Finding the Underlying Meaning in The Bigger Picture

According to the Washington Post’s Fatal Force Data Base, “979 people have been shot

and killed by police in the last year” (Tate et al. Fatal Force: Police Shootings Database). There

is a large name and story that is not included in this statistic. That name is George Floyd, a 46-

year-old African American whose life was cut short due to police brutality. On May 25th, 2020 a

police officer pinned their knee into George’s neck and suffocated him death (Blue, What We

Know About the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis). Over the last couple of years, there has

been a lot of anger and disbelief in the police system. Lil Baby wrote his song, The Bigger

Picture, shortly after George Floyd’s death. He, himself, grew up in a community full of poverty

in Atlanta. In the song, he remarks about his issues and fears while growing up. He discusses that

black communities today are still struggling and change is detrimental to society for this reason.

He highlights issues the country is dealing with such as systemic racism and police brutality in

this song. Lil Baby uses certain rhetorical strategies such as analogies, tone, allusion, and irony

to portray these issues and portray that people need to start working for change in society.

Lil Baby’s uses an analogy to display that change is crucial for society. He says, “I went to

court and they sent me to prison. My mama was crushed when they said I can’t leave. First, I was

drunk, then I sobered up quick. When I heard all that time, they gave to Taleeb. He got a life

sentence plus.” Lil Baby compares the time in which he used to abuse alcohol and when he was

troubling to when he realized that he needed to get himself together so the police system didn’t

throw his life away forever. He describes “It’s too many mothers that’s grieving. They killing us

for no reason. Throw us in cages like dogs and hyenas.” Lil Baby wants to make the audience

feel disturbed and alarmed because the situation is so messed up and inhumane. His purpose for
writing the song is because he is an African American who has delt with these problems first

hand. He has also seen people in his community struggle with systemic racism and police

brutality and it kills him. He says, “I’ma make it count while I’m here” Lil Baby implies that he,

a black man, is putting himself together to fight these problems and fight for what is right. He

wants to make things fair in his lifetime. Lil Baby wants to open people’s eyes and he wants

people to understand that the black community deserves justice. He is begging for change.

In an attempt to open people’s eyes, Lil Baby implements a theme that corruption has

taken over society and that people need to work together to fix that corruption. He goes on to talk

about two major problems; police brutality and systemic racism. He says, “I find it crazy the

police’ll shoot you and know that you dead, but tell you to freeze…. They killing us for no

reason.” Lil Baby wants his audience to know how serious and threating this is. He wants his

audience to have a dramatic reaction to his. He wants this to alarm them so they can truly

understand what it is like in his shoes. He also says, “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 says this

meaning that he does not believe in any racial stereotypes. He implies that more people should

be this way and not just put a certain stereotype on someone by just looking at their face. He

implies that this is what is necessary for change. In the chorus of the song, Lil Baby states “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 start here.” He describes how systemic racism

is still a problem in our country. Lil Baby wants to overcome this. He claims that it will take a

long time for change but this change is crucial for the equality and quality of life for all.

In efforts to implement the theme that society is corrupt, Lil Baby uses an angry and

desperate tone to portray this message. He is angered by certain events in the year 2020 and he
wants to be up front and push for change. He says, “I can’t lie I don’t rap about killing and dope,

but I’m telling my youngins to vote. I did what I did ’cause I didn’t have no choice or no hope, I

was forced to jump in and go. This bullshit is all that we know, but it’s time for a change. Got

time to be serious, not time no games.” Lil Baby is using this angry and desperate tone because

he is done with not seeing any change. He is angered by corruption and is desperate for change

in the system. He is sickened to see that the same problems have occurred for so long. Lil Baby

also says, “these scars too deep to heal us.” He means that some people have been affected so

deeply by these issues and that this causes things to only get worse. He wants people to come

together who have been hurt and use their pain as a motive for striving for change. Lil Baby uses

his angry and desperate tone to show his audience that he is serious and that change is crucial.

He wants them to know that their participation in this is crucial.

In addition to using a desperate tone to get the audience’s attention, Lil Baby also includes

an allusion to George Floyd and he uses repetition of that allusion. Multiple times throughout the

song the words “I can’t breathe” are shouted in the background. This is an illusion to the video

that spread nationwide when George Floyd told the officers on top of him that he could not

breathe. The phrase has been used a lot during the Black Lives Matter movement and during

protests. Lil Baby uses this strong and powerful allusion in his song over and over again to show

the severity of this issue. He wants to show the raw desperation and fear that people of color

have when they are in the hands of officers. Lil Baby also adds, “I guess that mean hold him

down if he says he can’t breathe.” He shows a first-hand event where a black man faced police

brutality even though he was detained on the ground and was not breathing. The police still held

him down when he said he could not breathe and was not conscious. Lil Baby tries to get
emotion from his audience and pound into their heads that this is wrong. He implements that

there are too many people like George who face police brutality.

Lil Baby also uses irony when describing that the police make him and his community

feel uneasy and nervous. He says, “I see blue lights, I get scared and start runnin. That shit be

crazy, they’posed to protect us. Knowing we needed help they neglect us.” Lil Baby points out

that when the cops come around, his community is in great fear. He describes how these people

feel threatened by the blue lights. He points out the problem with this. Lil Baby displays irony

because he talks about how the police are supposed to keep them safe but they instead pose a

large threat to the black community. He wants his audience to understand how wrong this is and

he wants them to acknowledge that the system has failed a lot of people. He adds, “knowing we

needed help, they neglect us.” He wants his audience to feel saddened by this because this is not

supposed to be the case. Lil Baby wants to provoke sympathy from his audience for the black

community. Lil Baby says, “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.” He uses

irony to convey how messed up it is that his community has to deal with danger themselves since

the police will only put them into more danger.

Lil Baby created this song to not only inform his audience about systemic racism and

police brutality but also to beg his audience for change. He included his own first hand

experiences with police brutality. He made references to George Floyd’s inexcusable death. He

wants his message to come through and make an impact on his audience. He wants people to

know the severity of these issues. And he wants people to know that change needs to happen but

it is going to take a lot of time. He wishes that his audience starts to strive for change right now

otherwise these problems will continue to threaten many more lives.

Sources:

Tate, Julie, et al. “Fatal Force: Police Shootings Database.” The Washington Post, WP Company,
22 Jan. 2020, www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/investigations/police-shootings-
database/.

Blue, Victor J. “What We Know About the Death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.” The New
York Times, The New York Times, 8 Sept. 2020, www.nytimes.com/article/george-
floyd.html.