After doing some research into Aloe Blacc's music and background my initial idea was to write a feel-good pop song that incorporated latin rhythms and melodies. Born in Los Angeles to Panamanian parents, Blacc states in interviews that he is influenced by his Latin American roots and strives to express this through his music. I came up with several musical ideas however in the end I abandoned this concept. Ultimately the music I was playing sounded as if it was being forced to fit within the pop spectrum and this was something I wanted to avoid.
Instead of wasting time trying to make this idea work I decided it would be best to start a fresh. I went looking to discover what Blacc's lyrical goals are to see if I could find something that would inspire me. On his website I found out that he aspires to use his popularity to affect social change. After some thought I decided that I would write a song that challenges the uneven distribution of wealth in Blacc's home town Los Angeles and society's attitudes towards the homeless. I haven taken inspiration from images like the cover photo of this blog post which shows a homeless man at rock bottom surrounded by wealth.
Instead of wasting time trying to make this idea work I decided it would be best to start a fresh. I went looking to discover what Blacc's lyrical goals are to see if I could find something that would inspire me. On his website I found out that he aspires to use his popularity to affect social change. After some thought I decided that I would write a song that challenges the uneven distribution of wealth in Blacc's home town Los Angeles and society's attitudes towards the homeless. I haven taken inspiration from images like the cover photo of this blog post which shows a homeless man at rock bottom surrounded by wealth.