Serena Williams is adept at leaving an impression, and this time she did so with a few clever maneuvers. The 43-year-old tennis veteran effortlessly executed the crip walk during Kendrick Lamar’s highly anticipated 2025 Super Bowl halftime concert, sending the internet into a frenzy. Her wild dance abilities are now being criticized by Williams.
For a time, hip-hop culture and sports came together in the most surprising way. As Kendrick Lamar’s spectacular performance of “Not Like Us” brought the house down during the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, the camera briefly moved to the stage’s corner.
There, crip walking with the effortless calm that only Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, tennis legend, and cultural icon, could muster.
The dance was created in the 1970s by Robert “Sugar Bear” Jackson, a first-generation member of the Crip, a group of street gangs mostly based in the coastal regions of Southern California.
Williams has, however, already shown that she can dance.
The crip walk at Wimbledon
Fans might remember Williams’ contentious and well-received crip walking following his gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
At the moment of the incident, Bill Plaschke, a sports journalist for the LA Times, tweeted, “Serena C-walking at Wimbledon only shows how long she’s been away from home, separated from violence and death associated with that dance.”
Fans had differing opinions on Williams’ use of the crip walk dance to celebrate her win; some believed it to be “stupid and classless,” while others didn’t consider it “disrespectful.”
In response to Plaschke’s criticism, one fan writes, “The Suburb kids here in Pittsburgh crip walk at proms.” Not everything is contentious.
A second says, “A moment of raw emotion.” A questionable decision to dance. Not impolite. We should accept the sincerity of athletes. “It’s unfortunate that she had to ruin a great victory,” another person observed. Just stupid and uncultured.
Serena Williams is adept at leaving an impression, and this time she did so with a few clever maneuvers. The 43-year-old tennis veteran effortlessly executed the crip walk during Kendrick Lamar’s highly anticipated 2025 Super Bowl halftime concert, sending the internet into a frenzy. Her wild dance abilities are now being criticized by Williams.
For a time, hip-hop culture and sports came together in the most surprising way. As Kendrick Lamar’s spectacular performance of “Not Like Us” brought the house down during the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show, the camera briefly moved to the stage’s corner.
There, crip walking with the effortless calm that only Serena Williams, the 23-time Grand Slam champion, tennis legend, and cultural icon, could muster.
The dance was created in the 1970s by Robert “Sugar Bear” Jackson, a first-generation member of the Crip, a group of street gangs mostly based in the coastal regions of Southern California.
Williams has, however, already shown that she can dance.
The crip walk at Wimbledon
Fans might remember Williams’ contentious and well-received crip walking following his gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics.
At the moment of the incident, Bill Plaschke, a sports journalist for the LA Times, tweeted, “Serena C-walking at Wimbledon only shows how long she’s been away from home, separated from violence and death associated with that dance.”
Fans had differing opinions on Williams’ use of the crip walk dance to celebrate her win; some believed it to be “stupid and classless,” while others didn’t consider it “disrespectful.”
In response to Plaschke’s criticism, one fan writes, “The Suburb kids here in Pittsburgh crip walk at proms.” Not everything is contentious.
A second says, “A moment of raw emotion.” A questionable decision to dance. Not impolite. We should accept the sincerity of athletes. “It’s unfortunate that she had to ruin a great victory,” another person observed. Just stupid and uncultured.
By the time Lamar took the stage for the half in Caesars Superdome in New Orleans, the level of anticipation had reached an all-time high. The stadium erupted as the song’s tempo started to slow down. When it hit one of its catchiest parts, the camera caught Williams effortlessly moving to the Grammy-winning song “Not Like Us,” which is Kendrick Lamar’s jab at Drake.
Lamar intensified his rivalry with Drake by allowing the Canadian rapper to perform on stage, despite rumors that she had dated Williams prior to her marriage to Alexis Ohanian.
There was no longer any doubt about Serena’s place in the Drake vs. Kendrick battle after that one dance move.
Despite being a brief, blink-and-you-miss-it encounter, the tennis player and Lamar, who both grew up in Compton, California, sent social media into overdrive.
“This game is awful. “Serena won the Super Bowl,” says a fan of the Philadelphia Eagles’ rout of the Kansas City Chiefs on February 9.
Will Serena make an appearance as well? It’s a power move. “Kendrick representing Compton and Serena bringing the legend status – definitely a moment,” writes another internet user.
Another says, “Fierce!!”… My sole complaint is that Serena ought to have been in possession of the camera for a longer duration.
After the Eagles won the 2025 title, the well-known crip stroll Williams shared a social media video with the caption, “Super Bowl halftime show babyyyyyyyyy.”
In the video, which has 2.7 million views, she states, “Man, I would have been fined if I had crip walked like that at Wimbledon.”
In the comments section, admirers praised her surprise Super Bowl participation.
“Serena Williams! “Winning on and off the tennis court, the outfit, the dancing moves, the feature in Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not like us’ Super Bowl halftime show,” writes one internet user.
Another says, “It was incredible when Kendrick took one of Drake’s former girlfriends out to literally dance on his grave.”
“The Legend herself.” “You represented,” adds a third.
Without a microphone or a touchdown, Serena Williams was the star of the show. All you needed was five seconds, a famous dance move, and the right song at the right time.
In an instant, Serena Williams won the Super Bowl.
What are your thoughts on Williams’ crip walk at the Super Bowl? Please share this story so that we can hear from others, and then tell us what you think!
