Sneaker News Serena Williams made her Super Bowl debut last night as a special guest on Kendrick Lamar’s half-time show for LIX. While the brief appearance surprised many, the women’s tennis GOAT has plenty of linkage with not only the Pulitzer Prize winning artist, but also the man whose miserable 2024 has filtered into the new year.
Like Kendrick, Serena Williams is a native of Compton. Throughout their respective careers, both have shown plenty of pride in regards to representing their roots. During her Super Bowl LIX half-time show appearance, she was seen performing a Crip-walk aka a C-walk; this type of dance spells out the word “Crip” with the dancer’s feet with some elaborate maneuvering, and has roots dating back to the 1970s from the Compton-based group.
Serena was sporting some tennis lifestyle apparel from the recently launched Nike 24.7 collection, which touts new material innovation for all-day comfort. The shoes are the upcoming A Ma Maniere x Converse Chuck 70 collaboration, which Nike hand-dyed to color-match her Crip-appropriate clothing. These Chucks feature a Nike logo on the tongue as well as the upper; these are different from the Friends And Family version that surfaced back in December.
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- Serena Williams in upcoming A Ma Maniere x Converse Chuck 70 @serenawilliams
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- Serena Williams in upcoming A Ma Maniere x Converse Chuck 70 @serenawilliams
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- Serena Williams in upcoming A Ma Maniere x Converse Chuck 70 @serenawilliams
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- Serena Williams in upcoming A Ma Maniere x Converse Chuck 70 @serenawilliams
Serena’s participation goes beyond a hometown friendship. She was rumored to have dated Drake over a decade ago, and in his subsequent songs the Canadian rapper referenced the tennis legend in lyrics, going as far as calling her now husband a “groupie”. That said, Williams doesn’t like Drake, to put it mildly. And with with the prospect of having millions of viewers shouting “a minorrrrrr”, Serena likely had no hesitation in joining Lamar on stage.
