With the release of To Pimp A Butterfly in 2015, Kendrick Lamar revolutionized Hip Hop culture; nevertheless, over the following few years, a fervor for one of the album’s most notable singles and its accompanying music video has been brewing in the Northeast of the United States.
Members of the Vernon, Connecticut town council overwhelmingly authorized a $100,000 lawsuit settlement on Tuesday, June 4, to pay for the losses associated with a case that was brought two years prior.
A social studies teacher at Vernon Center Middle School screened the documentary Hip Hop: Songs That Shook America for his eighth-grade students in 2020. In addition to the subversive content spawned by the long-standing rap tradition, the movie includes the music video for K. Dot’s song “Alright,” which addresses racism and police brutality.
The instructor knew that one of his students was the son of a law enforcement official, according to a 2022 lawsuit. Additionally, it said that “other shockingly violent scenes and controversial statements about police officers were contained in the video, which depicted officers as murderers.”
The plaintiff stated that the incident resulted in emotional and psychological hardship for the youngster, who had an individualized education plan and a recognized learning disorder.
As stated in the New Haven Register, these include “social withdrawal, feeling unsafe, shock, anxiety, depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder, some or all of which require psychological treatment and counseling and, if left untreated, pose a risk of severe mental illness.”
The lawsuit claims that in addition to experiencing bodily symptoms like headaches, nausea, and malaise, the youngster was also ostracized for being the child of a police officer, which led to friends and others shunning him.
In addition, court records state that “the student has suffered loss and damages as a result of changing schools due to some or all of the aforementioned injuries.”
Given that Superintendent Joseph Macary attended the previously mentioned council meeting, the Board of Education will probably complete the settlement next week.
Regarding the ongoing issue, he stated, “We always do what’s in the best interest of students. Each student is different, so each decision is different, but it’s always what’s best for the kids.”
Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” has received widespread praise aside from this brief period of controversy, partly because it has emerged as the unofficial song of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The praises kept coming in last month when Spotify named it the best Hip Hop song of the streaming period (from 2015 to the present), surpassing popular songs like Drake’s “God Plan” and Cardi B’s “Bodak Yellow.”
