‘They can’t deny us’: Dr. Dre and friends gear up for star-studded Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show

For Spokane rapper Jango, the past week has been filled with high-energy moments.

He’s fresh off a Seattle show, and performing is still on his mind. He’ll be cheering the players in the Super Bowl, but it’s the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show that is just as exciting, and perhaps more meaningful, with heavy-hitting musicians in one space.

Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and Kendrick Lamar are the named performers of the halftime show. Jango expects the show to be motivational and put a spotlight on the West Coast.

“Cali is definitely a launchpad for a lot of artists to start their careers,” he said. “It’s letting me (see) that I’m heading in the right direction.”

With their résumés in music, this is a monstrous lineup for a halftime show. All five are architects in their own right, providing musical presence that’s pushed both hip-hop and rap to survive, grow and flourish.

“We’ve got the Queen of R&B, we got the king of hip-hop and all of his proteges in the place,” Snoop Dogg said in a news conference Thursday. “This is what it’s about.”

Donning the cultural title of the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Blige has mastered both genres, filling her 30-year career with deep, melancholy ballads and songs that blur the lines of rap and pop.

“The vision is to do what I do and leave it all on the stage,” Blige said.

Fans should expect Blige to dive into her vibrant discography with her 2001 hit “Family Affair,” which was produced by Dre. His journey into the rap world began in 1991 with NWA in Compton, California. After an NWA hiatus with the death of rapper Eazy E, Dre continued producing for West Coast rappers, eventually running into Long Beach native Snoop Dogg while working under Death Row Records. The pair recorded tracks on Dre’s debut album, “The Chronic,” in 1992.

The rest is history.

He also introduced the world to Eminem, one of the top-selling artists of all time, with 1999’s “The Slim Shady LP,” and its 2000 follow-up, “The Marshall Mathers LP.” The two will reunite on stage for the first time since 2017.

Dre went on to play an integral part in the sound of rap in the ’90s and early 2000s, shaping the identity of West Coast rap culture and cementing his legacy. With Super Bowl LVI playing in the heart of Los Angeles, Dre called the halftime performance a “manifestation.”

“Who else could do this show here in L.A.?” Dre has asked. “I was always thinking, ‘Man, it would be perfect if we are in the Super Bowl at halftime and the Rams are in the game, as well.’ ”

Snoop Dogg may be a rap legend, but many might not know of his community action for Los Angeles. He acquired the owner’s rights to his former label Death Row Records this month, and since 2005 he’s been behind the Snoop Youth Football League. He remembers watching former Broncos running back Ronnie Hillman, once a player in his youth league, winning Super Bowl 50 with Peyton Manning.

“That was a highlight for me, to know that my football league could take kids and propel them into the NFL,” he said.

Jango believes Snoop Dogg and Dre are great examples of L.A.’s sense of community, something that Spokane could use to jumpstart the music scene.

“California is a music hub and has been for a long time, but not just for the artists’ standpoint, but the community is very supportive, too,” Jango said. “It’s nice to see the U.S. as a whole recognizing them and giving them their flowers even outside of music.”

Snoop Dogg is also active in Compton’s current music community. In 2011, he and Dre were performing in Los Angeles at Hollywood’s Music Box. Rising star Lamar, in between releases of his albums “Section .80” and “good Kid, m.A.A.d city,” was also onstage.

“I’m gon’ say this and I’m gon’ mean it: You got the torch,” Snoop says to Lamar who, rightfully, begins to sob. “You better run with it, because it’s yours.”

Lamar went on to produce three albums, including the soundtrack to Marvel’s “Black Panther,” that have earned him 13 Grammy Awards, a Pulitzer Prize for “capturing the complexity of modern African American life” and the well-earned street title of being one of the, if not the, generation’s best rappers.

Lamar’s presence in the Super Bowl lineup may provide a look into what’s in store for rap in the coming years. Though he hasn’t had his own album in five years fans await a new project.

The Super Bowl could change that. Rumors have swirled that 2022 is when Lamar emerges again to release his final album under his deal with the L.A. music label Top Dawg Entertainment.

For rap and R&B, the Super Bowl halftime show will be a small display of Black artists who understand their music has impact.

“Hip-hop is the biggest genre of music on the planet right now, so it’s crazy that it took all of this time to be recognized,” Dre said. “I think we’re going to do a fantastic show, a show so big that they can’t deny us in the future.”