NFL Taps Jay-Z for 2027 Super Bowl Halftime Show
The booking arrives as the rapper wraps a year of image repair following dismissed civil allegations and a sold-out Yankee Stadium run.
By Alyssa Parker ·
Jay-Z will headline the halftime show at the 2027 Super Bowl in February, the NFL announced.
The NFL's announcement traces to a 2019 deal his entertainment company Roc Nation signed to book the league's annual Super Bowl performers. That agreement carried a $25 million price tag. Roc Nation has curated the halftime lineup for seven years, and Jay-Z becomes the first act able to place himself into the slot.
The confirmation lands during a stretch of public rehabilitation for the rapper. A civil lawsuit filed by attorney Tony Buzbee named Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs as co-defendants and made rape allegations that have since been recanted. Jay-Z denied the allegations and filed a defamation and extortion suit against Buzbee; an appellate court dismissed it. Combs denied the allegations against him and received a sentence of more than four years on prostitution-related charges. Jay-Z spoke to GQ senior associate editor Frazier Tharpe in March about the year ahead: "We played enough defense, 2026 is all offense."
He marked the 30th anniversary of Reasonable Doubt by reissuing the album exclusively through Target, a release timed during a grassroots boycott organized over the retailer's reversal of its DEI policy. On the opening night of his Yankee Stadium residency he addressed the criticism a cappella: "They say I sold out. Yeah, I did sell out. Three nights. I sold Yankee Stadium the hell out." The three-night run sold out.
Former hip-hop journalist Touré has described Jay-Z's role in entertainment as one of calming dissent: "Over and over, Jay is the one that powerful whites use to quiet Negro protests so they can make more money together." Video essayist F.D Signifier places him in the "Black misleadership class." Colin Kaepernick has also recounted comments about Jay-Z's function in the league's response to his protests; Jay-Z has not responded to those comments.
The rapper addresses similar territory in Jay-Z in 8, the eight-episode HBO documentary he co-executive produced with former Def Jam founder Rick Rubin. The final episode includes his remarks on race hustlers and house Negroes who act as "extortionists" who "go to one place and say: You want our support? Give us the money." He also speaks about his father, who left the family when Jay-Z was 11, one month before his death.
The halftime performance is scheduled for February 2027 at SoFi Stadium.
Source: Wyoming Public Media · original report published
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