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All Matter

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Wikipedia article




'"All Matter"' is a song by American singer-songwriter Bilal. The song was produced by the singer, along with Steve McKie, for his 2010 album 'Airtight's Revenge'.[http://www.allmusic.com/album/airtights-revenge-r1946786 allmusic.com/airtight's revenge] It is a rerecording of his collaboration with Robert Glasper, which was included in Glasper's 2009 album 'Double-Booked'.[http://www.allmusic.com/album/double-booked-r1623084/review allmusic.com/doublebooked] The original version - with Glasper - was nominated for the 52nd Grammy Awards, in the Best Urban/Alternative Performance category.[http://www.grammy.com/nominees?year=2009&genre=27 grammy.com nominees2009] 'HipHopDX' journalist Luke Gibson cites it as the best-written song from 'Airtight's Revenge'.

Music and lyrics



Writing for 'Time Out New York', Mikael Wood describes the music of "All Matter" as "TV on the Radio-style art-funk" and an example of Bilal traversing different styles throughout the album "with the headstrong self-assurance of someone whose commercial aspirations trail his creative ones". While Bilal's falsetto vocals are sung soulfully and in midtempo, they are arranged against beats played in an aggressive and fast manner. David Dacks, in 'Exclaim!', highlights the song as an example of how "Bilal's reedy, Sly Stone|Sly [Stone]-meets-Prince voice runs down metaphysical and personal subjects overtop a continuously changing musical landscape". The lyrics, described by the writer Adrienne Maree Brown as "a meditation on being at peace with every single thing about existence", are sung as follows:

Consequently, Brown likens the song to a "soul sung version" of "A Hopi Elder Speaks", a piece of writing attributed to an unnamed Hopi elder. The lyric describing love as "cool on the outside, hot in the middle" is interpreted by 'The A.V. Club's Nathan Rabin as reflective of the overriding concept in 'Airtight's Revenge', which Rabin says is "Bilal alternating between a delicate, Prince-like falsetto and an impassioned growl as he contemplates romantic and professional pain".

References




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