Rapper and music producer Jay-Z will headline the Super Bowl LXI halftime show at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, on February 14.
The National Football League, Apple Music, and Roc Nation confirmed the performance in a joint announcement. The booking moves the celebrated music producer and artist into the spotlight after years of playing a major role in choosing the performers who take the field for the championship game.
National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell revealed that when the league finalised its partnership deal with Roc Nation, he set only one condition. Goodell said he told the agency that Jay-Z must go on stage whenever the rapper decided the time was right.
In an official statement, the American rapper and entrepreneur said that it had been a long journey from Reasonable Doubt to the Super Bowl halftime stage. He added that thirty years of music, creation, and culture on the world stage continued to be a dream coming true.
The Super Bowl is the annual championship game of the National Football League and stands as the most watched sporting event on American television. The halftime show has become one of the premier live music spectacles in the world, drawing hundreds of millions of viewers across the globe.
Anniversary tour and return to Inglewood
The announcement follows days of intense speculation about who would lead the next show. It brings Jay-Z back to the venue where he recently finished a celebratory concert run marking three decades since the release of Reasonable Doubt, his landmark debut album.
The anniversary tour included three sold-out shows at the home ballpark of the New York Yankees in the Bronx, as well as packed arena concerts in London and Paris. The tour concluded with its final stop at SoFi Stadium last weekend.
SoFi Stadium is an open-air sports and entertainment venue located in Inglewood, California, southwest of Los Angeles. The facility is the permanent home stadium for two professional football teams, the Los Angeles Rams and the Los Angeles Chargers.
Partnership with the NFL
Roc Nation, the full-service entertainment agency founded by Jay-Z, has worked in partnership with the league since 2019. The company serves in an advisory role and helps produce the league entertainment events, including the flagship halftime production.
When the agreement was first established, Jay-Z made his position clear to Goodell, stating that if the commissioner was proposing that he perform at the Super Bowl himself, they could end the conversation right there. According to the Associated Press, seven years later the hip-hop star is finally ready to take the stage.
Grammy records and production team
The artist, whose real name is Shawn Carter, has won 25 Grammy Awards and earned 89 nominations throughout his career. That record places him second in Grammy history behind only his wife Beyoncé, who has previously performed at two separate Super Bowl halftime shows.
His catalog features landmark albums including The Blueprint and The Black Album, alongside hit songs such as Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem), 99 Problems, and Empire State of Mind, his hit collaboration with Alicia Keys. Last year, Reasonable Doubt was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
In 2017, Jay-Z became the first rapper inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, followed by his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2021. He also holds four Emmy Awards. Roc Nation will serve as executive producer of the upcoming halftime show, with director Hamish Hamilton directing the broadcast, as noted by the Athens-Macedonian News Agency.
