Lyrics

Kendrick Lamar – Alright Lyrics

Updated

March 20, 2023

Kendrick Lamar – Alright Lyrics

Alright Lyrics by Kendrick Lamar

“Alright” provides a moment of hope amid To Pimp a Butterfly’s battle to find higher purpose. After “u” – where Kendrick lays out his burdens – “Alright” responds by detailing how Kendrick means to escape his troubles. By trusting in God, Kendrick is able to look past his failures and have confidence that everything will be okay – “we gon’ be alright.”

On the surface, the motif is optimistic and universal, but the message is driven by specific pain and struggle. Awareness regarding the disproportionate police brutality against blacks has left many wondering if the US has made any progress toward racial equality. Rather than despair, “Alright” assures listeners that, through solidarity, “we gon’ be alright.”

The mantra made a strong impact in the 2015 summer of protest, as Black Lives Matter activists all over America chanted “we gon’ be alright” to mourn the countless black people killed by police in 2015 and provide hope for a better future.

[Produced by Pharrell Williams & Sounwave]
[Directed by Colin Tilley]

[Intro: Kendrick Lamar]
Alls my life, I has to fight, nigga
Alls my life, I—
Hard times like, “Yah!”
Bad trips like, “Yah!”
Nazareth
I’m fucked up, homie, you fucked up
But if God got us, then we gon’ be alright

[Chorus: Pharrell Williams]
Nigga, we gon’ be alright
Nigga, we gon’ be alright
We gon’ be alright
Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon’ be alright
Nigga, we gon’ be alright
Huh? We gon’ be alright
Nigga, we gon’ be alright
Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon’ be alright

[Verse 1: Kendrick Lamar]
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?
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
Twenty of ’em in my Chevy, tell ’em all to come and get me
Reaping everything I sow, so my karma coming heavy
No preliminary hearings on my record
I’m a motherfucking 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

[Pre-Chorus: Kendrick Lamar]
Wouldn’t you know
We been hurt, been down before
Nigga, when our pride was low
Lookin’ at the world like, “Where do we go?”
Nigga, and we hate po-po
Wanna kill us dead in the street fo sho’
Nigga, I’m at the preacher’s door
My knees gettin’ weak, and my gun might blow
But we gon’ be alright

[Verse 2: Kendrick Lamar]
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
Motherfucker, you can live at the mall
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
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
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

[Outro: Kendrick Lamar & Thundercat]
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

[Poem: Kendrick Lamar]
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