Bruno Mars Wants NFL to Book Hip-Hop Artists for Next Year’s Super Bowl in Atlanta

With the whirlwind of complicated feelings and reactions to Justin Timberlake’s Super Bowl halftime show on Sunday, Bruno Mars is already looking ahead to next year’s big show.

Mars may know what he’s talking about. The “Finesse” singer has performed at two halftime shows himself — in 2014 and 2016. On Monday, he addressed the NFL on Twitter, imploring the league to get hip-hop artists on stage at the 2019 halftime show.

Super Bowl LIII will be held in Atlanta, Georgia next year, which is why Mars specifically feels that it’s the perfect year to celebrate the hip-hop genre. “Yo is it true that the next Super Bowl is in Atlanta?” he asked on Twitter. Atlanta has been a breeding ground for great rappers for years, and many revolutionary icons in the art form have come from the city.

“.@NFL you have the opportunity to celebrate incredible Hip Hop Artist from Atlanta next year,” Mars wrote on Monday afternoon. “Outkast. T.I Gucci, lil jon, Jeezy, Jermaine Dupri just to name a few. it would be the best party Tv has ever seen!”

While many fans agreed with Mars’ sentiment, they didn’t agree with his list of prospective performers. “Jermaine Dupri????” asked one fan incredulously, with an uncertain GIF reaction. Surprisingly, Dupri himself jumped in at this point.

“You ain’t poppin if you got no haters,” the rapper wrote. Fans were ecstatic over the comeback.

Mars went on, half-jokingly offering to book the show for a small price.

“S— I just wanna help curate that show, and I’ll only charge like a billion,” he wrote in another tweet, along with a laughing emoji. He finished by writing “all jokes aside please lets [sic] make this happen.”

Fans were on board with Mars’ idea for the next halftime show. It might be the route the NFL chooses after all the drama surrounding this year’s show. Viewers had all kinds of gripes against Justin Timberlake’s halftime show, not least of all because his last appearance at the Super Bowl ended with an infamous wardrobe malfunction.

Timberlake was also dragged for what many perceived as disrespect to the memory of Prince. The singer performed a posthumous duet with Prince, who appeared over him in a massive projection. Besides the fact that Timberlake had a few unhappy run-ins with Prince, fans also thought this was cruel because of Prince’s lifelong wish to maintain creative control. In a 1998 interview with Guitar World, the singer specifically said he never wanted to be remastered for a digital duet after his death, calling the practice “demonic.”