The Bigger Picture
When I think of a piece of art that grabs my attention for a social change I’m able to think of the song “The Bigger Picture” by Lil Baby. This song was introduced to me online on Instagram and had grasped my attention because the cover for this single was in black and white. The Bigger Picture is a song that exposes the United States and the justice system that we currently live in. The creation of this song was during the time of the 2020 election where the artist Lil Baby strives to explain that our votes matter. The Bigger Picture was made to expose the injustice system that we currently live in where murder from a police order towards African Americans is seen as self-defense.
Lil baby lyrics are used to show the daily life of African Americans especially males in the United States it’s not the everyday life of a caucasian male. While listening to The Bigger Picture viewers can infer that the title itself bigger picture speaks for itself where there’s more to the situation than the crime that was supposedly committed. This social change in standing up to vote and not being seen as only a number has been a trending topic for years because for years citizens have believed that our voice doesn’t matter due to the electoral college. Lil Baby stated that “I can’t lie like I don’t rap about killing and dope, But I’m telling my youngins to vote.” Lil baby is trying to convey that he can rap about what the audience wants to hear but he feels that he will have a bigger impact if he strives for the world to vote.
While listening to this song I developed mixed feelings because the song had targeted both African Americans and Caucasians to be attentive to current events that are happening in this world and being covered up by the government. After hearing the lyric “ I find it crazy the police’ll shoot you and know that you dead, But still tell you to freeze” I was able to relate to this lyric because coming from my background the only way to make it out of my neighborhood without being viewed as a number and its playing ball or being successful at something. The idea behind justice and equality had started social movements such as the black lives matter movement where African Americans strive and chant for change on multiple different platforms. The cover for this single being black and white is a statement used to pursue the viewers into seeing that color shouldn’t matter were all humans and should treat the same. When Lil Baby said “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 affected the viewers in a way where it’s more to a person than the color or history of the individual’s skin and everyone should feel affected in the same because people are been treated differently daily without actually knowing the person but judged off their skin.
In conclusion, the single The Bigger Picture is a form of art that has affected the United States as a whole positively because artists now have more of a voice through their music to fight for social change instead of posting on social media they can rap/sing about what needs to be changed in our society. The single that was created had affected everyone around the nation because citizens of our countries are tired of the same story or situation and no charges have been brought up. I feel that this single has spoken more for our nation in a way where music can become our voice in addressing killings and the injustice system that we live in with the same pattern of an unarmed black man or woman being killed by an officer or Caucasian man/women.
