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Spotify just dropped its "100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of the Streaming Era" list, which ranks records released from 2015 onwards, with Kendrick Lamar leading their new catalog program.
The latest edition to Spotify "CLASSICS" was handpicked by the streaming platform's North American editorial team, who highlighted tracks like Gods Plan (Drake), Jocelyn Flores (XXXtentacion), Lucid Dreams (Juice WRLD), WAP (Megan x Cardi B), and more.
Kendrick Lamar topped the charts with his 2015 single Alright, which was released as part of his Grammy-winning studio album To Pimp A Butterfly. The single itself would go on to win two Grammys at the 58th Annual Grammy Awards.
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Regarded as one of Kendrick's best albums to date, TPAB contained some of Kenny's greatest hits. Alright was one of the biggest tracks on a project that delves into themes of:
- Hope
- Despair
- Violence
- Hate
- Pain
- Self-love
- Depression
- Race and Cultural Movements
- Police Brutality
- Politics
- Poetic Justice
Disclaimer: This review is rated explicit. Reader's discretion is advised.
Bar-For-Bar: Breaking down Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning record Alright
Kendrick Lamar's third full-length studio album, To Pimp A Butterfly, is hailed as one of the greatest albums of the 2010s, acting as an anthemic project that battles systemic racism by providing young African-Americans with hope for a better tomorrow.
Kendrick primarily borrows from jazz and soul music while sonically composing this project, intentionally creating an album that aims to trigger an emotional response from its listeners with songs like Alright. This single enters as the 7th track on TPAB, revolving around themes of resilience, whose anthemic "hope-filled" production acts as a major contributing factor to Alright being popularly played during the 2020 Black Lives Matter movement.
Pharrell Williams appears as a feature on this track's chorus, which is notable for its catchy hook in proclaiming the term "we gon be alright". The production is credited to Pharrell and Sounwave, who put together transient drum progressions and jazz-fueled hi-hats and trumpets.
[Intro]
"Alls my life, I has to fight, n---a / Alls my life, I— / Hard times like, Yah! / Bad trips like, Yah! Nazareth / I'm f--ked up, homie, you f--ked up / But if God got us, then we gon' be alright"
Kendrick opens on this track with his personal interpolation of Alice Walker’s 1982 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple.
Unlike Alice's version, which highlights family conflicts, Kenny emphasizes how growing up in a tough part of Compton made his life tough but cites the importance of religion for getting him through those hard times.
[Chorus]
"N---a, we gon' be alright / N---a, we gon' be alright / We gon' be alright / Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright / N---a, we gon' be alright / Huh? We gon' be alright / N---a, we gon' be alright / Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon' be alright"
Pharrell Williams opens with Kendrick Lamar in the chorus, where "alright" is repeated several times in a hopeful chant.
The hook isn't the lines, the beat, or even the performance, but the infectious rhythm captured by the repetition of Alright, which builds the foundation of the track as an anthem refusing to submit itself to anything less than strength and survival.
[Verse 1]
"Uh, and when I wake up / I recognize you're looking at me for the pay cut / But homicide be looking at you from the face down / What MAC-11 even boom with the bass down?"
Kendrick opens the verse by claiming he's aware of the industry idolizing him and ties his aggressive stance against being treated as a product into themes of police brutality and violence.
"Schemin', and let me tell you 'bout my life / Painkillers only put me in the twilight / Where pretty p---y and Benjamin is the highlight / Now tell my momma I love her, but this what I like, Lord knows / Twenty of 'em in my Chevy, tell 'em all to come and get me / Reaping everything I sow, so my karma coming heavy"
K-Dot then alludes to his affinity for drugs, money, and women before expressing to his mother that he's still religious. The state of conflict Kendrick revels in is that God allows his behavior, believing it's because he's set for a higher purpose.
"No preliminary hearings on my record / I'm a motherf--king gangster in silence for the record, uh / Tell the world I know it's too late / Boys and girls, I think I've gone cray / Drown inside my vices all day / Won't you please believe when I say"
Kendrick Lamar ends the verse by inviting the listeners into this worldview of "accepting one's fate," transitioning into more melodic vocals as he reflects on how his addiction sealed his destiny.
[Pre-Chorus]
"Wouldn't you know / We been hurt, been down before / N---a, when our pride was low / Lookin' at the world like, Where do we go? / N---a, and we hate po-po / Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho' / N---a, I'm at the preacher's door / My knees gettin' weak, and my gun might blow / But we gon' be alright"
The pre-chorus is notable for how well Kendrick brings to light the concerns of systemic oppression, violence, and racial politics.
The theme of resilience in facing adversity radiates in the last few lines. With Lamar finding himself on the verge of breaking, he accepts he'll be "alright." The chorus repeats before Kendrick Lamar's second verse.
[Verse 2]
"What you want you, a house? You, a car? / Forty acres and a mule? A piano, a guitar? Anything, see my name is Lucy, I'm your dog / Motherf--ker, you can live at the mall"
Kendrick Lamar's second verse puts listeners in the rapper's shoes as he explains the many luxuries and offers the Devil (Lucifer/Lucy) presents to him. Dot cuts through by outrightly rejecting "Lucy's offer."
"I can see the evil, I can tell it, I know it's illegal / I don't think about it, I deposit every other zero / Thinking of my partner, put the candy, paint it on the Regal / Digging in my pocket, ain't a profit big enough to feed you"
Kendrick explains how he's not blinded to illegal or "evil" activities and chooses to remain silent as the idea of a "materialistic" lifestyle seems to have caught up to him. Dot's mindset begins to slowly contrast with its original stance of rejecting a luxury deal with the Devil.
"Every day my logic get another dollar just to keep you in the presence of your chico, ah! / I don't talk about it, be about it, every day I sequel / If I got it then you know you got it, Heaven, I can reach you / Pat Dawg, Pat Dawg, Pat Dawg, my dog, that's all"
Dot accepts his flawed logic, highlighting how he can't give up for all the people he lost and for those who need his support. He ends the line by showing respect to his cousin "Pat Dawg," who passed away during the making of To Pimp A Butterfly.
"Bick back and Chad, I trap the bag for y'all / I rap, I black on track so rest assured / My rights, my wrongs; I write 'til I'm right with God"
The verse ends with Kenny submitting himself to God, stating he will continue to make art that brings hope to his community, hoping to "right" all his wrongs. The pre-chorus and chorus repeat once again before K-Dot enters with an outro.
[Outro]
"I keep my head up high / I cross my heart and hope to die / Lovin' me is complicated / Too afraid of a lot of changes / I'm alright, and you're a favorite / Dark nights in my prayers"
Kendrick Lamar admits to succumbing to depression induced by becoming one of the biggest rappers of his generation. He, however, promises the listeners that he will always strive to push forward through all his struggles, promising them that everything will be alright.
"I remembered you was conflicted / Misusing your influence, sometimes I did the same / Abusing my power, full of resentment / Resentment that turned into a deep depression"
After a brief pause, Kendrick Lamar begins to recite his deeper thoughts through a 2-bar poem that has consistently gotten clearer on each track of To Pimp A Butterfly. Kendrick includes a new extract from this poem on each track, which finally concludes on Mortal Man.
"Found myself screamin' in the hotel room / I didn't wanna self-destruct / The evils of Lucy was all around me / So I went runnin' for answers"
The poem invites listeners into Kendrick Lamar's addictive mindset, depression, and power-hungry behavior. In this extract, it becomes clear that although Kenny is constantly surrounded by Lucifer's luxuries, he's strong enough to stray far away from the Devil in hopes of finding "answers."
