Latest revision -June 19, 2026
This pancocojams post traces the African American saying "The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice" from its inclusion in the 1914 composition by W.C. Handy to Kendrick Lamar's 2015 Hip Hop record "The Blacker The Berry".
The dates and the title of the published work [books, songs, movies] that include this saying are given without quoting that use or any other information.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/02/tracing-saying-blacker-berry-sweeter.html to find additional information about these entries. The updated title for that pancocojams post is "Tracing The Saying "The Blacker The Berry, The Sweeter The Juice" From 1914 To 2015".
The content of this post is presented for historical, sociological, and cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
A lot of this post is re-printed from a June 2015 pancocojams post entitled "A Timeline For The Use Of The Saying "The Blacker The Berry, The Sweeter The Juice".
Information about some of the entries in this timeline was given to me by readers who sent in comments to that original 2015 version of this pancocojams post http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/06/timeline-for-cultural-use-of-saying.html. Thanks to those commenters.
Thanks also to Anonymous, Oct. 9, 2021 who shared information about the 1914 entry to this time line.
****
TIMELINE FOR THE USE OF THE SAYING "THE BLACKER THE BERRY, THE SWEETER THE JUICE" AS A BOOK TITLE, IN SONGS, MOVIES, OR TELEVISION SHOWS
[These are the examples that I'm aware of. I'd appreciate information about any other examples.]
1922 - Thomas W. Talley, editor Negro Folk Rhymes: Wise & Otherwise
Poem "You Love Your Girl"
****
1923 - Edmonia Henderson "Black Man's Blues" [Blues song]
****
1929 - [novel] The Blacker The Berry by Wallace Thurman
****
1969 - The Isley Brothers- The Blacker The Berrie (a/k/a Black Berries) [R&B song]
****
1974 - Foxy Brown [movie] - a line spoken by the lead character Foxy Brown [played by Pam Grier]
****
1980 - Fame [movie] - a line spoken by one of the characters: Coco [played by Irene Cara]
****
1993- Tupac - Keep Ya Head Up [Hp Hop record]
****
1995 - The Sweeter the Juice: A Family Memoir in Black and White by Shirlee Taylor Haizlip [book]
****
1995 - Friday [movie]
This saying is part of an exchange between the two lead characters.
****
2002- Hairspray song "Run Tell That!" [Broadway show]
****
2006 - Field Mob - "Blacker The Berry" in the album Light Poles And Pine Trees [Hip Hop record]
****
Apr 22, 2011 - Jimmy Black - "Blacker The Berry The Sweeter The Juice" [Hip Hop music video. This is the video's publishing date. I don't know the date of the record.]
****
2015 -Kendrick Lamar - "The Blacker The Berry" [Hip Hop record]
****
UPDATE: June 19, 2026
AI Overview result for my query "Has the saying "The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice" been used in any American records, books, television show, and/or movies since Kendrick Lamar's 2015 record?
In Records & Hip-Hop:
The idiom appeared as a prominent
lyric in rap songs, most notably during the high-profile May 2024 rap beef
between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. In Lamar's diss track "Meet the
Grahams," he used the line to mock Drake. *
In Books:
The phrase serves as the title for multiple
academic theses and cultural studies analyzing hip-hop's role in the Black
Lives Matter movement, such as a prominent 2017 honors thesis at
Texas State
University.**
In Television & Film Analysis:
Documentaries and entertainment commentators covering the
societal impact of pop culture regularly use the saying. For example, pieces on
the intersection of hip-hop and civil rights continue to cite both Kendrick
Lamar's song and Wallace Thurman's seminal 1929 book, The Blacker the Berry, as
touchstones."
*From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meet_the_Grahams
" "Meet
the Grahams" (stylized in lowercase) is a diss track by American rapper
Kendrick Lamar. It was released on May 3, 2024, through Interscope Records,
during his ongoing feud with Canadian rapper Drake.[1] It is Lamar's response
to the release of Drake's "Family Matters", a diss track mainly aimed
at Lamar."...
-snip-
Canadian rapper Drake's birth name is Aubrey Drake Graham.
Regarding the statement that Kendrick Lamar's use of the saying "The blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice" to mock Drake, that use can probably be interpreted as mocking because Drake is a light skinned Black person.
Based on second hand sources (post 1960s USA) and not any direct experience, it seems to me that "the blacker the berry" etc. saying has usually been articulated by darker skinned Black people as a come back to real or perceived societal slights and/or put downs by Black people who are lighter skinned then they are, or real or perceived societal slights and/or put downs by non-Black people.
-snip-
** https://digital.library.txst.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/faadea21-89e1-4629-8be8-dbcfe852d871/content
“The Blacker The Berry, The Sweeter The Juice": The Power Of Race In Hip Hop Activism
Honor Thesis Presented to the Honors College of Texas State University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for Graduation in the Honors College by Fatima “Toomi” Al-Dhahi
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
