I’ve been returning to this song again and again this spring and summer. In part that’s because “Alright” is just damn good ear candy, with its breezy Pharrell-produced harmonies, its swinging, laid-back production contrasting with Lamar’s skittering wordplay. But I also listen to it because it’s been a long and difficult year since Ferguson, and the world sometimes seems like a terrible place, and I need Lamar’s reminder that we’ve been down before. Another Black person shot by police? Turn on “Alright.” A young Black teenager’s graduation party turns into an unnecessarily horrifying police encounter? Turn on “Alright.” A White supremacist murders Black church members during a prayer session? Guess it’s time for “Alright.” A Black woman found hanging in her jail cell under suspicious circumstances? Well …
