Spike Lee Thanks Kendrick Lamar for His Super Bowl Halftime Show: See What He Said

Spike Lee was a big fan of Kendrick Lamar‘s Super Bowl 59 Halftime Show.

Kendrick used frequent Spike Lee collaborator Samuel L. Jackson as the show’s “Greek chorus,” just as Spike used him as Dolmedes in his 2015 musical satire Chi-Raq. Lamar also took a moment to bring up the Reconstruction Era proposal to give newly freed slaves land and a mule to help fold them into society by offering them a chance to make some money. “40 acres and a mule, this is bigger than the music,” the rapper told the audience during his set. “They tried to rig the game, but you can’t fake influence.”

Spike noticed and took to Instagram to speak on the parallels between his work over the years and pgLang’s impressive production.

“I want to thank my brother Kendrick for the 40 acres and a mule shoutout which has been the name of my production company since NYU grad film school,” the legendary filmmaker wrote. “And I want to send a special shoutout to my Morehouse brother Samuel Jackson who started this Super Bowl Halftime extravaganza as Uncle Sam and you might’ve seen him as Dolmedes in Chi-Raq.”

He added: “The term 40 acres and a mule was a proposal for reparations to former enslaved African-Americans in the aftermath of the civil war. The proposal was intended to provide land and resources to provide land and resources to help free people achieve economic independence. This promise was ultimately broken. Happy Black His-Herstory.”

Kendrick’s right-hand man Dave Free told the Wall Street Journal that their mission was to try to convey “Black America” to the audience watching, something Spike Lee has made a career of. “The feel of it is Black America. What does Black America look like, and how to control that narrative of what it means to be Black in America versus what the world’s perspective of that is,” he said.

The day after the Super Bowl, on Monday (Feb. 10), Jackson posted a photo of himself and Kendrick before the game on his X account. “Super huge honor to be asked to be part of @kendricklamar halftime revolution,” he wrote.