Alright (Kendrick Lamar song)

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"Alright"
Single by Kendrick Lamar
from the album To Pimp a Butterfly
Released June 30, 2015
Format Digital download
Recorded 2014–15
Genre Alternative hip hop
Length 3:39
Label
Writer(s)
Producer(s)
  • Pharrell Williams
  • Sounwave
  • Michael Kuhle
Kendrick Lamar singles chronology
"Bad Blood"
(2015)
"Alright"
(2015)
"These Walls"
(2015)

"Alright" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, taken from his third album To Pimp a Butterfly (2015).[1] Lyrically a festive song about hope, it features uncredited vocals from the song's co-producer Pharrell Williams during the chorus. "Alright" was released to radio stations as the album's fourth single on June 30, 2015.[2] Both the track and its music video received acclaim from critics, highlighting their message in the social context of the time. 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.[3] "Alright" received four nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards: Song of the Year, Best Music Video, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song, winning the two latter.

Inspiration and composition

In an interview with MTV News, Lamar said it was inspired by his trip to South Africa, witnessing other people's problems in the country: “their struggle was ten times harder.”[4] The track opens with lines from Alice Walker's The Color Purple, “Alls my life, I had to fight”. Lamar introduced the character "Lucy", who plays an essential role in the remainder of the album.[5] According to the lyrics, as Lamar gets bigger so does Lucy: "ain't a profit big enough to feed you". At the end of the track, Lamar talks about his suicidal thoughts once in a hotel room "I didn't wanna self-destruct... The evils of Lucy was all around me."[6] For music critics a "celebration of being alive",[7] Lamar described "Alright" as message of hope.[8] The song begins as a spoken-word treatise before exploding into a shapeshifting portrait of America that brings in jazz horns, skittering drum beats and Lamar's mellifluous rapping as he struggles with troubles and temptations. Musically, it features marching band propulsion and a jazz band's breezy reeds.[9] For his sole production credit, Pharrell Williams, who made the track with Digi+Phonics' member Sounwave, sings the hook.[10]

Reception

Critical response

"Alright" has received universal acclaim. Ranked number one on Pitchfork's "The 100 Best Tracks of 2015", an editor praised the chorus "We gon be alright," and described it as "an ebulliently simple five-syllable refrain, a future-tense assertion of delivery to a better, more peaceful place. In more than one instance, the song’s chorus was chanted at Black Lives Matter protests. It has soundtracked a movement. That's largely due to its holistic sentiment as a siren against innumerable injustices, but it has just as much to do with the fact that it's a great hook on a ferociously catchy song."[9] Consequence of Sound also ranked the song number one on its "Top 50 Songs of 2015" list, the magazine's editors described the song as "buoyant, festive, serious, personal, and all-encompassing. Only a song so brilliant in so many ways could earn the honor of becoming a protest song [...] 'Alright' isn't about determination; it’s about forgetting cold, harsh reality and hoping for something brighter and better if only for three minutes and 39 seconds." [11]

For The New York Times, writer Nate Chinen placed the song atop his "The Best Songs of 2015" list, adding "the verses harbor a (more) internal struggle  – and some of Kendrick Lamar’s most inspired showboating as a rapper."[12] Billboard ranked "Alright" at number eight on its year-end list of 2015: "Lamar made the struggle his message on the soul-stirring To Pimp a Butterfly cut "Alright." [...] The fight-the-power anthem became the nation's rallying cry in 2015, especially for the Black Lives Matter movement. The plight of police brutality victims can be heard in every breath Lamar takes on "Alright" as he tackles society's ills with resilience: "Homie you fucked up/But if God got us then we gon' be alright."[13] In a second list for the year's best hip-hop songs, Billboard placed "Alright" at number three.[14] Village Voice named "Alright" the fourth-best single released in 2015 on their annual year-end critics' poll, Pazz & Jop.[15] Newsday's editor Glenn Gamboa also ranked it as the best song of the year.[16]

Cultural impact

In 2015, several youth lead protests against police brutality across the country were heard chanting the chorus to "Alright".[17][18] Writing for Rolling Stone's editor Grate Tate commented "Lamar's "Alright" has been touted by many a comrade in today's student activist cadre as their "We Shall Overcome"".[19] Additionally, several contemporary progressive news outlets, including BET, raised the idea of "Alright" being the modern Black National Anthem.[20][21][22] Lamar was featured on Ebony Power 100, annual list that recognizes many leaders of the African-American community, emphasizing "how the chorus of his song “Alright” became a chant for Black Lives Matter protestors".[23] Producer Sounwave stated "I didn’t expect “Alright” to be the protest song but I did know it was going to do something because the time we’re living in made it the perfect song."[24] Protestors at a Chicago rally for Donald Trump chanted the chorus of the song in March 2016.[25]

Music video

The video for "Alright" was partially filmed in Los Angeles.

Release and synopsis

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"I wanted to have this m.A.A.d. city concept in there first. It basically shows the state of everything that’s going on in the world right now. It’s also showing how one man can basically spread positivity through all of the madness that’s going on and how everything is gonna be alright [...] The video starts off so dark and it just progresses and gets lighter and lighter as it goes."

 — Director Colin Tilley talking about the music video concept in an interview with MTV.[26]

Lamar was spotted filming the song's music video on Treasure Island in San Francisco, California[27] and atop a traffic light pole in Los Angeles, California.[28] It was released on Lamar's Vevo page on June 30, 2015.[29] The seven-minute-long clip, directed by Colin Tilley and The Little Homies, was filmed entirely in black-and-white.

The music video starts by showing shots of life in a neighborhood. A young African-American man is seen lying on the ground and Lamar begins speaking. Police and destruction flood the scene as the music starts, and Lamar begins rapping a new verse alongside his Black Hippy cohorts (ScHoolboy Q, Ab-Soul and Jay Rock), in a car carried by four police officers.[30] During the video, Lamar flies through California, while his crew is throwing out money to everybody and dancers perform in the streets. At the end of the music video, Lamar stands on a lamppost and a policeman shoots him down. The rapper falls to the ground finishing his monologue from the beginning of the video, but ends the clip with a smile.[29]

Reception

Pitchfork ranked it as the best music video of 2015, highlighting "Lamar's own flight above the streets of L.A., his inner-city Icarus providing one of the most arresting – and liberating – images of the year."[31] Consequence of Sound listed the video at number one on its "Top 5 Music Videos of 2015", concluding "The video works as a microcosm of the sad and wretched state of many cities: crooked cops, burning cars, abandoned buildings, and bleak backdrops of an urban sprawl. It’s powerful, harrowing, bleak, and hopeful all at once."[32] Spin also listed the clip atop its "The 25 Best Music Videos of 2015".[33]

Eric Ducker for Rolling Stone wrote "Lamar emerges as a charismatic but vulnerable superhero, flying through the city and doing donuts in a parking lot as a kid gleefully sits shotgun," and also commended the director Colin Tilley's work, "he creates a starker experience befitting one of the most ambitious albums by a major artist in recent history. Tilley rises to the challenge of matching Lamar's beautifully complex and conflicted vision." The editor listed it at number six on his best music videos of 2015 article.[34] Slant Magazine staff named it the 4th best video of the year.[35] The music video received four nominations at the 2015 MTV Video Music Awards, including Video of the Year, Best Male Video and Best Direction,[36] ultimately winning the latter. Furthermore, it received a nomination for Grammy Award for Best Music Video.

Live performances and controversy

Lamar performed the song for the first time at the 15th BET Awards on June 28, 2015. The performance featured Lamar standing on a graffiti-embossed police car flanked by a gigantic battered American flag.[37] Geraldo Rivera of Fox News called the performance "disgusting", and criticized Lamar, stating that "Hip Hop has done more damage to African Americans than racism in recent years".[38] Lamar, later, responded to the comments with a short video questioning Rivera's claim, stating "How can you take a message of hope and turn it into hate?"[8]

"Alright" was featured on the Kunta’s Groove Sessions tour.[39] Lamar and Pharrell Williams performed the song together at LA radio station Power 106’s annual Cali Christmas concert.[40]

Lamar performed a medley of "The Blacker the Berry" and "Alright" at the 58th Grammy Awards.[41] It was ranked by Rolling Stone and Billboard as the best performance and best moment of the night,[42][43] with the latter writing "It was easily one of the best live TV performances in history."[44]

Usage in media

Kendrick Lamar made a cameo in a promo ad for ABC sitcom Black-ish. A minute-long clip was released featuring Lamar’s song in a music video the show's Johnson kids create to become an “overnight viral sensation.” The remainder of the promo ad moves into a music video setting where the Black-ish casts raps along to “Alright” while Lamar himself sits on the family couch munching on snacks.[45] On January 25, 2016, the Grammys released a promotional video where Compton residents rap along to "Alright" before Lamar joins them at the end.[46]

Awards and nominations

Year Organization Award Result Ref.
2015 MTV Video Music Awards Video of the Year Nominated [36]
Best Male Video
Best Hip-Hop Video
Best Direction Won
MTV Europe Music Awards Best Video Nominated [47]
BET Hip Hop Awards Best Hip Hop Video Won [48]
Impact Track
Soul Train Music Awards Video of the Year Nominated [49]
Best Hip Hop Song of the Year Won
2016 Grammy Awards Song of the Year Nominated [50]
[51]
Best Rap Performance Won
Best Rap Song
Best Music Video Nominated

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[52] 27
Belgium Urban (Ultratop Flanders)[53] 44
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[54] 109
UK R&B (Official Charts Company)[55] 20
US Billboard Hot 100[56] 81
US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[57] 14

References

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  52. "Ultratop.be – Kendrick Lamar – Alright" (in Dutch). Ultratip.
  53. "Ultratop.be – Kendrick Lamar – song=Alright" (in Dutch). Ultratop Urban.
  54. "Archive Chart: 2015-03-22" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  55. "Archive Chart: 2015-03-22" UK R&B Chart. Retrieved March 27, 2015.
  56. "Kendrick Lamar – Chart history" Billboard Hot 100 for Kendrick Lamar. Retrieved March 26, 2015.
  57. "Kendrick Lamar – Chart history" Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs for Kendrick Lamar. Retrieved March 27, 2015.

External links