Count me among the hundreds of thousands of people (millions?) who contributed to the Kendrick Lamar boost after the Super Bowl.

I guess this is why they don’t pay the Super Bowl halftime performers (is that true? I’ve heard it a bunch these past couple of years and haven’t really questioned it until I’m writing it now) - this is one of the few times where the exposure actually probably does pay off.

But I watched that half-time performance and at no point was I like, “This is terrible,” so I figured, OK I’ll check him out. I also have heard his name connected to many causes I agree with, so I figured this was an artist I could get behind.

I started by listening to ‘The Daily’s’ recap of the Drake-Kendrick Lamar beef the day after the Super Bowl. I should have done that before the Super Bowl - it would have allowed me to make better sense of what I saw and heard during the performance.

But, then again, maybe it wouldn’t have. Just from social media and my regular pop cultural exposure I had a pretty good sense of what that beef was about. (But - yikes. I am glad I am not involved in a rap beef with anyone. That one escalated into uncomfortable territory…but I think even the first couple of levels are also pretty uncomfortable.)

But I also listened to DAMN. because I figured, if it’s good enough for a Pulitzer Prize, it’s good enough for me. And then I let the ‘popular selections’ on Spotify play out. Those were good songs.

Rap is never my first choice of music, but I often find that when I listen to it, if I’m in the right mindset, it’s fine.

In general, some of the songs I find catchy, others I find I listen to the lyrics better…kind of like the way I listen to any other genre.

I do like having a base reference of rap, as in, it’s part of my knowledge of what’s happening in the world - sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t. Recently I guess I haven’t because I had never heard ‘Not Like Us.’

I remember after I watched Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime performance and realizing I liked a lot more of her songs than I thought I did, I mixed in some of her music on runs for months afterwards.

I’m not sure Kendrick Lamar will meet the same level of success in my music mixes…but every once in a while is still more than it was before.

Here’s the way I think about someone like Kendrick Lamar: He’s doing just fine without me. He’s not an artist who necessarily needs me.

But maybe I could use him every once in a while.