搬运译Pitchfork评10年代最佳单曲第1名： Kendrick Lamar: “Alright” (2015)

搬运自：微信公众号【评论搬一堆】（在原文基础上添加了英语原文与排版调整）

原文链接：https://pitchfork.com/features/lists-and-guides/the-200-best-songs-of-the-2010s/

翻译：Tyler Smith/ June Hess

审译：Ryan-Chopin

推送：Lynn Liu

It’s not every day, or even every decade, that a song will become platinum certified, Grammy recognized, street ratified, activist endorsed, and a new nominee for Black National Anthem; that it’ll be just as effective performed before a massive festival audience or chanted on the front lines at protests; that it’ll serve as a war cry against police brutality, against Trump, for the survival of the disenfranchised. Inspired by a trip to South Africa, Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” bears a message of unbreakable optimism in the face of hardship: “We gon’ be alright!” repeats Pharrell, who helped write and produce the song. Endurance, it assures, will ensure a more positive tomorrow. “Alls my life I’ve had to fight, nigga!” Kendrick howls, echoing writer and activist Alice Walker on the black American experience. Fighting is the only way we know forward.

不是每一天，或者甚至每个十年，都会有一首歌同时认证白金唱片、获得格莱美认可、大众认可、政治激进分子认可、被提名为新的黑人国歌、适合在重大节日观众面前表演、也可以是抗议活动中在前线高呼的口号、还可以是权利被剥夺者反对暴政、反对特朗普的呐喊口号，但“Be Alright”做到了。在南非之行的启发下， Kendrick Lamar的“Be Alright”传达了一个面对困难时毫不动摇的乐观理念：“We gon’ be alright!（我们会好起来的！）“Pharrell重复道，他也参与了编写和制作歌曲。坚持下去，一定会有更美好的明天。“我一辈子都在战斗，黑人同胞们！”Kendrick大声地唱道，这呼应了作家和积极分子Alice Walker对美国黑人的认知。战斗是我们知道如何前进的唯一途径。

The centerpiece of Kendrick’s most ambitious opus, To Pimp a Butterfly, “Alright” permeated the collective consciousness in the spring and summer of 2015. It was around the time people became tragically familiar with names like Freddie Gray and Sandra Bland, and when nine black people were shot and killed inside of a historic church in Charleston, South Carolina. As a cornerstone of the #BlackLivesMatter canon, the song seemed like a beacon of light ushering us away from terror. You could argue that things are worse now than they were then, that its hope was misplaced. But “Alright” isn’t promising a better world, just that we’ll find a way to survive the one we have. It is a defense mechanism, pining for an aspirational future—maybe even a nonexistent one—as it helps us cope with our chaotic present.

Kendrick最用心良苦的作品《To Pimp a Butterfly（逼蝶为娼）》的中心部分，《Be Alright》将黑人的群体意识渗透在2015年春夏中。不幸的是，就在那时，人们认识了Freddie Gray（一名 25 岁的非裔美国人，15年4月12日被巴尔的摩市警方逮捕，在警车上突然昏迷不醒，最后于19日在医院逝世。医生鉴定其喉咙和脊椎损伤，目击者称是警察揍打致伤的；这警察暴力行为引发了一系列的暴乱。）和Sandra Bland（黑人女性，被狱警报道在监狱中自杀，但疑点重重）这样的名字，9名黑人在南卡罗来纳州查尔斯顿一座历史悠久的教堂内被枪杀。这首歌作为“黑人的命也是命”运动的基石，似乎是指引我们远离恐惧的灯塔。你可以说现在的情况比那时更糟，它的希望是错的。但是“Alright”并没有保证我们会有一个更美好的世界，只是保证我们会找到一种生存的方法。这是一种防御机制，即怀揣对一个充满希望的未来的渴望，甚至是一个不存在的未来，因为它有助于我们应付混乱的现状。

For the entire 2010s, from Section.80’s survivalist stories of the post-Reagan hood to good kid, m.A.A.d. city’s autobiographical cinema on the futile fight to escape the quicksand of street life, Kendrick’s work has often dealt with persisting under perilous circumstances. To Pimp a Butterfly considers oppression’s sprawling impact, from colorism to survivor’s guilt, longing for a way we could all make it out together. To that end, “Alright” serves as a thesis statement of sorts: that the path through life’s trials begins with striving for more, for better. You can imagine the characters who cycle in and out of his songs whispering “We gon’ be alright” to themselves, or reassuring loved ones between sighs, trying to make it through the next day. Here, as horns wail and drums snap, there is a sense that the “we” is actually unfathomable, a force that can overcome anything when banded as one. –Sheldon Pearce

在整个21世纪10年代，从80年代后里根时代的幸存者故事到《good kid，m.A.A.d.City》的自传体电影，反映了关于逃离街头生活危险洪流的徒劳无功的斗争，Kendrick的作品常常描写的都是在危险环境下如何坚持下去。对于《To Pimp a Butterfly》来说，它会考虑这种压迫中且在更广范围内的影响，从肤色主义到幸存者的罪恶感，这张专辑期望寻得一种我们都能一起度过难关的方式。为此，“Alright”可以作为一个论题陈述：经历人生考验的道路始于追求更多，追求更好。你可以想象那些在他的歌里来来往往的众生，对自己低声说“我们会好起来的”，或者爱人在叹息之余相互安慰，挣扎地度过又一天。在这里，当号角呼啸，鼓声响起时，有一种感觉，“我们”实际上是不可估量的，有一种力量，当捆绑成一体时，它可以战胜任何东西。