A deaf rapper from Detroit has been tapped to perform alongside a handful of hip-hop legends at this year’s Pepsi Super Bowl LVI Halftime Show.
The Detroit Free Pressreports Sean Forbes, 40, will get the chance of a lifetime next weekend, as he’s set to take the stage at SoFi Stadium with Dr. Dre, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, and Kendrick Lamar.
In what marks the first time the Super Bowl halftime show will feature ASL interpreters, Forbes and fellow deaf rapper Warren (WaWa) Snipe, 50, will perform sign-language interpretations of the headliners’ music.
“The doors to accessibility are busted wide open with something like this,” Forbes said. “So this is very much a full-circle moment, being from Detroit, being part of the Eminem camp, or even going back to being 12 and listening to N.W.A., Dre and Snoop on my Walkman.”
He added, “My goal is to get out there, show what we can do, and have fun. And I want to open the door for other deaf performers.”
Meanwhile, it isn’t WaWa’s first time performing at the Super Bowl. Snipe accompanied Jazmine Sullivan and Eric Church during last year’s game for a rendition of the national anthem and “America the Beautiful.”
“I would listen to the music over and over to get a feel of the music and the singing,” Snipe told the The Washington Post in an interview last year. “This takes a lot of time and you want to make sure you’re understood, so playing with various ways to interpret a song is warranted!”
