Whenever anyone’s life is being played with – whether it’s on camera or in real life – it’s a touchy subject. MTV: How difficult was it to shoot that scene in particular? And I don’t necessarily mean logistically, but more so emotionally. Tilley: It shows that, at the end of the day, we’re all human and that nobody’s untouchable. Can you talk about what that symbol represents, to see someone who’s successful, and obviously someone who’s a hero to a lot of people, get shot at the end of the video? At the end of the video, we see Kendrick, who’s been floating in the sky like a superhero, get shot by a police officer. MTV: At the start of the video, we see somebody – who’s not Kendrick – getting shot by a police officer. It’s letting everybody know that there is a positive behind all this. That expression is so key to this whole video. That’s expressing yourself in a certain way. When you see people dancing, that’s an act of celebration. It’s taking something negative and putting a positive spin on everything that’s going on. We really wanted to make sure that there is a positive message behind all this. Tilley: The dancers were a huge part of this. Talk to us about why you all decided to include the dancers throughout. MTV: It’s got some dark subject matter obviously – you know, we see Kendrick get shot – but aside from that, there’s also so much joy in the video. The whole interview is worth a read, but his statements on the various police shootings are most telling: Tilley sat down with MTV.com for a lengthy interview in which he broke down the evocative video and addressed his and Kendrick’s motivations for different shots. “Alright,” which already garnered significant attention while being filmed (and can be seen above), was directed by The Little Homies and Colin Tilley, director or Nicki Minaj’s “Anaconda” and 19 Chris Brown videos. Toward the end, police shoot Lamar before he smiles at the camera. The black and white video marries dance performance with stark clips of police shooting a young black man. When the video for Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright,” dropped last week, it stopped viewers dead in their tracks with its striking imagery.