The death of George Floyd on May 25, 2020 started a lot of controversy; it led to BLM (Black Lives Matter) protests which then led to riots, the most notable riots being in Minnesota and Minneapolis. The famous rapper Lil Baby created a song to preach his thoughts about the situation, some experiences he's had with police and what he thinks should happen.
Every colored person ain't dumb and all whites not racist
I be judging by the mind and heart, I ain't really into faces
F*cked up, the way that we livin' is not getting better
You gotta know how to survive
Crazy, I had to tell all of my loved ones
To carry a gun when they going outside (Lil Baby, The Bigger Picture)
Lil Baby brakes two stereo types in this verse “Every colored person ain't dumb and all whites not racist I be judging by the mind and heart, I ain't really into faces”. He breaks the stereotype that black people are dumb and that all white people are racist. Later in the verse he says “Crazy, I had to tell all of my loved ones To carry a gun when they go outside”. He is saying that he is scared for his loved ones in public because he knows that the police won’t help; he would rather handle the police’s business for himself. He would rather put his life at risk to do the police’s job than ask for help from them.
Every video I see on my conscience
I got power, now I gotta say somethin'
Corrupted police been the problem where I'm from
But I'd be lying if I said it was all of them
I ain't do this for the trend, I don't follow them
Altercations with the law, had a lot of them
People speaking for the people, I'm proud of them
Stick together, we can get it up out of them (Lil Baby, The Bigger Picture)
In this verse he says that “I got power, now I gotta say somethin'”, Lil Baby feels like he has to talk about what happened to George Floyd; he knows that people will listen to him because many people that were in his position want to know how to get out of that position. He also says that it's not all of the police that are the problem; it only takes one racist cop to make a huge difference in a community.
It's bigger than black and white
It's a problem with the whole way of life
It can't change overnight
But we gotta start somewhere
Might as well gon' 'head start here
We done had a hell of a year
I'ma make it count while I'm here
God is the only man I fear
The chorus of The Bigger Picture says that there is a problem with society but that if you don't start then nothing will get done. We can see many other people with the same view as LilBaby including Raymond. “who are willing to work behind the scenes and do things that are constructive, that don’t bring them any fame or glory or money, those are the ones the activists really respect,”(Raymond) Before George Floyd’s death there was still many instances but the death really jump-started and showed the public the terrible some of these officers do to people of colour. The Bigger Picture was made to notify people about this problem; we have to start now and remember “It's bigger than black and white It's a problem with the whole way of life It can't change overnight”
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