The music video for Kendrick Lamar's song "Alright" is analyzed. The video is shot in San Francisco and Los Angeles to connect with viewers. It features dancing scenes to keep the hip-hop feel while conveying a deeper message. Images in the video relate to the lyrics, depicting themes of religion, violence, happiness, and sudden death. The video structure mirrors the song's beat. It presents Kendrick Lamar as a role model and possible messianic figure. There are few voyeuristic elements and references are made to the Bible and works by Tupac Shakur.

1. Music Video Analysis
(Kendrick Lamar – Alright)

2. Reflection of Genre
• The song “Alright” is of the Hip-Hop genre.
• The video is shot in 2 locations, San Francisco and LA. Two
popular and well known locations, to help the reader connect
with the video.
• The video also features a number of dancing scenes, this
keeps the video along the hip-hop lines whilst also conveying
a deeper message.

3. How do the Images Relate to the
Lyrics?
• “Lucifer was all around me” –
Church/Destruction/Alcohol/Money
• “Fighting a continuous war” – Black guy gets shot by police
officer
• “We gone be alright” – Happy/Money/Friends/Flying
• “Dark nights, my prayers” – He gets shot at the end whilst
standing on the lamppost.

4. How do the Images Relate to the
Music?
• The structure of the video follows the beat starting of slowly
with a talking part and then it peaks with beat in the middle
and then right at the end it cuts and slows right down to
talking again.
• This is to represent the life of black men in society today. He
outlines the problems at the start of the video in the talking
part, as the beat rises he talks about how it’s “gone be alright”
for black males but the sudden beat stop at the end shows
how flawed black people are and that it can all end suddenly.

5. How is The Artist Presented?
• The artist, in general, is presented as a role model for young
black males. He is flying through the streets like a superhero
for people who grew up in the same situation as him.
• The majority of this video shows him smiling, showing a
positive outlook of him.
• In comparison to his friends, he’s wearing lighter colored
clothes, this makes him stand out and to an extent, can be
compared to a Jesus like figure of the streets.

6. Voyeuristic Elements
• In the video we don’t see many voyeuristic elements
at all, most of the scenes are men from the hood or
of Kendrick himself rapping.
• The only link we could make would be of the girl
walking down the street in the video.

7. Intertextual References
• References to the bible –
Hard times like, "God"
Bad trips like, "Ya"
Nazareth, I'm fucked up, homie you fucked up
But if God got us then we gon' be alright
• This block of rhymes closely mimics 2Pac’s cadence and tone. In particular the
way he says “scheming'” and “Lord knows” -
“What Mac-11 even boom with the bass down
Schemin', and let me tell you ‘bout my life
Painkillers only put me in the twilight
Where pretty pussy and Benjamin is the highlight
Now tell my momma I love her but this what I like, Lord knows”
• A third mention of 40 acres and a mule on the album, and is a repetition from
“Wesley’s Theory.”
Forty acres and a mule was a concept the United States made for enslaved African American
farmers, who were unbelievably poor. The farmers believed they had the right to own 40 acres of
land and a mule after the end of the war.