Alright by Kendrick Lamar (2015)
"Alright" is a song by American rapper Kendrick Lamar, taken from his third studio album “To Pimp a Butterfly” (2015). The song's lyrics are lively about hope amidst personal struggles, featuring uncredited vocals from co-producer Pharrell Williams during the chorus.
Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" received four nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards and winning the latter two. The song has become the national unifying soundtrack to protests by Black Lives Matter.[1]
Black Empowerment
This message of the lyrics is closely related to Black Lives Matter and the struggle against police brutality over black and brown bodies. In solidarity, activists across the United States chanted, "we gon' be alright."
Nigga, we gon' be alright
Nigga, we gon' be alright
We gon' be alright
Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright
Nigga, we gon' be alright
Huh? We gon' be alright
Nigga, we gon' be alright
Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright(Kendrick Lamar. Lyrics to “Alright.” Genius, 2016, genius.com/Kendrick-lamar-alright-lyrics)[2]
The chorus “We gon’ be alright” is simple but very intoxicating, easy to sing about, offering the sort of comfort that people of color and other oppressed communities desperately need. And more than that, the special kind of comfort that comes from repeating the sentence over and over.[3]
Controversy
Lamar got criticism from Geraldo Rivera when he performed "Alright" for the first time at the 15th BET Awards on June 28, 2015. Rivera has stated that "This is why I say that hip-hop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years. This is exactly the wrong message." [4] Following Rivera’s comments, Lamar responded about the song’s message. “How can you take a song that’s about hope and turn it into hatred?” he said. “The message, the overall message [of ’Alright’], is, ’We gon’ be alright.’ It’s not a message of ‘I want to kill people.’” [5]
References
- ↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/03/arts/music/kendrick-lamar-on-a-year-of-knowing-what-matters.html?_r=0
- ↑ https://genius.com/5047528
- ↑ https://slate.com/culture/2015/08/black-lives-matter-protesters-chant-kendrick-lamars-alright-what-makes-it-the-perfect-protest-song-video.html
- ↑ https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6613133/geraldo-rivera-kendrick-lamar-bet-awards-fox-news
- ↑ https://www.huffpost.com/entry/kendrick-lamar-responds-to-geraldo-rivera_n_7737826