Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" Music Video At The Center Of $100k Lawsuit Settlement

Back in 2015, Kendrick Lamar released his critically acclaimed masterpiece To Pimp A Butterfly. One of the standout songs from the project is "Alright" which proved to be a unifying anthem among fans and listeners and landed on many best songs of the decade lists for the 2010s. The music video attached to the song was controversial in some conservative circles for its depiction of police. A sample of Fox News criticizing a live performance of the song that recreated visuals from its music video eventually made its way into Kendrick's song "DNA."

Back in 2022, a lawsuit was filed with the songs music video right at the heart of the issue. The suit claims that in 2020 a teacher in a Connecticut middle school showed a documentary called Hip Hop: Songs That Shook America in their class. The video for "Alright" is included in the doc. A student with a parent who is a police officer claims that watching it caused them emotional distress. The claim argues that "the video depicted officers as murderers and contained other shockingly violent scenes and controversial statements about police officers." The town is now settling the lawsuit and paying $100k as a part of the settlement.

Kendrick Lamar's beef with Drake dominated the past month in hip-hop. That isn't likely to slow down any time soon. Two songs from the beef "Not Like Us" and "Like That" have spent time at the number one spot on the Hot 100 this year. They're both still high on the charts as well. The former is at number two and the latter still in the top 15. "Not Like Us" in particular has been popping up all over the place in the weeks since it dropped.

What do you think of the music video for Kendrick Lamar's "Alright" leading to a lawsuit after a teacher played it in class? Are you surprised the school district is paying $100k to settle the case? Let us know in the comment section below.

About The Author

Lavender Alexandria is a music and culture journalist based in Los Angeles, California. She’s covered dozens of musical genres and styles from the most mainstream to the most experimental and underground on her blog and accompanying YouTube channel that looks at music, pop culture, and Billboard charts since 2017: Lav’s Music Corner. Lavender has produced editorial and listicle content both in written and video form over the past far years and has also interviewed up-and-coming artists like Censored Dialogue. Her experiences covering culture have taken her from Hyperpop parties in LA to underground rap shows in Atlanta, to DIY punk shows in Charlotte. Lavender has also written for iHeartRadio, covering some of the biggest artists in Hip Hop such as Ice Spice, Drake, Doja Cat and Cardi B. She also has bylines with ScreenRant and continues to write for Ringtone magazine. Lavender is a lifelong Charlotte Hornets fan and her favorite rap artists include Clipping, Little Simz, Earl Sweatshirt, and Kendrick Lamar.

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