Lupe Fiasco - "All Black Everything"

[Chamillitary Click]

http://www.usershare.net/spx2povjcbs3

[NotoriousTDA]

"All black everything" is not used literally

"When those color lines come we can't see between

We just close our eyes till its all black everything"

He is NOT saying that if black people ran the world it would be a better place, he is proposing an alternate history where people are the same all over, and suggesting that conflicts, past and future, can be avoided if we don't frame one another based on race. "Black" is metaphorical, indicating an absence of color; in context, an absence of race.

[Chamillitary Click]

He says "We stayed in Africa". Right there, game over lol. If that continent is still not developed after White people had their way with it, it would be even worse now.

& what? He also says W.E.B. DuBois wrote the constitution, Black women voted in front of the KKK, took shots at Bill O'Reilly (white), Bush (white) & renamed the peace prize for a Black activist.

He's refers to race the entire song. You can interpret the song however you want, but from my interpretation of it, it comes off a bit ignorant.

& he just happens to use "Black" as the universal color for "no races"? C'mon.

Maybe you're right. I won't say you're dead wrong, but then he fails at making it well known that he's referring to a "colorless" World. Not to mention the fact the first verse is based on America & this guy says in the chorus he stays in Africa & "never leaves"; which contradicts itself.

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

im not white so its hard for me to see how this song is racist.. can someone please explain..

This guy is rapping about a Black World, like this country doesn't have a Black president & Blacks are still degraded.

Lol just stop right there.

[Triple OG Rapsodie]

He says "We stayed in Africa". Right there, game over lol. If that continent is still not developed after White people had their way with it, it would be even worse now.

& what? He also says W.E.B. DuBois wrote the constitution, Black women voted in front of the KKK, took shots at Bill O'Reilly (white), Bush (white) & renamed the peace prize for a Black activist.

He's refers to race the entire song. You can interpret the song however you want, but from my interpretation of it, it comes off a bit ignorant.

& he just happens to use "Black" as the universal color for "no races"? C'mon.

Maybe you're right. I won't say you're dead wrong, but then he fails at making it well known that he's referring to a "colorless" World. Not to mention the fact the first verse is based on America & this guy says in the chorus he stays in Africa & "never leaves"; which contradicts itself.

Did you even read the lyrics? If he was talking about everything black then why is he using role reversal? Didn't you read the line about a black rat pack inspiring a white jackson five? A black eminem signing a white 50 cent? A black woman leading the kkk? Every line in there is flipping things around in some way.

[Chamillitary Click]

He says "We stayed in Africa". Right there, game over lol. If that continent is still not developed after White people had their way with it, it would be even worse now.

& what? He also says W.E.B. DuBois wrote the constitution, Black women voted in front of the KKK, took shots at Bill O'Reilly (white), Bush (white) & renamed the peace prize for a Black activist.

He's refers to race the entire song. You can interpret the song however you want, but from my interpretation of it, it comes off a bit ignorant.

& he just happens to use "Black" as the universal color for "no races"? C'mon.

Maybe you're right. I won't say you're dead wrong, but then he fails at making it well known that he's referring to a "colorless" World. Not to mention the fact the first verse is based on America & this guy says in the chorus he stays in Africa & "never leaves"; which contradicts itself.

Did you even read the lyrics? If he was talking about everything black then why is he using role reversal? Didn't you read the line about a black rat pack inspiring a white jackson five? A black eminem signing a white 50 cent? A black woman leading the kkk? Every line in there is flipping things around in some way.

Because in his role reversal he's making Blacks control everything lol. He didn't say a Black Eminem, he said "Eminem would 'fit in'". Clearly saying that Eminem would still fit in even if it was "All Black Everything".

He says a BLACK group inspired a WHITE group, the peace prize was named after a BLACK man.

If he was inferring that there was a world with no races, why does he refer to Black & White & "We" & "They" throughout the song?

"Uh, and we ain’t get exploited
White man ain’t feared so he did not destroy it
We ain’t work for free, see they had to employ it"

LOL, right there. He refers to two separate races..in this world of his, the White man would have to pay for the services of the Black man. But if everyone is supposed to be the same here, why is that line even in the song? Not to even mention he's comparing people in Black history to White. Like how a Black man would/should have written the constitution if he was given the chance & the peace prize would/should be named after a Black man.

Like I said, maybe you're right, but then the song is very poorly constructed. Because I can read the lines where he is talking about equality, but there IS equality, so what the fuck does Lupe want? lol. He states we can't do anything about the past, but we can change in the future. Lets be honest, Rapsodie..do you really feel singled out? Do you feel like you're not on an equal field to everybody else in the country? C'mon. Maybe if this song was made in 1950, it would make more sense.

[West Coast Veteran]

im not white so its hard for me to see how this song is racist.. can someone please explain..

This guy is rapping about a Black World, like this country doesn't have a Black president & Blacks are still degraded. Blacks basically run mainstream music & all major sports. It almost is "all black everything".

Meanwhile what this guy doesn't understand is that yeah slavery was fucked up, but if we left Blacks in Africa, they wouldn't be developed. There would just be more tribes & probably more violence due to more people. This guy has a whole verse about how Hip Hop would be. LOL @ the thought of Hip Hop just developing. & where is English coming from in order to even rap?

In the chorus he says they stay in Africa & the White man has no part in it & then in the first verse he says "they would have to employ us". It doesn't even make sense. If we never showed up, how would we employ you? But above all, the thought that Africa would be a highly developed nation if White people played no part in it is almost comical.

Maybe it isn't racist, but it is pretty ignorant, in my opinion. I think America is at a point where it's equal enough for a song like this to just sound stupid.

so in your words africans are a stupid people that had no chance of improving themselves unless the white man came and that colonization had nothing to do with their current situation? ok...

[Chamillitary Click]

^No, those are in your words. Most Africans still live in tribes & that lifestyles, even with modernization being around them. What makes you think they would switch up their lifestyle if there wasn't any Europran influence on them?

There are Native Americans in places in the US where they still live like they did before Christopher Colombus came. If things work for you, why change them?

[Action!]

There's no telling where the world be if United States did not come into existence.  There's actually a decent novel called Postwatch by Ender Scott Card that tackles this "what if" scenario.  Anyways, on top Lupe's All Black Everything.

1)  I want to like this song like I want to like most of Lupe's music but I'm not going to force myself to enjoy something.  So, I reluctantly state my opinion on this because I love the majority of his past music.

2)  All Black Everything message is, at the very least, a very poorly written conceptual song concerning a large "what if?" situation.  There's mixed messages here.  At various points he focuses on all people while in the next he focuses on "black" people - really he's referring to African Americans, that being people who came from Africa as slaves and not as willing immigrants. Most of the inconsistency is in the chorus itself and then various other bars don't really make sense - "a black women voted head of klu klux klan."  What does that make the KKK then?  Who are they targeting?  

You would never know if you could ever be.  If you never try, you would never see

This set of bars from the chorus could be referring to anyone in general.  They're provided to motivate but the next set of bars focuses on a select group of people,

Stayed in Africa - we ain’t never leave.
So there were no slaves in our history.
Were no slave ships, were no misery, call me crazy, or isn’t he?

So, he's obviously referring to black Americans whose heritage includes slavery.  Based on the chorus alone he's promoting a world where blacks never experienced American slavery and American racism.  

See I fell asleep and I had a dream, it was all black everything

What is one supposed to make of this?  He had a dream and it was all black everything.  It's logical based on the rest of the chorus he envisions a world where "black" culture is dominant.  

It's at once a song about humanity while specifically focusing on black Americans history & culture.  It's not just about humanity and a what if skin color was never used in a negative manner?  It's a what if skin color wasn't used and American black culture was glorified. 

[dubsmith_nz]

Lupe's definitely going that Alex Da Kid pop sounding weak drums sound for this album, not feeling it

[sncere]

im not white so its hard for me to see how this song is racist.. can someone please explain..

This guy is rapping about a Black World, like this country doesn't have a Black president & Blacks are still degraded. Blacks basically run mainstream music & all major sports. It almost is "all black everything".

Meanwhile what this guy doesn't understand is that yeah slavery was fucked up, but if we left Blacks in Africa, they wouldn't be developed. There would just be more tribes & probably more violence due to more people.

^^ all that shit u just said then is racist.
Obama’s spends more money on law enforcement than prevention and drug treatment compared to Bush. it's basically like having a Black cop beating the shit out of me - it doesn't matter who's beating my ass, they're still a member of an oppressive state. fuck obama and anyone thinking shit is different under him.

also black people do not own mainstream music and major sports, corporations do.

and the most fucked up thing u said is that "if we left Blacks in Africa, they wouldn't be developed". WOW. thank you white boy for saving Africa.