Kendrick’s “Alright” video begins by creating scenes that seem the very opposite of alright. We see images more associated with an apocalypse rather than hope or positivity. We witness terror and scenes of a city falling apart. Violence runs rampant as we see women crying and bloody children. Images such as these are the last thing that come to mind when you hear the word “alright”. These scenes work to contrast the title and lyrics of the song. Kendrick uses contrasting scenes of terror with lyrics and images that are positive to create a surprising message of hope.

The director uses technical shots and color to create an intense mood and to draw the viewer into the video. The entire video is shot in black and white. The use of black and white throughout the whole video gives it a raw feel and gives it more emotion. It creates a more somber and serious mood. The use of this black and white gives the viewer a sense of unease. By using this color scheme, it adds to the feeling of the video that right now not everything is “peaches n cream”. In particular, the first gunshot scene uses the black and white effect to add to the horror and realism of the scene. The scene is shot in close up and once the gun is pulled it zooms in further on the gun. The effect of this shot puts the viewer right in the action. The close up makes the viewer feel as if they are right there and it makes the scene horrifyingly realistic. Once the gun is pulled it is zoomed in on and it turns to slow motion. The slow motion of the gun shot makes the scene feel even more intense. The technical aspects of the video help add to the horror and chaos created by the beginning sequence.

In our first scene, a police officer throws a man on to what appears to be the ground and tries to put him in handcuffs. The man tries to escape from the cop and it is revealed that he was thrown up against a wall and not the ground. The man pushes the police officer off of him and attempts to run away. It then becomes slow motion and zooms in on the police officer firing his gun at the man (1:30-1:47). This is a powerful depiction of the police brutality that has become an epidemic in America. The lyrics at the time of this scene give even more meaning to it. During it we hear Kendrick recite, “While my love ones was fighting a continuous war back in the city, I was entering a new one, a war that was based on apartheid and discrimination.” (1:30-1:147). It gives us insight on Kendrick’s views of the recent police shootings. It portrays the state of the world we live in today and the reality that our society still has a real problem with discrimination and prejudice. Everything we have watched in the video before builds up to this point. It is an exclamation point on all the other chaos and war scenes we have seen to this point. The last line hits even harder as Kendrick says it just as the gun is fired and you hear the gunshot. 

Right after the gun is shot in slow motion it cuts to the title screen for the “Alright” music video. This creates a pretty drastic change in the video. It goes from a man being gunned down by a police officer with Kendrick saying he has entered a “new war based on apartheid and discrimination”, to the title of the song, “Alright” based on a background of the city and a lamp post. The Lamp post foreshadows to the ending scene of the video. I think Kendrick is trying to say through this scene is that even with this ongoing war within our country and all the chaos going on around us; in the end, everything will be “Alright”. Kendrick gives us a positive twist in this world that seems to be destined for Hell. The “Alright” title screen gives us hope even after we have witnessed many scenes before us filled with terror and destruction. 

The other scene in which we see a police officer fire at an unarmed black man is at the very ending of the video. The scene shows Kendrick harmlessly dancing atop the street light from the title screen of the video. You see a cop car with a different white police officer drive up to the pole. The police officer pulls out a rifle as he exits his car. He puts the rifle away and instead holds a finger pistol up towards Kendrick. He then pulls the trigger to his finger gun and mouths the word “Pow” as a real gunshot sound is heard. Kendrick is shot as he was standing on the pole and blood exits from his body. It goes into slow motion as Kendrick falls and he begins mouthing the words to the poem from the beginning of the song, with a few lyrical changes. Kendrick finally hits the ground. He appears to be dead for a brief moment, but then we see Kendrick crack a smile as the video ends (5:33-6:43). 

The first part of the scene is shot at a long shot as Kendrick dances atop the light post with the city skyline shown in the background. This shot establishes Kendrick’s location; at the outskirts of the city he traveled through, throughout the video. Once again we see Kendrick alone, above everything else. This reinforces the idea that Kendrick is above everything/everyone else as seen many times in the video. Kendrick continuously puts himself on higher “ground” like when he was floating throughout the city earlier in the video. In these scenes, we see kids looking up in awe at Kendrick while floats and dances along. This gives Kendrick a hero sort of image throughout the video. Portraying Kendrick as this sort of hero does two things. It helps give us hope, as the viewer, as we see a rapper who the kids look up to and who spreads positive messages. It also shows that no one is immune to this discrimination. Kendrick even as the hero he is portrayed to be in this video is still shot down by the cop. Even such a famous and public figure is still “gunned down” by hatred and prejudice. Kendrick shows that this discrimination doesn’t escape anyone and that everyone is susceptible to racism.

As Kendrick is dancing on the light pole, at the end of the video, the song finishes up by saying “I keep my head up high, I cross my heart and hope to die, loving me is complicated, too afraid of my changes, I’m alright and you’re a favorite, dark nights in my prayers”. These lyrics keep Kendrick’s optimistic tone even in the face of adversity and discrimination as experienced throughout the song. Kendrick foreshadows his death with the lines “I cross my heart and hope to die” and “dark nights in my prayers”. The song ends just as Kendrick is shot. From this point Kendrick begins his descent and starts reciting the poem, “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. 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”. This poem brings back some of the darker undertones that are present in other parts of the song. It brings to light an inner conflict within Kendrick regarding abuse of power, hate, depression, and sin. Just as we hear Kendrick say, “abusing my power, full of resentment” the scene cuts back to the officer that shot Kendrick. By cutting back to the officer as this part of the poem is told it shows the obvious view that Kendrick has towards cops. He is saying that they are abusing their power and are full of hatred towards black people. It echoes his views from before, that there is a war being fought over apartheid and discrimination. The video cuts back to Kendrick as he hits the ground and appears to be dead. We see Kendrick slightly open his eyes and smile at the camera. Kendrick is still able to crack a smile after being shot down by a cop, for no reason at all, other than the cop’s resentment and prejudice towards him. Kendrick again is able to remain positive and optimistic after facing such discrimination. 

Kendrick’s “Alright” is a video that contains many dark scenes, but also features many happy and upbeat scenes. When the video shows black people taking the full force of police brutality these scenes are given an optimistic and hopeful twist. Kendrick begins the video with scenes of pure chaos and hatred. To finish on this beginning filled with violence, a man is shot by a police officer signifying the police brutality that has occurred throughout our nation. While this is a sad and horrible scene Kendrick remains optimistic by showing the title screen headlined with “Alright” right after it. Kendrick is saying that even though there may be much hatred and sin around us we should remain positive. Kendrick creates another scene of death and discrimination to end the video. He again shows a scene in which another black man is shot, this time it is himself who is shot. He falls to what appears to be his death, but ends it with him looking at the camera and smiling. In his video Kendrick is able to give us a message of hope and positivity amid a video which features many scenes of violence and hate. The theme of this music video seems to be that we should remain hopeful and optimistic for the future even when we are faced with great adversity. The theme is made even more powerful because of the deep contrast between scenes of violence and death that end positively. This message is extremely relevant at a time when our country is faced with more and more instances of police violence. Kendrick urges us to keep a good spirit and positive mind even as our country faces these problems. With all the violence and problems facing the nation, Kendrick reminds us that in the end everything will work out. We should remain positive even in hard times because as Kendrick says “if God got us, then we gon’ be alright”.