SONG ANALYSIS

All Falls Down

Oh when it all, it all falls down
I'm telling you ohh, it all falls down

Man I promise, she's so self conscious
She has no idea what she's doing in college
That major that she majored in don't make no money
But she won't drop out, her parents will look at her funny
Now, tell me that ain't insecurrre
The concept of school seems so securrre
Sophmore three yearrrs aint picked a careerrr
She like fuck it, I'll just stay down herre and do hair
Cause that's enough money to buy her a few pairs of new Airs
Cause her baby daddy don't really care
She's so precious with the peer pressure
Couldn't afford a car so she named her daughter Alexus (a Lexus)
She had hair so long that it looked like weave
Then she cut it all off now she look like Eve
And she be dealing with some issues that you can't believe
Single black female addicted to retail and well

Man I promise, I'm so self conscious
That's why you always see me with at least one of my watches
Rollies and Pasha's done drove me crazy
I can't even pronounce nothing, pass that versace!
Then I spent 400 bucks on this
Just to be like nigga you ain't up on this!
And I can't even go to the grocery store
Without some ones thats clean and a shirt with a team
It seems we living the american dream
But the people highest up got the lowest self esteem
The prettiest people do the ugliest things
For the road to riches and diamond rings
We shine because they hate us, floss cause they degrade us
We trying to buy back our 40 acres
And for that paper, look how low we a'stoop
Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coop/coupe

I say fuck the police, thats how I treat em
We buy our way out of jail, but we can't buy freedom

We'll buy a lot of clothes when we don't really need em
Things we buy to cover up what's inside
Cause they make us hate ourself and love they wealth
That's why shortys hollering "where the ballas' at?"
Drug dealer buy Jordans, crackhead buy crack
And a white man get paid off of all of that
But I ain't even gon act holier than thou
Cause fuck it, I went to Jacob with 25 thou
Before I had a house and I'd do it again
Cause I wanna be on 106 and Park pushing a Benz
I wanna act ballerific like it's all terrific
I got a couple past due bills, I won't get specific
I got a problem with spending before I get it
We all self conscious I'm just the first to admit it

Commentary

‘All Falls Down’ is a song by Kanye West. The song exemplifies the self-consciousness and insecurities within society, specifically the black community, the one he grew up in. He focuses on the insecurities that we carry as human beings, whether it be due to racial or personal issues that people would usually try to cover about themselves. In his song he says: “We all self-conscious, I’m just the first to admit” he is trying to say that people don’t like admitting their insecurities.

“We shine because they hate us, floss cause they degrade us
We trying to buy back our 40 acres
And for that paper, look how low we a'stoop
Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coop/coupe”
Kanye discuss the theme of materialism in order to display the status, which allows people that suffer from discrimination to somehow rise to the level that people who are wealthy are on.

 Looking at ethos, Kanye’s lyrics root from his own personal experience. Unlike him a white person wouldn’t be able to identify with not having any freedom therefore the line, “We buy our way out of jail, but we can't buy freedom..."

As for an appeal to pathos, "It seems we living the American dream, But the people highest up got the lowest self-esteem, The prettiest people do the ugliest things, For the road to riches and diamond rings", meaning that despite the outer appearances we base status off looks, not having an idea what people went through to afford and reach these things.

In the first stanza, kanye orally illustrates the struggle of a woman who is self-conscious with her life and career paths and wants to drop out of college. This similarly resembles his own life as he is a college dropout hence the name of his album is College Dropout. Towards the end of the stanza he raps: “She had hair so long that it looked like weave. Then she cut it all off now she look like Eve. And she be dealing with some issues that you can't believe. Single black female addicted to retail and well” he describes the woman using a simile as having long hair which is associated with beauty but it grew so long it was viewed as fake (weave) so she cut it all off, making her look Eve who was a female rapper knowing for representing short her on black women to grow their confidence even though at that time that hairstyle would be against the norm perception of beauty in society.

Through the lyrics of Kayne one sees how he argues and tries to prove that people in the African American society (lower class) have to compensate for the necessities they don’t have in life. They want to experience the “American Dream” life due to the fact that they’ve lost acceptance, love, money or other goods. Kayne’s technique of presenting his song is creative and appealing to the audience. He demonstrates different situations in life through dialog and characters to engage with the audience and shows different perspectives.