LOS ANGELES, Feb 10 — Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show was much anticipated and judging by the crowd reaction — delivered.

Besides SZA as his guest star, Lamar also had actor Samuel L Jackson emceeing his performance with a surprise guest, namely star tennis player Serena Williams.

Williams’ appearance was seen as a not-so-subtle dig at rival Drake who was rumoured to have a romantic past with the tennis legend.

Drake’s diss track Not Like Us that was squarely aimed at Drake won five Grammys and at first Lamar trolled the crowd, saying: “I want to perform their favorite song, but you know they love to sue.”

Yet he did perform Not Like Us, with the crowd singing along loudly especially during the lyric: “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor,” though Lamar did leave out the mention of “paedophiles” in the song likely due to lawsuits currently aimed at the song.

Drake sued Universal Music Group (UMG) for defamation claiming the label “approved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”