4: Creating a Black, Inner-City Mise-en-scene: “Alright”

Source: Vevo “Alright”

In the Mid-90s, mainstream rap began to move away from Hip-Hop centric themes (political consciousness, Afrocentrism, and Black Liberation) and instead centered around materialism (Klatskin 40). Hip-Hop centric rap remained in the underground scene but did not become popularized again until around 2013. That year, George Zimmerman was acquitted for the murder of Trayvon Martin and outrage spread across the black community, resulting in the creation of the Black Lives Matter Movement. In the next few years, more and more cases of police brutality were being broadcasted across popular media. BLM was the first Black social rights movement in decades and mainstream rap naturally participated in the dialogue.

Kendrick Lamar, a Grammy award-winning rapper who grew up in the Compton district of Los Angeles, California, is known for addressing issues within the Black community. His third studio album, “To Pimp a Butterfly,” came out in 2015, a year when 51 unarmed Black people were shot and killed by police officers (Washington Post). The album fuses hip-hop, R&B, funk, soul, jazz, and blues. It centers around Lamar’s upbringing in Compton, the violence and institutionalized racism that he witnessed, and the responsibility that he had to be a voice for his people.

“Alright” was the fourth single off the album and touches on all of the topics expressed on the project. The music video for the song was filmed in black and white and illustrates inner-city life in California, specifically LA and the Compton district. In the introduction of the video, Lamar recites a poem.

The song has not begun playing yet but there is a collection of sounds that accompany his words. Echoed screams can be heard as the camera moves through a tunnel, during shots of abandoned buildings and while a woman is crying looking up at the sky. There is the sound of moving propellers as a helicopter hovers over top of the camera and a police officer is shown standing next to his car.

A group of black men are shown rioting, chugging alcohol and throwing money, using crowbars to break car windows and throwing Molotov cocktails (broken glass and explosion sound effects match the actions).

A young Black boy is shown lying face down on the concrete, presumably dead. Other young Black boys are shown chasing and fighting one another. All the shots of the buildings are at extremely low angles causing them to look exaggeratedly tall. 

In the last scene of the intro, a man is resisting arrest and is shot by a white police officer.

These images and sounds represent the bleak aspects of “the hood.” The screams, extreme low angled shots of the buildings, and hyper presence of police in the images and in the soundtrack, create an atmosphere of claustrophobia. The image of the dead boy, the riots, and the aggressive interactions between the black kids show the violence in the community. While these images show a reality, only one side of the community is being represented.

Once the song starts, we start to see the more positive side of the community, which is seen in the representation of classic hip-hop culture. There are images of people break dancing throughout the city, but most prominently in front of a stack of boomboxes and graffiti.

The most prominent example of hip hop culture is the shots of Kendrick rapping to the song while a group of men jump up and down with him as a DJ uses turntables in the background. 

All of these scenes occur outside as well, reflecting how hip-hop was an outdoor community event. Everyone looks happy when they are together and indulging in their culture and each other’s talents. The sense of community and act of solidarity projects a positive image and a sense of hope, despite the troubling things going on around them. As Lamar says in the song, “We gon be alright!”

The most prominent visual representation of power in this video is shown in the use of cars. As previously mentioned, the construction of highways contributed to the isolation of poor Black neighborhoods from the rest of the city. In Compton, where Lamar is from as well as many other famous LA rappers like NWA, the freeways circled the area and public transportation was inadequate. A car then was not affordable for many people, yet a vehicle was needed to escape. Having to walk everywhere on foot made Black residents easy targets for police officers who could follow them around and harass them whenever they pleased (Kajikawa 98). 

There are a lot of shots in this video where cars are used alongside images of the police to assert a position of power. One image is of cars in a parking lot doing “donuts” around a stationary police car as kids dance on the hood of it.

Another shot is of a car driving away as it is chased by a police car. And probably the most powerful example is the scene in the interlude where Kendrick and his friends are riding in a car that is being carried by four police officers.

The car symbolizes freedom and Lamar and his friends having possession of one as well as being physically over top of the police creates a literal and metaphorical position of power — an escape from these oppressive forces that is achieved through their togetherness.