INQUISITR.COM / Entertainment

Kendrick Lamar Says ‘Alright’ Almost Didn’t Happen

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 21:42 PST, Nov 7, 2016

Kendrick Lamar reveals that “Alright,” which has become the anthem of a generation, almost didn’t happen, according to the Business Insider. The 29-year-old rapper became a sensation last year when his album To Pimp a Butterfly was released.

The hit album won Kendrick Lamar four Grammy awards earlier this year, and “Alright” has become the anthem of the modern social justice movement. The chorus featured in the song has been a rallying cry of protesters across the United States.

In particular, when people protested against Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump in Chicago earlier this year, they celebrated the cancellation of his Chicago rally by singing “We gon’ be alright!” which is lyrics from Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.”

But it turns out “Alright” almost didn’t happen, and Kendrick Lamar sat down with producer Rick Rubin for a recent interview with GQ magazine to explain why. Lamar revealed that it was Pharrell Williams, who co-produced the song with the rapper, who had “the hook.”

Williams, who can be heard chanting in the song, also came up with that “fun beat,” as Kendrick Lamar puts it, as well as the song’s anthem-like chorus. It may come as a surprise, but that addictive beat came half a year before the lyrics to the song were recorded.

Kendrick Lamar revealed that he couldn’t find the right lyrics for “Alright” for a full six months, while his music publisher Sam Taylor and Williams kept asking him what the problem was.

But seeing that words didn’t exactly come flowing out for Kendrick Lamar, Williams took it upon himself to help his friend out. So the “Happy” hitmaker made the song into what it is today.

“Just saying that, the ‘alright’ phrase. What does ‘alright’ represent? What does ‘we gonna be alright’ represent?”

But then seeing the horrors on the streets of the U.S., when black people were killed by law enforcement officers, Kendrick Lamar finally found the true meaning for “Alright.” Thus, the rapper says the song recognizes hundreds of years of struggles of black people that continue up to this day.

“There was a lot going on — still to this day there’s a lot going on. I wanted to approach [‘Alright’] as more uplifting, but aggressive. Not playing the victim, but still having that ‘Yeah, we strong.'”

So it wasn’t a song sang by the weak and oppressed. Instead, Kendrick Lamar made it the song of the free and strong people. But the rapper admits that the song could have gone “a thousand other ways.”

Apparently, Kendrick Lamar has no plans to stop winning Grammys and topping charts with his music, according to Forbes. The rapper’s recent song “Don’t Wanna Know” featuring Maroon 5 jumped to the top 10 this week.

Even though Kendrick Lamar’s song debuted on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, which was at the time topped by The Chainsmokers’ hit song “Closer” featuring Halsey, at No. 56, it has managed to squeeze into top 10 in its second week.

Kendrick Lamar’s “Don’t Wanna Know,” which is currently placed at No. 9, has a great potential to grow in popularity because both Lamar and Maroon 5 are usually picked up by radio stations.

At this year’s Grammy Awards, which was held on February 15, Kendrick Lamar received the most nominations (11) and went home with the most trophies (five), winning in the Best Rap Album category with his 2015 hit album To Pimp a Butterfly.

During the ceremony, Kendrick Lamar also performed his hit song “Alright,” as well as “The Blacker the Berry” and “Untitled 05 | 09.21.2014,” which was featured on the rapper’s Untitled Unmastered compilation album released back in March.

[Featured Image by Rick Kern/Getty Images]

Share this article: Kendrick Lamar Says ‘Alright’ Almost Didn’t Happen
Donald Trump Pharrell Williams Maroon 5 Kendrick Lamar
More from Inquisitr