All Falls Down

“All Falls Down” is a self-reflection of Kanye’s personal battle with consumerism. The track was the third single from his debut album, The College Dropout. The song peaked at number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 47th Grammy Awards. Kanye released an earlier version of this song as “Self Conscious (Poetry-Style)"on Freshmen Adjustment and performed a lesser-known spoken word version on “Def Poetry Jam” of this song also known as from Freshmen Adjustment.

[Chorus: Syleena Johnson & Kanye West] Oh, when it all, it all falls down Yeah, this the real one, baby I'm tellin' you all, it all falls down Uh, Chi-Town, stand up! Oh, when it all, it all falls down Southside, Southside We gon' set this party off right I'm tellin' you all, it all falls down Westside, Westside We gon' set this party off right Oh, when it all [Verse 1: Kanye West] Man, I promise, she's so self-conscious She has no idea what she doin' in college That major that she majored in don't make no money But she won't drop out, her parents'll look at her funny Now, tell me that ain't insecurr The concept of school seems so securr Sophomore, three yurrs, ain't picked a carurr She like, "Fuck it, I'll just stay down hurr 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 Alexis She had hair so long that it looked like weave Then she cut it all off, now she look like Eve And she be dealin' with some issues that you can't believe Single black female addicted to retail, and well [Chorus: Syleena Johnson & Kanye West] Oh, when it all, it all falls down And when it falls down, who you gon' call now? I'm tellin' you all, it all falls down C'mon, c'mon, and when it all falls down Oh, when it all [Verse 2: Kanye West] Man, I promise, I'm so self-conscious That's why you always see me with at least one of my watches Rollies and Pashas done drove me crazy I can't even pronounce nothing, pass that Ver-say-see! Then I spent four hundred 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 1s that's clean and a shirt with a team It seem we livin' 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 tryna buy back our 40 acres And for that paper, look how low we'll stoop Even if you in a Benz, you still a nigga in a coupe [Chorus: Syleena Johnson & Kanye West] Oh, when it all, it all falls down Come on, come on I'm tellin' you all, it all falls down And when it falls down, who you gon' call now? Oh, when it all, it all falls down Come on, come on I'm tellin' you all, it all falls down And when it all falls down [Verse 3: Kanye West] I say, "Fuck the police," that's how I treat 'em We buy our way out of jail, but we can't buy freedom We'll buy a lot of clothes, but we don't really need 'em Things we buy to cover up what's inside 'Cause they made us hate ourself and love they wealth That's why shorty's hollerin', "Where the ballers at?" Drug dealer buy Jordan, crackhead buy crack And the 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 & Park, pushin' a Benz I want to act ballerific like it's all terrific I got a couple past-due bills, I won't get specific I got a problem with spendin' before I get it We all self-conscious, I'm just the first to admit it [Chorus: Syleena Johnson & Kanye West] Oh, when it all, it all falls down C'mon, c'mon And when it falls down, who you gon' call now? I'm tellin' you all, it all falls down C'mon, c'mon, and when it falls down Oh, when it all, it all falls down Southside, Southside We gon' set this party off right I'm tellin' you all, it all falls down Westside, Westside We gon' set this party off right Oh, when it all, it all falls down Chi-Town, Chi-Town We gon' show 'em how we get down I'm tellin' you all, it all falls down Now, Syleena, you just like a safe belt, you saved my life C'mon Oh, when it all, it all falls down I'm tellin' you all, it all falls down [Outro: DeRay] *Applause* I can't keep workin' like this This grave shifts is like a slave ship [Produced by Kanye West]