Marsha Blackburn Criticized Rap. Now She's Using Kendrick's Super Bowl Moment to Campaign. Come On, Man.

A Tennessee Republican running for governor posted a campaign video with AI versions of herself and political allies dancing through a Kendrick Lamar-inspired Super Bowl scene. Yes, we're talking about Senator Marsha Blackburn, and yes, the song and imagery are modeled on 'Not Like Us.' That's already funny by itself. What's more interesting is how quickly people found her old criticism of rap and started asking how we got from treating hip-hop like a moral threat to borrowing its most recognizable cultural moment for votes.

What the video actually shows

The October 13 post from Blackburn's VoteMarsha account promoted early voting. In the synthetic clip, she appears alongside Republican political figures including Tim Burchett and Bill Hagerty, with Knox County Mayor Glenn Jacobs shown as his old WWE character Kane. Blackburn subsequently told WZTV that a county commissioner made the clip, it was reshared by other Republicans, and her campaign reposted it as something fun meant to encourage voting. Those details matter: posting the content is not the same as independently producing it.

The clip refers to Kendrick's 2025 Super Bowl halftime show and the Drake diss hit. CNN and Mediaite drew attention to the awkward history: Blackburn had publicly challenged rap artists such as Master P during a 2007 congressional hearing, while plenty of conservatives criticized Kendrick's halftime performance when it aired. Her own position today is that the campaign clip is lighthearted outreach. Critics see it as opportunism.

If you think rap is trash, why do you need it for attention?

I don't think a politician should be prohibited from listening to something they used to criticize. People can change their minds, and even jokes can be harmless. But I do want consistency. You can't spend years treating Black expression like the thing corrupting America and then, when an election comes around, suddenly discover that copying the music makes you relatable. If you respect the art now, explain that. If you're just chasing the algorithm, that's worth calling out too.

The funniest part is how the AI makes everybody look like they're performing in somebody else's show. It turns the politicians into characters borrowed from the most viral Black music event of the year. Before people make a legal claim about copyright infringement or unauthorized endorsement, though, that needs an actual rights analysis; a parody-looking clip alone doesn't settle it. Our conclusion is cultural: hip-hop isn't just an aesthetic you rent during election season.