My Desire: Justis for All
Photo by Justis Ward
Every song communicates something. Bruno Mars’s 2011 hit “The Lazy Song” emphasizes not doing anything all day and being okay with it. Journey’s 1981 classic “Don’t Stop Believin’” highlights pursuing one’s dream, living a fast-paced rock star lifestyle, and of course, not giving up. Every song communicates something, and moreover, every artist has the right to communicate whatever message he or she desires. Most people understand these two assertions. However, where most people drop the ball is understanding that the message an artist puts forth is supposed to be critiqued. Not criticized! Critiqued. And to take it one step further, as one of the largest platforms for spreading one’s thoughts and opinions, music should really be ground zero for thought-provoking conversations.
But what does that look like? I believe that it looks like two or more people taking the time to converse over a song’s message and to then respond authentically to that message. Maybe that seems simple. Maybe that seems bizarre. Regardless of your predisposition, with this blog post, I want to show you what dialogue over music looks like. And I want to do so by breaking down a song I wrote my first summer in college. It’s titled, “Justis 4 All.” The YouTube link is provided if you want to take a listen. Let’s do it!
[Chorus:]
I climbed to the mountain tops
This is what I saw
A world full of freedom and love
And it was not that far
Now I don’t know when it’s gonna come
But I’ma do my part
I’m taking my music and choosing to use it
To bring Justis for all, Justis for all
I want Justis for all, Justis for all
At first glance, the opening chorus functions as nice imagery and inspirational rhetoric. However, the opening of this song is much more than imagery, and it may very well be the most powerful lines of the song. Aside from the imagery and rhetoric, the chorus of this song functions as a powerful allusion—or reference—to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s final speech given on the eve of his assassination. In that speech King says, “I’ve been to the mountaintop…[God] allowed me to go up…and I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you, but I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to that promised land!”
This opening chorus sets the stage for the first verse and for a song that is one hundred percent me but also one hundred percent bigger than me. “Justis 4 All” is not just my musical child but the child of those who came before me, and while I don’t know if humanity will reach freedom and love in my lifetime, I will most certainly do my part in nurturing this promise. My desire in life and in writing is to promote justice for all by offering Justis for all.
[Verse 1:]
People want a change but we lack imagination
And life is so fast that we’re running out of patience
The number one obstacle in societal growth is lack of imagination. I’m going to dive deeper into this concept in my next blog post (hopefully), but I’ll give you a quick snippet now. People! If we cannot imagine a better world, we will never have a better world. Why? Because we are the ones who will create it! We can pray and sing all day, but if we don’t imagine a better world, we won’t obtain one.
So, what’s holding us back? I personally know lots of dreamers and visionaries. What’s keeping those dreams and visions from becoming something more? I believe it is humanity’s impatience. In these two lines, I personify life, emphasizing that life moves fast, and as long as we are chasing life and its insatiable thrills, we will miss out on pursuing change. As I said in my last blog, patience is the difference between good decisions and bad decisions. Likewise, I believe that patience is the difference between a changed world and a stagnant world.
Thinking that we’re helping when we plot assassinations
But you can’t help a patient with bloody vaccinations
These two lines work off of the tension between being patient and being active, and the underlying idea in this section came in the wake of the 2016 killing of the five Dallas police officers by the sniper atop a parking garage. I’ll never forget the conversation I had with a colleague a few days later. She said, “It’s crazy to think that that sniper truly believed that he was doing the best thing possible with his talents?” This idea is a tough pill to swallow when you think about all of the assassinations that have occurred and will occur in the history of our world. People truly think killing someone is the cure—like a vaccine—to the world’s problems, and that’s just not the case.
1943, Gandhi got shot
1963, Kennedy got shot
1968, MLK got shot
People giving out shots but the cure’s still lost
At first glance, these lines seem pretty straight forward. Assassinations and killings, in general, are false medicines. A gunshot is not a syringe shot, right? Factual. Mahatma Gandhi was killed in 1943. President John F. Kennedy was killed in 1963, and Dr. King was killed in 1968. However, if you do some research, you’ll find that while the dates referring to Kennedy and MLK’s assassinations are correct, Gandhi’s is not. Mahatma Gandhi was assassinated January 30, 1948. The takeaway: one of the main stumbling blocks to the improvement of the world’s biggest issues is the confident presentation of pseudo-solutions.
So now we face an epidemic
With the chronic side effects of living large or barely living
For some life is grand
Better yet a billion
But for others on the grind, they’re just trying to make cents… of it
Many people put their permanent trusts in temporary solutions. However, false medicine (i.e. pseudo-solutions) will never affect sustainable change. Crafty advertising, too-good-to-be-true campaigning, and predatory networking can only lead to disappointment. Meanwhile, the ones making the promises capitalize (literally) on public optimism, hope, and lack of education.
The private sector equals money
But it’s inappropriate to have your privates out in public
So no funding goes to public schools
But they’ll gamble on a game ‘cause sports are more important
I loved writing these lines! Bottom line: for many business tycoons, giving donations, scholarships, charity, etc. are out of the question. On one side, these executives have the right to spend their money however they desire. It is in fact their money. But what if, instead of throwing money away on frivolous activities, they put aside a couple hundred thousand dollars to send a child to college? Such an act of benevolence would impact generations of people.
So now the children steady sitting on the sideline
Watching the game go by like “When is my time?”
They can dribble, they can pass and shoot
But nobody ever taught them how to tie their shoes
Nobody taught them how to tie their shoes
Or better yet, what if they didn’t spend money on children? What if they spent time on them? What if they established mentoring programs or skills programs? I’m not so naïve as to think that CEO’s and executives have a bunch of spare time to give themselves, but imagine a world where the most advanced minds of today took a day or two to contemplate social issues. Again, such an act of benevolence would impact generations of people.
(Additionally takeaway from these lines: parents and guardians, it’s time you began valuing what’s really important when concerning your children. If you don’t make education, kindness, love, justice, etc. a priority, then why would your child?)
[Verse 2:]
They say if life gives you lemons
Then just make lemonade
But life wants a profit so the sugar has an interest rate
And kindness is way too costly to give away
So when the bottom’s up, it won’t be Minute-Maid
There’s a fine line between capitalism and exploitation, just like there’s a fine line between charity and enablement. My expertise is most certainly not in economics, but these five lines serve as a challenge to the free market—socially and financially.
No matter how many lemons a person receives, he or she cannot make lemonade without the other necessary ingredients. So, when life does not give you sugar and water (kindness, love, encouragement, etc.) as readily as lemons (criticism, discouragement, etc.), many people are left with nothing more than lemon juice—which most certainly is not the same as lemonade.
Rocking horns and pitchforks, calling ourselves saints
Red, white, and blue meant freedom
But now it means hate
The other day while walking around my city’s downtown area, I happened to notice an American flag, billowing gently in the wind. There is so much triumph and pride in those stars and stripes. However, there is just as much—if not more—oppression and disappointment. I love my country. However, the nation I love functions at maybe thirty percent of what it should be. The truth is that this nation will never become the nation it was founded to be until we as a people first address the pains and the shames of the red, white, and blue.
You wanna be cool, you gotta be the right shape
I know that you’re a circle but squares are just the newest craze
I’ll keep this short and sweet. The healthiest version of yourself (in mind, body, and spirit) might not look like what culture portrays as beautiful or desirable. But guess what? That’s okay! People who are attracted to a fake you are probably fake themselves!
What happened to the glory days
When girls could dance in more ways than the booty shake
This generation is generating a new state
If you twerk hard enough then you can do anything
Yeah, I said twerk hard, not work hard! However, this section is not so much about modern dancing as it is about the ramifications of modern dancing. You see, every generation will have its staple hairstyles, clothing, lingo, and dances. These trends and fads change with the culture and marketplace, but they also serve as the foundation for the next trends and fads to come. This section of the second verse draws attention, not to booty shaking but, to what comes after booty shaking. It doesn’t speak to the problems of this generation but to the problems of the next generation. “Dirty dancing” birthed twerking, and whether you agree with either form of dancing is irrelevant. What we should all be asking ourselves is “What comes next?”
And what about the social media
All the junk food that news feeds are feeding us
Social media is not inherently bad. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and whatever else is out there offer endless access to “food for thought” in the forms of conversational snippets, memes, pictures, and captions. However, my news feed is a lot like my refrigerator, because for both, I am in control of what they contain. If I buy $450 of fatty, sugary foods and only $20 of fruits, vegetables, etc.—the healthy stuff—then when I go to my refrigerator, I am more likely to consume fatty, sugary foods than healthy foods. In the same way, if I follow 450 voices of negativity and only 20 voices of positivity, when I open up my News Feed, I am more likely to partake in negativity than positivity. Your diet is your choice. Let’s choose to eat less junk food—physically and mentally.
We judge a man by his cover instead of reading him
Then scold him for being a follower instead of leading him
I once heard someone say, “Hurt people hurt people.” It was a powerful statement, and I believe it holds a lot of truth. However, the truth isn’t in the hurting. It’s in the relationships we share with others. Hurt people hurt people, and judged people judge people. But then on the other hand, loved people love people. Encouraged people encourage people. And led people lead people. What chain reactions have you initiated or perpetuated lately?
I’ve got a problem and I’m working hard to solve it
Hate can be dissolved with the universal solvent
Of love, it doesn’t take much
To make the world a better place but the people gotta want it
I said the people gotta want it
My biochemistry studies showed themselves in this section! For time’s sake, we’ll skip over the laboratory terminologies and definitions. Just know that these five lines bring this song full circle by again presenting the idea that we as a people can create a world free from hate. However, that hate-free world is the product of a love and justice-filled culture.
It’s possible! And it starts one conversation at a time. I’m willing to step out. I’m willing to offer my talents to make such a world a reality, and I want it badly. How badly do you want it? Badly enough to step out with me?
If the answer to that question is yes, then leave commentary on the lyrics or even on the music if you listened to the link. If you have any songs that you would like for me to analyze in the future, please comment those as well. I pray you will, and I pray you enjoyed this blog as much as I did. My send off will be the last stanzas of my song.
[Bridge:]
Lift your voice ‘cause you’re singing for the people
Hold your head up high, we gotta be strong
Stand together cause we’re all created equal
That’s freedom; That’s freedom
[Chorus 2:]
I want Justis for all, Justis for all
Justis for all, Justis for all
[Tag:]
Justis for all
We gotta heed the call
We gotta heed the call
Much love and thanks for reading,
Justis Ward
Learn More @
https://genius.com/ : read more lyric analyses and breakdowns of songs of all genres
