Rhetorical Analysis Of Alright By Kendrick Lamar

Rhetorical Analysis of Alright by Kendrick Lamar
Alright by Kendrick Lamar is the 4th single from the album To Pimp a Butterfly, released on June 30th, 2015, hitting number one on the charts and remaining on the charts for another 40 weeks (about 9 months). Kendrick Lamar would write lyrics about his life growing up in Compton California, and life as a black American (“Sounds from the Past and Present...”). Alright was a hit song for the Black Lives Matter movement and became a song that was chanted in the streets during the BLM marches (McKinney). This song draws in the listener with emotional appeal to people who have experienced similar things, and people who want change. Kendrick uses these emotions and his past experiences to create a

To Pimp a Butterfly is about Kendrick Lamar reflecting on how money and fame changed his life and how he has changed from his childhood self in Compton streets. The song These Walls in the album and the song For Sale? have lyrics that are built on each other with Alright at the beginning and end of the songs. The lyrics from These Walls start with “I remember you was conflicted, misusing your influence. Sometimes, I did the same” Then at the end of the song Alright the lyrics say the same thing but add “Abusing my power full of resentment. Resentment that turned into a deep depression. Found myself screamin in the hotel room. I didn’t want to self-destruct, the evils of Lucy was all around me. So I went runnin for answers.” At the end of the song For Sale? Kendrick adds “Until I came home” to finish off the statement. This paragraph throughout the three different songs shows Kendrick’s mental health struggles, and he found his answers when he returned home. Home could be Compton where Kendrick was born or a reference to the trip he took to South Africa that inspired him to write Alright. The placement of the songs in the album walks you through his experiences in what feels like a chronological order of when things

Kendrick uses rhyme and harmonizes throughout the whole song, an example is “Boys and Girls I think I’ve gone cray, Drown inside my vices all day, Won’t you please believe when I say” rhyming in a song is important and makes the song catchy, this part of the song is also important because Kendrick is acknowledging the things he has done. Metaphor is used in the lyrics “I’m a motherfucking gangster in silence for the record” He states he will not say anything when in court and will not snitch on his friends. The song's tone is not enthusiastic, but Kendrick raps the song to be reassuring during the chorus when he says “Do you hear me, do you feel me? We gon’ be alright” saying hey I am telling you we are going to be all right. The tone at the beginning of the song is defensive when Kendrick says all his life has been hard whereas at the end of the song, Kendrick is no longer rapping but talking to the listener. He speaks slowly and clearly in a soft voice about his mental health struggles and how he gives into monetary temptations, this creates a depressed sort of feeling in the