Alright (Kendrick Lamar song)
[1] The song expresses ideas of hope amid personal struggles and features uncredited vocals in its chorus from co-producer Pharrell Williams.
Publications such as Rolling Stone, People, and Complex noted the song's importance in the protests calling "Alright" the "unifying soundtrack" of the movement.
[4] Lamar, alongside notable artists Snoop Dogg, Dr. Dre, Eminem, Mary J. Blige, and 50 Cent, performed "Alright" at the Super Bowl LVI halftime show on February 13, 2022.
In an interview with MTV News, Lamar stated that he found inspiration for "Alright" while visiting South Africa and witnessing problems that locals faced: "their struggle was ten times harder.
Ranked number one on Pitchfork's "The 100 Best Tracks of 2015" and "The 200 Best Songs of the 2010s", 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".
[14] Village Voice named "Alright" the fourth-best single released in 2015 on their annual year-end critics' poll, Pazz & Jop.
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.
[28] 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.
[32] 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".
[33] 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?
[36] In 2015, Lamar and Pharrell Williams performed the song together at LA radio station Power 106's annual Cali Christmas concert.
[44][45] Rolling Stone's writer Greg Tate commented: "Lamar's 'Alright' has been touted by many a comrade in today's student activist cadre as their 'We Shall Overcome'".
[46] Additionally, several contemporary progressive news outlets, including BET, raised the idea of "Alright" being the modern Black National Anthem.
[47][48][49] 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".
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.
In 2023, Beyoncé, during her Renaissance World Tour, incorporated elements of "Alright", along with her own "My Power" and "Black Parade", during a dance break with her daughter, Blue Ivy Carter.
