Serena Williams’ gave fans a surprise performance during Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show on Sunday. 

The tennis champion, 43, began dancing while the star was performing his song ‘Not Like Us’ – a diss track from his beef with Canadian rapper Drake.

While her cameo lasted seconds, it sent fans wild due to her history with Drake after the pair were both romantically linked in the past. 

The crip walk also holds personal significance to the star after she performed a similar celebratory dance when she defeated Maria Sharapova at the Olympics in 2012. 

Responding to the performance she joked: ‘I didn’t crip walk like that at Wimbledon, I would have been fined!’

Her dance at Wimbledon sparked controversy at the time due to its origins in gang culture and ᴀssociation with violence and death. 

Serena Williams’ issued a hilarious 13-word response after performing to Kendrick Lamar’s Drake diss track at the Super Bowl in Los Angeles on Sunday night

Responding to the performance she joked: ‘I didn’t crip walk like that at Wimbledon , I would have been fined!’

Drake has previously  referenced Serena in his music, including his 2013 track ‘Worst Behavior’ and his 2022 song ‘Middle of the Ocean,’ where he took a dig at her husband, Alexis Ohanian, calling him a ‘groupie.’

And now Kendrick has given a nod to the sports star in his Drake diss track as he warned the rapper: ‘better not speak on Serena.’

Reacting after the performance Serena also tweeted: ‘Let’s go Super Bowl halftime??! I died a little!’

The sight of Williams c-walking on a stage as big as this sent social media into hysterics. 

‘Serena been waiting to get that lick back,’ Jemele Hill of The Atlantic posted to Twitter.

One fan joked, ‘Kendrick getting the entire Super Bowl screaming ‘a minor’ with Serena Williams dancing has to feel like a sH๏τ gun blast to Drake’s chest.’ 

‘Drake watching Serena his ex Crip Walking to a viral diss song about him That’s legendary,’ another post read.

Another user said, ‘Every time I watch Kendrick I get inspired to be a bigger hater. Him having Serena Williams dancing to a diss track of drake knowing Serena history with drake is diabolical . Truly inspiring stuff.’

While her cameo lasted seconds, it sent fans wild due to her history with Drake after the pair were both romantically linked in the past 

The crip walk also holds personal significance to the star after she performed a similar celebratory dance when she defeated Maria Sharapova at the Olympics in 2012

Reacting after the performance Serena also tweeted: ‘Let’s go Super Bowl halftime??! I died a little!’

Kendrick has given a nod to the sports star in his Drake diss track as he warned the rapper: ‘better not speak on Serena’

Back in 2015, rumours of an alleged romance between Serena and Drake began circulating.

The rapper even mentioned Williams in many songs – while also appearing at multiple tennis tournaments that she was participating in.

TMZ added more fuel to the fire by publishing pH๏τos of the two of them at a Cincinnati restaurant having a romantic dinner after she had won the Western and Southern Open.

But in spite of these rumours, Williams appeared to move on – marrying Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian in 2017 and having a child together. 

Drake took things to the next level by attacking Ohanian on a song, ‘Middle Of The Ocean’ off his 2022 album ‘Her Loss’. 

In the song, he raps, ‘Sidebar, Serena, your husband a groupie / He claim we don’t got a problem but / No boo, it is like you coming for sushi.’

Ohanian responded with a tweet saying, ‘The reason I stay winning is because I’m relentless about being the absolute best at whatever I do – including being the best groupie for my wife [and] daughter.’ 

Kendrick returned fire on her behalf in ‘Not Like Us’, rapping, ‘From Alondra down to Central / N**** better not speak on Serena.’

Drake once attacked Williams’ husband, Alexis Ohanian, in a song back in 2022

Lamar performed his halftime show set with an appearance by frequent collaborator SZA

Samuel L. Jackson (left) seen onstage with Lamar (R) at the Super Bowl Halftime Show

DJ Mustard (L), a frequent collaborator of Lamar’s, performs with the rapper at the show

In the midst of their beef, Serena delivered a jab of her own at the 2024 ESPYS, which she hosted: ‘If I’ve learned anything this year, it’s that none of us – not a single one of us, not even me – should ever pick a fight with Kendrick Lamar.’

She added, ‘He will make your hometown not like you. The next time Drake sits courtside at a Raptors game, they’re gonna Forrest Gump him, “seat’s taken”.’

Born in Michigan, Williams spent her childhood in Compton before moving to Florida to focus on her tennis career. She only went on to be the greatest women’s tennis player of the Open Era – if not all time.

As for Lamar, he managed to get not one, but two of his diss tracks against Drake into the halftime show – performing ‘Euphoria’ earlier in his set.

Lamar teased playing ‘Not Like Us’ earlier in the set, but momentarily backed out while singing to a group of female vocalists. 

‘Ladies / I wanna make a move / I wanna perform they favorite song / But you know they love to sue,’ Lamar rapped before the beat to the song momentarily played.

That was referencing the lawsuit that Drake has filed against his record label, UMG (the same label as Lamar) for failing to prevent the release of ‘Not Like Us’ and claiming it contained defamatory content.

But Lamar did eventually play the song. He rapped the words ‘Certified Lover Boy, certified…’ and then didn’t say the word ‘pedophile’. 

Moments later, the crowd did sing the words ‘Tryna strike a chord / and it’s probably A-Minor’.

Lamar mostly played songs from his recently released album ‘GNX’. He also played two songs off his 2017 release ‘DAMN.’ – those being Humble and DNA.

The halftime show also featured two songs performed with SZA: ‘luther’, which is off ‘GNX’, and ‘All The Stars’ from the soundtrack to the Marvel movie Black Panther. 

In addition to SZA and Williams, the show featured two surprise guests: Samuel L. Jackson as the show’s narrator and DJ Mustard – a hitmaker and longtime Lamar collaborator.