A Review of Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture”
It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these, so be nice with me. It’s also the first time we write something like this in a while, so again, bare with me.
While we could talk about an entire album to talk about the black experience during Black History Month, this month, we decided to be laser focused on a singular song. While there are many songs that we could have chosen to analyze, from Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” to Jay-Z’s “The Story of OJ”, there’s one song that has honestly hit everything that has gone on in 2020 on the nail.
It’s time to review Lil Baby’s “The Bigger Picture”.
Now, I will begin by saying that I don’t listen to Lil Baby regularly. His stuff doesn’t appear on my recommended tracks on Spotify. I know who he is, just not much of what he does. All that I know hasn’t impressed me much. I wouldn’t say that “Sum 2 Prove” was all that great, or that projects such as My Turn or Streets Gossip really hit me. They were just there.
But listening to his song, “The Bigger Picture” is something that hits different.
The song is a smash hit, but it’s more than just that. It’s a protest song with a message; something that holds weight and substance. The reality of the situation is set upon the listener as soon as they get into it. Lil Baby doesn’t mince words as he talks about the systemic racism and of the plight that black people live in underserved communities. He says in the song that “We just some products of our environment; How the fuck they gon' blame us?”, making one realize even more that there is nothing that has been invested in black communities. The government has been complicit in the removal of black institutions and business - do research on the Tulsa massacre or Black Wall Street to learn more - all while peddling drugs in our communities since the 70’s. Lil Baby is brutally honest here, and painfully right.
As much as we are rioting and fighting, screaming “Black Lives Matter!” to the top of our lungs due to the murder of George Floyd, it’s the symptom of a much bigger problem. It’s a problem that sees itself in the fact that black and brown men and women fill prisons, not being able to raise their children. Black people aren’t able to acquire generational wealth, but are gifted generational curses. This is the bigger picture that Lil Baby is saying here, pleading in the chorus: “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.”
While it is black history month and a time where black people from everywhere in the world reflect on our history, it is also a time where people of all color and races can talk about the important things that we need to do to rise and advance as a human race. Racism and discriminatory is more than just black people and white people. It’s also colorism and texturism; to attack people because they are either lighter or darker than you are. It’s all a part of a system of hate that we need to untangle ourselves from.
In truth, this song is a slap and is worthy of a ten out of ten for me. The lyrics are so strong and poignant, partly because it is so well laid on the beat. The message is strong and important in the world that we live in today.
Let’s look at the Bigger Picture.