K’Naan, the Somalian born, Canadian raised rapper is getting a lot of press these days, and a lot of radio play on CBC. If you haven’t heard him on the radio, you may have heard his songs on various video games, like Madden NFL 09; or maybe you’ve heard Wavin’ Flag, the official song of FIFA 2010.
In any case, K’Naan is everywhere, and yet I only just recently discovered him. Maybe that’s because I have an inherent aversion to rap. I should really be more open-minded, though, because K’Naan isn’t really rap (more hip-hop) and he is an incredibly talented lyricist and story-teller.
In particular, I really love his song Fatima. It’s a jangly, hand-clappy song with an incredibly catchy beat that gets me dancing along in my car. However, the up-beat sound belies the sadness in the lyrics.
Fatima is the girl everyone wants to be, and the girl every guy wants to date, but she’s taken away too soon:
Damn you shooter, Damn you the building
Whose walls hid the blood she was spilling
Damn you Country so good at killing
Damn you feeling, for persevering
Is it true when they say all you need is just love,
Is it true
What about those who have loved
Only to find that it’s taken away
And why do they say that the children have rights to be free
To be free
What about those who I’ve known
Whose memory still lives inside of me.
Fatima,
What did the Gun Man Say
before he took you away on that fateful day
Fatima
Did he know your name, or the plans we made
To go to New York City
It’s a truly beautiful and heartbreaking song.
Amy Breen
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thebanana