It may only be day two of 2025, but there's already so much to look forward to in the world of music this year.

From a tight Grammys race to a historic reunion tour many thought would never come, there are many moments vying for our attention. So, which albums releases and performances should you be adding to your calendar?

Today on Commotion, Elamin is joined by music critics Pablo The Don, Rollie Pemberton (a.k.a. Cadence Weapon), and Tristan Grant (a.k.a. Wolf Castle) to discuss some of the big events coming up for music in 2025 — particularly, Kendrick Lamar's highly anticipated Super Bowl halftime performance.

Elamin: We are now going to start talking about the NFL Super Bowl halftime show that is coming up in February. Kendrick Lamar is the headliner, obviously coming off this massive 2024 that he just had. Pablo, how big of a deal is this performance going to be for Kendrick and, let's face it, for hip-hop?

Pablo: It's going to be huge. Number one, this is the second time that he's going to be on a Super Bowl stage. So he went from featured to now he's headlining the entire thing. That's massive in its own right. Not many people have done that. But also I think, obviously, you've got the backstory of the entire beef last year that will probably outline this. People are twiddling their fingers trying to figure out, is he playing Not Like Us or not? Did Drake's little complaint stop the usage of the song? So it's going to be huge.

It's a huge moment for hip-hop too. I don't think anyone that's ever presented themself in such an authentically Black way, that is very much for their community, has ever had a stage like this, been able to announce it like this — and then especially be able to announce it off the back of a song that calls a peer an inappropriate word and accuses him and his people of things. Like, this is going to be a huge moment for hip-hop, but it's just going to be a huge moment for people in general. But I mean, the guy's got a Pulitzer. Why are we surprised that this is going to be another moment for him? This pales in comparison to a Pulitzer, but it's America, so it's a big deal.

Elamin: Rollie, one of the questions hanging over this halftime show is, we know he's been able to use the momentum and the energy of the beef, of the song Not Like Us — which went number one, it was one of the biggest songs of 2024 — and parlay that into being the performer of the halftime show at the Super Bowl. I think it's an open question at this point as to whether he uses that halftime performance to move us beyond the beef, to do something else that establishes him in a different tier of superstardom, and whether he even needs to do that at all. Or is he so petty as to say, "I have now arrived at the Super Bowl halftime show, and I will use this opportunity as my fifth victory lap in this beef"? Does he need to push it beyond the beef, you think?

Rollie: No, man, this song is beyond just him. This song is a cultural movement. You're seeing all these Black colleges doing big band versions of the song. It's out of his hands. He's got to play it, you know? This song is hotter than fish grease right now, right? So why would you not play the song?

He doesn't have to do anything. I feel like the idea that the beef has gotten him to a different level, I think we have a bit of recency bias going on there because it's like, you know, he won a Pulitzer Prize…. It's not like he's some underground aspiring artist who finally made it. He's playing the Super Bowl for a reason. They don't give it to you for one song.

Pablo: Play it five times.

Rollie: He should.

Elamin: Tristan, what's your read on whether he needs to sort of "marinate" in the beef? Oh God, I'm so sorry for this analogy. I don't feel good about it. Or, does he need to do something else to push the conversation about him to a different place?

Tristan: Is that the quote? Like, "Elamin says, should Kendrick marinate in the beef"?

Elamin: I take it back. I quit the show. I apologize.

Tristan: On so many levels I love that song, and I love what he did with that beef. And I just think on every single point of attack that Drake was trying to do, Kendrick was like, "You cannot win this because not only am I a better rapper and lyricist than you, I am, like, not a weirdo."… I think that you should call people out if they're doing bad stuff. I think that you should be accountable for that. And I think that if anything, really, the ball's in Drake's court.