"They perform or I quit" - Snoop Dogg reveals the levels Jay-Z went through to ensure Super Bowl performance took place

Performances by Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Mary J. Blige, Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, and unexpected guest 50 Cent at the Super Bowl LVI Pepsi Halftime Show on February 13 created history.  This was the first time that spectators saw Crip walking and a line about "still not loving police" played at the Big Game, even though hip-hop musicians have undoubtedly appeared on the stage during the Super Bowl halftime performance at various periods in its 55-year existence.

The concert evoked nostalgia for both the performers and the audience, especially for those who grew up on '90s hip hop, particularly West Coast gangsta rap.  At one point, Snoop turned to face Dre, and Dre turned to Snoop, and they both simply grinned as though to say, "Yeah, we did it."

 Snoop Dogg recently talked about that encounter with Chief Content Officer Elliott Wilson in an interview with TIDAL.

"I thought it was the greatest shit ever when I got home and watched it on playback," he remarked.  It seemed like the best concert ever while I was there.  Dre letting me come out first meant a lot to me when I initially came out.  I was the first to speak.

 "To enable me to start that and have sufficient faith in the D-O Double to say, 'All right.  I trust the D-O Double in the most important moment of my career.  He will take the lead and then return at the end of the ninth inning.  You must have all the Crip walking in and walk the dog back out … boom boom boom.  Do you understand what I mean?  It's the  West.

”There were debates over what the National Football League (NFL) would and wouldn't permit after the halftime show performance went popular on Twitter.  Some were surprised that Kendrick Lamar was not permitted to use the "po-po" line from "Alright," whereas Dr. Dre was able to get away with saying the line about cops that read, "Still D.R.E."  Additionally, Snoop was dressed in what the NFL deemed to be "gang-related" attire, but it seems that JAY-Z, who assists the NFL in choosing performers for big events like the Super Bowl, advised Snoop Dogg not to worry about it.

"When I got offstage, Jay was the first person to enter the dressing room," he remarked.  Kevin Liles, the CEO of 300 Entertainment, was present.  Jay was on FaceTime with Kevin Liles, who was attempting to show him where we were.  He then descended, and as soon as he entered, he gave me a hug.

 "We give each other strong hugs.  We seemed to have won a championship.  You know what it's like to be truly happy for each other?  He and I are the ones who don't understand.  The one on the east is him.  It's me, the Westerner.

"We love each other," he continued.  Not in private, but in public, we are in love.  He should stand up for us and tell the NFL, "Fuck that," because that's the way things are.  That was the most gangster stuff of all. "They perform or I quit."  So you can't wear your gang bang crap with the clothes and bowing and everything?  "Wear what the fuck you want to wear," JAY-Z said to me.  To the gods, peace.