The video is also all in black and white, a stylistic choice which may symbolise the archaic views held by some residents of the USA, or to emphasise the dark apocalyptic tone seen in the visuals at the start of the video.
#Lyrics for alright by kendrick lamar full#
This effect allows the audience watching the video to take in the full brutality and realise the severity of the situation within America, as well as amplifying real life violence in order to highlight the violence happening in the USA. Predominantly in the first half of the music video before ‘Alright’ begins playing, snippets of music are played against the back drop of violence on the streets, as the visuals are put in slow motion as well the beat slowing down in the prelude music. However the song’s hook provides positivity within the lyrics “we gone be alright,” which directly addresses the black population of America reassuring them that black people will make it out of the struggle. This links to the lyrics as Kendrick is shot by a police officer, but also alluding the notion that American society wants to “shoot” down any positive black role models with genuine messages. Near the end of the video Kendrick is shot by one of the police officers who were carrying his car earlier on in the video.
Kendrick raps “I hate popo, wanna kill us dead in the streets for sure,” and “all my life I had to fight,” a message presented in many Hip Hop songs and music video as a form of retaliation against racist police officers and the institution in general. Further into the song, Kendrick’s lyrics criticise police shootings of black men in the USA, regardless if they were guilty or not. The visuals showing Kendrick chucking his money out the car window amplifies his lyrics and his stance that he will not sell out to the music industry in order to make money. THIS could be seen as a message to the music industry that he knows his rise in popularity means record labels see him as a money making opportunity. However the lyrics add new significance to this image when Kendrick raps “when I wake up, I recognise you’re looking at me for the pay cut,”. Here specifically we see money being thrown and flaunted which is common in many Hip Hop music videos. Once the song ‘Alright’ starts playing three minutes into the video the first scene shows Kendrick driving recklessly around a parked police with three children dancing on top of it, all whilst Kendrick throws Dollar bills out of the window of his car. The shot quickly cuts seconds after the bullet has left the gun, leaving it ambiguous as to whether or not the young man was killed, an excellent social commentary on the many victims of unjust police violence that has become a major issue in the USA lately. This image is juxtaposed to earlier visuals of despair amongst black people as they succumb to police violence, most notably the slow motion close up of a police officer firing a gun at a black man who is off-screen. The camera then zooms out to show four police officers carrying the car on their shoulders, intending to depict Kendrick and his contemporaries as royalty being carried around the city of Compton in a carriage. One example within the music video of racial stereotypes being subverted is shown in the prelude when Kendrick and his fellow ‘Black Hippy’ music collective members are in a car as the camera pans to the driver’s seat where Kendrick is sitting as he performs a short freestyle before ‘Alright’ begins. However Kendrick subverts these common characteristics in order to challenge racism in the United States of America and the Hip Hop genre in general. The music video for ‘Alright’ features large crowds of African-American men dancing, violence, guns and white police officers, all characteristics of a typical Hip Hop music video.
The video contains many characteristics of the Hip Hop genre, combining some classic Hip Hop music video conventions with contemporary Hip Hop conventions and ideas that challenge the stereotypical Hip Hop video. Amongst various awards and accolades he has accumulated, Tilley’s music video for Kendrick’s ‘Alright’ was Grammy nominated, one of the most prestigious awards within the music industry. Tilley is a well known and critically acclaimed music video director who has worked with various popular artists and performers throughout his career such as Justin Bieber, Rita Ora, 50 Cent and many more. The music video for Kendrick Lamar’s song ‘Alright’ was directed by Colin Tilley.
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