watched TV event of all time in our country, surpassing even the Apollo 11 moon landing.

John Dick of market research firm Civic Science put it best:

“No amount of head injuries, anthem-kneeling, rule changes, officiating scandals, or dynastic teams have slowed the NFL’s dominance. They can do no wrong. Even the backlash over Kendrick Lamar’s halftime show proves the point. At a time when our President dominates every news cycle, a 20-minute rap performance commanded two full days of media attention. It’s almost as if riling up millions of (mostly white) Gen Xers and Boomers was deliberate–because, let’s be honest, they’re going to keep watching no matter what. Meanwhile, younger, multicultural audiences, still developing lifelong NFL fandom, had an extra reason to tune in. It was strategic, targeted, and brilliant marketing at its best.”

Make no mistake–the NFL knows exactly what it’s doing. It doesn’t matter how many rap critics complain. It doesn’t matter how much the media amplifies the noise. Nothing else comes close to the NFL’s dominance.

I’m just tired of listening to entitled, opinionated windbags complain about rap music while flaunting their ignorance like a badge of honor. It’s embarrassing. It’s deplorable. And most of all? It’s a losing battle.

Because rap isn’t just part of the culture. It is the culture.

Wendy Day

Founder, Rap Coalition

CEO, PowerMoves