People Everyday
| Title | People Everyday |
|---|---|
| Artist | Arrested Development |
| Album | 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of... |
| Release Date | 1992-03-24 |
| Description | “People Everyday” was Arrested Development’s second single, following their debut international smash hit “Tennessee”. It is based heavily on the music and lyrics of “Everyday People” – a chart-topping 1969 song by Sly & The Family Stone. A remix of it reached the top 10 in six countries including a #2 peak in the UK and #8 in the US. It was nominated for a Grammy in 1992 and won Best Rap Video at the 1993 MTV Music Video Awards. Todd “Speech” Thomas was inspired to write the song based on his experiences of having different views on black culture than those in his neighborhood: …they understood they were black, but for them black was jheri-curls, it was pimping … I’d come to understand that black culture had a lot more to do with Africa, and it was different hairstyles that we could express ourselves with, like dreadlocks and braids. So I would dress like that, and a lot of the people around me in Milwaukee would sort of mock it. These lyrics are for the original version of the song on the album, which is different than the version that became a hit on the radio. When “People Everyday” was chosen as a single, Speech decided to remix the song and give the vocals as “more melodic type of delivery”. That remix is titled “People Everyday (Metamorphosis Mix)”. |
| Lyrics | [Verse 1: Speech] See I was restin' at the park mindin' my own Business as I kick up the treble tone On my radio tape player box, right Just loud enough so folks could hear it's hype, see? Outta nowhere comes the woman I'm datin' Investigation maybe she was demonstratin' But nevertheless I was pleased My day was goin' great and my soul was at ease Until a group of brothers started buggin' out Drinkin' the 40 oz, goin' the nigga route Disrespectin' my black queen Holdin' their crotches and bein' obscene At first I ignored them 'cause see I know their type They got drunk and got guns and they wanna fight And they see a young couple having a time that's good And their egos wanna test a brother's manhood So they came to test Speech 'cause of my hair-do And the loud bright colors that I wear (Boom!) I was a target 'cause I'm a fashion misfit And the outfit that I'm wearin' brothers dissin' it Well I stay calm and pray the niggas leave me be But they're squeezin' parts of my date's anatomy Why, Lord, do brothers have to drill me? 'Cause if I start to hit this man he'll have to kill me, see [Chorus: Arrested Development] I am everyday people You see, I am everyday people [Verse 2: Speech] I told the niggas please let us pass, friend I said please 'cause I don't like killin' Africans But he wouldn't stop and I ain't Ice Cube But I had to take the brother out for being rude And like I said before I was mad by then It took three or four cops to pull me off of him But that's the story y'all of a black man Actin' like a nigga and get stomped by an African You see [Chorus: Arrested Development] I am everyday people You see, I am everyday people [Outro: Speech] The moral of the story is You better look very hard at who you're steppin' to 'Cause you might get killed or shot and it's not worth it Africans need to be lovin' each other and uniteYou might also like |