When was the phrase "It's all good" first used?

"It's all Good"
June 6, 2001

Advertising executives at the National Basketball Association recently decided to retire the sport's ten-year-old slogan, "I love this game," and replace it with a new one: "It's all good." According to Scott Weinstock, a vice-president and senior creative director at the N.B.A., the change signals the ascendancy of a new generation of players, who are every bit as exciting to watch as their predecessors were. "You had the days of Mike and Larry, and now you have the days of Vince Carter and Allen Iverson," Weinstock said. "The game is as good as it has ever been, and it is only getting better."

This is, of course, arguable, but the adoption of "It's all good" does confirm that phrase's omnipresence in the contemporary lexicon. The expression got a big push into the mainstream this spring on "Survivor: The Australian Outback," when it was used by Alicia Calaway, the buff personal trainer, who informed twenty-eight and a half million Americans that, even though she had not won a million dollars, her experience had indeed been all good. And when Puffy Combs was asked by "Entertainment Tonight" about his painful breakup with Jennifer Lopez earlier this year, he resorted to the "It's all good" formula to explain how he would always have a place in his heart for J. Lo.

According to Weinstock, the meaning of "It's all good" is straightforward. "It means 'no worries,' " he said. "If Disney were to use it, they would say 'Hakuna Matata.' " Actually, "It's all good" is often more nuanced. The original popularizers of the expression were rap performers, including Hammer, who in 1994 released a song entitled "It's All Good." A year later, Tupac Shakur employed the phrase in his hit "California Love," on which Dr. Dre announced, "Diamonds shinin' lookin' like I robbed Liberace / It's all good from Diego to tha Bay." In such contexts, "It's all good" serves as a statement of defiance rather than complacency; things are clearly not all good, for example, if you happen to be Liberace.

The phrase continues to be reflexively used in the rap world, and it has now been adopted ironically by upper-middle-class white people, in whose parlance "It's all good" is usually a way of preëmptively closing a conversation--a discussion of the final episode of "The Sopranos," for example--and segueing to the next topic: where to find the best sushi in the East Village. But the most widespread use of "It's all good" seems to be among people who have recently discovered yoga and meditation. For this demographic, "It's all good" has become a kind of New Age, neo-Buddhist mantra, one with a peculiarly American flavor of optimism. (As Mark Epstein, the author of "Going On Being: Buddhism and the Way of Change," points out, a truly Buddhist view would be "It's all suffering.") It means that every reversal--breaking up with your boyfriend, getting downsized from your dot-com--is also an opportunity for personal growth. Admittedly, this usage has greater appeal if you are a laid-off, newly single dot-commer than it might if you were, say, an Afghani refugee or a resident of southern Sudan.

http://www.rebeccamead.com/2001/2001_06_11_comm_nba.htm

It's All Good vs. It Is What It Is:

A catalog of such catchphrases would be as insightful a social history as one could hope for.

For years, you heard it everywhere: "It's all good." It's what Puffy said after he was ankled by J-Lo, to indicate there were no hard feelings. In 2001, the NBA adopted it as a marketing slogan, a way of saying fans shouldn't be disturbed by Michael Jordan's seeming retirement. It's how you buck up a friend who's had a bad day, or put a philosophical gloss on your own tale of woe. Use it in place of "isn't it ironic" in that Alanis Morisette song to discover how this magical incantation can shine a light on even the darkest moment.

Some have suggested that "It's all good" originated on the street as an expression of stoic resilience by the downtrodden. Certainly, hip-hop played an essential role in its popularization, first in the 1994 Hammer song of the same name, then the following year in a cameo by Dr. Dre on the Tupac track "California Love." More recently, DMX captured its insouciant joie de vivre in yet another tune of this title:

It's all good, it's alright
Fuck all day, fuck all night
Call my bitches, cause wherever I go, y'all my bitches
East to the West coast, all my bitches

As is so often the case, this expression of black consciousness was quickly co-opted by the mainstream, presumably spreading via young suburban aficionados to their parents and thus to the mass media. Soon even the squarest parts of the country had caught on. Marketers far from the NBA demographic embraced its new widespread appeal. The phrase found particular favor among New Agers, even sparking a localized backlash among Old Agers.

But nothing lasts forever. "It's all good" had a good run; now, as they say, it's played out. No less an organ of cultural insight than the Boston Globe has written its obituary. The NBA now exhorts fans to "Love it live," a slogan unlikely to inspire similar affection (or even comprehension).

http://www.flakmag.com/misc/iagiiwii.html

when tommy chong first walked into a smoke shop in amsterdam & said............"It's all good"

When some early herdsmen were milking the cows and some other early herdsmen were milking the goats. After they sat back and shared the pails of milk they exclaimed: "It's all good!"

well, the first time I heard it was in the 70's... a song sang by the band "War".
There's a song called "Spill The Wine"... really cool psychedelic style song... towards the end of the song, when it starts to fade out... the singer says... "It's all good! Spill the wine, dig that girl! You got to do it! Spill the wine, spill the wine - dig that girl! Yeah!!" Granted, I was only six years old when I first heard that song... but that's the first time I ever heard it... I didn't hear any other singer/actor ever say it after that until MC Hammer in 1991... or it could've been 1990... he had a song called "It's all good"... hope this helps...