We've been saying 'it's all good' for 30 years and it turns out we have MC Hammer to thank for it

In 2025, the expression "It's all good" is deeply embedded in American pop culture. It pops up everywhere—from a bluesy Bob Dylan song to a short-lived Buick slogan to the origin of Jimmy McGill's professional name "Saul Goodman" on Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. (In case you still don't get the joke: "It's all good, man!") And if you're of a certain age or background, you may even say the phrase on a daily basis, even if you have no clue of its origins.

As with many things linguistic, it's tough to pinpoint the exact moment "It's all good" took its true form, but one thing appears certain: We have '90s hip-hop, including a minor MC Hammer hit, to thank for its staying power. Before we unpack of all that, though, let's talk about the meaning of the phrase itself. According to a very formal-sounding definition from government resource center American English at State, it means, "despite any possible doubt, everything is okay." They even offer some example sentences for clarity, including the exchange: "I'm so sorry that I'm late! / "It's all good!"

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'90s Hip-Hop Connection

The expression seemed to formally enter the mainstream through rap lyrics in the early to mid-'90s, perhaps most obviously with "It's All Good," a single from Hammer's fifth album, 1994's platinum-selling The Funky Headhunter. The song, which prominently features that lyric in its chanted chorus, made a modest dent on the Billboard Hot 100 chart at No. 46—far from his Grammy-winning peak circa "U Can't Touch This" but certainly proof of his relevance. Given Hammer's enormous profile, it's safe to consider this an inflection point in the phrase's ubiquity.

But there are many other examples from this era of rap music, including some that pre-date that release. In 1993, Too $hort released a song with the same name on his eighth album, Get In Where You Fit In, and Mac Mall used the title for a track on his debut LP, Illegal Business? You can also find "It's all good" floating around as a lyric in other '90s hip-hop cuts, including E-40's The Click-featured remix of "Captain Save a Hoe" ("It's all good if ya slippin' / It's all good as long as ya payin'"), Notorious B.I.G.'s "Juicy" ("It's all good, baby, baby"), and 2Pac's chart-topping G-funk staple "California Love" ("It's all good, from Diego to the Bay," raps producer and guest artist Dr. Dre).

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"Statement of Defiance"

The popularization of "It's all good" even inspired a 2001 story in The New Yorker, with writer Rebecca Mead citing both Hammer and 2Pac, along with a then-recent usage by a contestant on the reality show Survivor: The Australian Outback. The piece even features quotes from Scott Weinstock, the NBA's then vice-president and senior creative director, who discussed the league changing their previous slogan "I love this game" to—you guessed it—"It's all good." "It means 'no worries,' " Weinstock said. "If Disney were to use it, they would say 'Hakuna Matata.'" But Mead argued that the expression is "more nuanced," calling it, in certain contexts, a "statement of defiance rather than complacency."

Regardless of your precise tone—and where you even heard the phrase first—'90s rap probably played a role in it entering your vocabulary.

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