Alright By Kendrick Lamar

## **Background**

“Alright” is a song written and sung by American Rapper Kendrick Lamar. It features Pharrell Williams who sings the chorus. This song is from Kendrick Lamar’s third album called To Pimp A Butterfly. “Alright” was released in 2015, and was nominated for four Grammy awards including: Song of the Year, Best Music Video, Best Rap Performance, and Best Rap Song. It won Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song.

## **Meaning**

The song sparked a lot of conversation when it first debuted, especially because it is associated with the Black Lives Matter Movement. According to [(Kendrick Lamar song)|this] page, “The song was associated with Black Lives Matter after several youth lead protests were heard chanting the chorus, with some publications calling "Alright" the "unifying soundtrack" of the movement.[“ This song is supposed to signify hope. Pharrell Williams created the hook “We gon’ be alright” which helped Lamar come up with the rest of the lyrics to the song. Lamar was inspired by a trip to South Africa after seeing what other people were going though there. He said “...their struggle was ten times harder” to MTV News. The first line of the song is “Alls my life I had to fight.” which was taken from The Color Purple by Alice Walker.

## **Music Video**

The music video was created by Colin Tilley and The Little Homies and released on June 30, 2015. As of September of 2018, the music video has over 112 million views. The background of whole video is black and white, and begins with Kendrick Lamar doing a voiceover, while different things are happening on screen. For example, money is being thrown around, there is a car on fire, someone is being chased by a group of people wearing all black, and a man is shot by the police. Next there is a scene where Kendrick is rapping in a car with a group of friends and when the camera zooms out, we see middle-aged white policemen holding up their car. During the video Lamar is seen floating through the air while rapping. People throw money in the air, and sing along with him in a big group. At the end of the video, Lamar stands on a lamppost and is then shot by a white police officer. He falls to the ground, and then says:

“I remember you was conflicted. Misusing your influence, sometimes I did the same. Abusing my power full of resentment. Resentment that turned into a deep depression. Found myself screaming in the hotel room. I didn’t wanna self-destruct. The evils of Lucy was all around me. So I went running for answers.”

Here is the link of this MV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-48u\_uWMHY

## **Grammy Awards Performance**

Lamar performed “Blacker the Berry” and “Alright” at the 58th Grammy Awards in 2016. His performance was seen as controversial, yet eye-opening for many. It started off with him and a group of four black men lined up behind him, with chains on their wrists. When he transitioned to "Alright", the performance became loud and upbeat. The performance sent out a hopeful and powerful message. Some people thought that Lamar's performance was problematic. Geraldo Rivera, a reporter for Fox News, said Lamar's performance was "disgusting". He made more comments which led to Lamar making a short [[1]] in response. In the video he stated, "How can you take a message of hope and turn it into hate?" He then referenced Rivera's statements in song "YAH".

Sources:

http://time.com/3594899/pharrell-admits-feminism-buzzfeed/

https://www.yahoo.com/news/video/why-kendrick-lamars-alright-most-140000688.html