When I heard Big Boi rap the chorus to “Kryptonite” (“If you want me, you can find me in the A”) during the Super Bowl LIII halftime show as he made his entrance into the newly constructed Mercedes-Benz Stadium, it warmed my heart. Sleepy Brown, one-third of the legendary Georgia super producer group Organized Noize, was at his side. And I cannot forget his repetition of the city’s favorite, formidable chant: “ATL hoe.”

As an Atlanta native, I treasured seeing a piece of my city splayed across national television, if only for a moment. But as quickly as Big Boi arrived on the stage, he was gone. I wanted more Atlanta representation, and — as expected — I didn’t get it.

The NFL attempted to cater to a subculture they’re not well-versed in. The halftime show is supposed to be what’s popular, and Outkast, as their name suggests, had to fight to be taken seriously, even within the rap industry. Big Boi and his right-hand man André 3000 hit their stride at a time when mainstream America demonized rap and exaggerated its negative effects on the country’s youth.

Had Big Boi performed any of the duo’s tales of urban life during the halftime show, the message would have lost its meaning to a largely white audience, much like Beyoncé’s ode to the Black Panther Party during her 2016 halftime performance. So “I Like The Way You Move” was the extent of Daddy Fat Stacks’ screen time.

Ultimately, it’s hard for an organization like the NFL to pay homage to a black city when it’s showed time and time again that its interests lie elsewhere. It’s apparent, though, that the Super Bowl committee took critics’ opinions on social media into consideration. Many observers — including celebrities such as Ludacris and Bruno Mars — had been calling for the inclusion of Atlanta artists.

So they gave us Big Boi and Gladys Knight. Lil Jon also performed earlier that day. They tried to listen. (Oddly, they also took a cue from a Twitter-fueled petition to have Spongebob make an appearance.) The timing, however, is not lost on me. I cannot recall such an attempt to include the host city, aside from interpolating New Orleans jazz bands every once and a while on the way to commercial breaks.

But this year, they had something to prove. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s dismissal of Colin Kaepernick’s protest and vague implication that he is unemployed because he is not as capable — “I think if a team decides that Colin Kaepernick or any other player can help their team win, that’s what they’ll do,” he said — makes the consideration of Atlanta artists feel like pandering, especially after major celebrities like Cardi B and Jay-Z declined to perform out of support for the unsigned quarterback.

So in true apologist fashion, a pathetic form of compensation was offered, and all we could do was watch (or not watch, if you are choosing to boycott the NFL) Travis Scott perform a very shortened version of “Sicko Mode” and Adam Levine take his shirt off and awkwardly grind his hips to “Moves Like Jagger.”