K'naan Album

(Spoken)
I hope you got your passports, and vaccine shots.

[Verse 1]
I take rappers on a field trip any day
They never been opposite real clip anyway
I know where all the looters and the shooters say
Welcome to the city we call Doomsday.

When niggaz is just fried chicken like Tuesday
Oh you from the hood huh, who say?
My Nigerian niggaz would call you Pussy
My Somali niggaz are quick to grab the uzi

Around here we only bumping Fela Kuti
Tupac, or Bob Marley, Lucky Dube.
So we don't really give a fuck about your groupies
This Is Africa, Hooray.

T.I.A.
(Hooray)
T.I.A.
(Hooray)
T.I.A.
(Hooray)
It means, This Is Africa
(Hooray)

[Hook]
You don't know how hot it is here
The streets is tricky in these parts here
You don't know how hot this is here
The streets need this shit here

You don't know how hot it is here
The streets is tricky in these parts here
You don't know how hot this is here
The streets need this shit here


[Verse 2]
I walk rappers through the Killa woods any day
They never been opposite real goons anyway
I know all the tricky sticky icky alley ways
Welcome to the continent of Holidays (Africa)

Where Holidays quickly turn to hell days
Stars fall quicker than box of shell case
No Bill Gates, No (P_____?)
Why you cats debating, acting and faking these days

I deliver what they need like milk crates
I learned from the deadly streets no regrets
And I wasn't ever looking for street cred
But these streets bred me to be street safe

It's no secret we know how to squeeze lead
But the Pre-set is not to have to squeeze it
Used to be at peace but now we using T-Shirts
And it reads RIP cause the peace dead

When I walk through the slums like (Nomane?)
Little children say K'naan (Bumaye ?)
The rap game just got itself a new day
This is Africa, Hooray.

T.I.A.
(Hooray)
T.I.A.
(Hooray)
T.I.A.
(Hooray)
It means, This Is Africa

[Hook]
You don't know how hot it is here
The streets is tricky in these parts here
You don't know how hot this is here
The streets need this shit here

You don't know how hot it is here
The streets is tricky in these parts here
You don't know how hot this is here
The streets need this shit here

Bundle up my whole style is so cold
I glow like old guys who flow bold
My flow got no threat in vocal
Your flow got no button its so old
I don't mean to sound like a showboat
but it's true my pers-ahn is no joke

I'm scripted into some kind of portal
I'm legend and sometimes i go bold
i'm from the ?
no place is shifty global
more pistols rush and revolvers
we shoot at all that is normal
but it ain't just cuz we want to
we ain't got no where we can run to
somebody please press the undo
they only teach us the things that guns do

they don't teach us the abcs
we play on the hard concrete
all we got is life in the streets
all we got is life in the streets (repeat twice)

Chubb Rock (can't understand him)

Chorus

Superman and known by the locals
abskewed and so flies low bold
attitude that came out of struggle
this ain't you but i make it hopeful
you real but my real is tenfold
my real will make yours a rental
gangsta if at ease, essential
fight with guns or utensils

so bold nothing is confidential
break fists is not continental
and lunch could not compliment her
we still become competitors
these streets they fake with no gold
matter fact someone stole the light bulb
nobody fat enough for lypo
they don't teach us to read and write
so

Chorus

Yeah
Believe it or not
What kept me alive
Is my dreams

------------Chorus-----------
I'm a dreamer
But I ain't the only one got problems
But we love to have fun
This is our world
From here to your hood
We alive man
It's OK to feel good

I'm a dreamer
But I ain't the only one got problems
But we love to have fun
This is our world
From here to your hood
Lock me up now
It's OK to feel good
------------Chorus-----------

I got a friend named Flow,
who got a friend named blow
With a finger named clap
that’ll leave you on the side like a Kangol hat.
He ain’t have no choice he was born this way
These streets will pull your number like a phone display
You gotta be defensive with your life
You gotta be like Bush and take Pre-emptive strikes
And the boys from the hood are always hard
Let alone in Mogadishu it’s a mastered art
If you bring the words hood to a seminar
We from the only place worse then Kandahar,
Now that’s kinda hard
But we still like to party and hardy har
Something good happens we say Mashalla
Something bad happens Kay Sara Sara.
I close my eyes and all I can see is you dancing with me

(Chorus)

It’s ok to feel good, it’s the truth
Yo check it out

What would it take for a boy about my age to hear cheers in his head upon that stage
And the cheers that would drowned out the tears from my brown eyes
Come on back stage you see the screams ain’t the screams from gun shot streams
In my dreams these screams are from hot teens
And I’m barely thirteen but I pack dirty, a Russian fire arm that shoots thirty
Just then I hear the bus engine I’m transcending I’m crowd surfing I can’t see the time burning I’m not hurting with my mahogany pen.
I’m on a world tour with Mohammad and them.
And we be over sees and not in these trees where my peeps stay alive like the Bee gees
And the likes of JZ would save my steeze and singing handily brought Hip-Hop peace

(Chorus)

Sometimes we just like to have fun,
man we like to forget all the fighting
all the guns and the tires burning,

Back on the verse
Imagine crack was in birth
Imagine the earth wasn’t hurt
Imagine no homeland alerts
Imagine no record locater so I wouldn’t have to get a criminal waiver
Imagine if peace wasn’t in my briefs
instead peace could stretch across the sees
So finally we could just rest and in easy no refugees
And you, well you could dress in a book
And I can read your body in less then a look
I got a dream girl in my mind and that the hook,
An intellectually, sexual and still can cook

Yeah, and I feel good right now
I feel good right here
You feel good?

(Chorus)

We not down and out, just cause times are hard
Yeah shout out to the struggeler's,
in my country, hardest place on earth
But still
I still know how to get down,
I still know how to vibe out,
I still know how to talk to a pretty girl.
Take it easy now.

set to high
no callin the rerevulationary youths
dam marley alongside k'naan
gunpowder philosipher what some boy feel like
peppop huh
i made the list this year
im on a roll
you aint no east african rock and roll
you dont know what time it is like your clock is old
you know y'all packin like the block is sold
how could it be to the deep and darkest of zero
to become the king of new york like a negro
and he aint even from new york that's what's weird yo
but he's from they repetatattapatatta
so come now dont you try to play the hero
around here we have pirates with trapedos
alongside all the warlords and beardos
in the city the people blacker than tuxedos
babygirl let me get all up in your earlow
and if you shut me down you can kill my ego
which is my enemy makes you my emigo
so either way you and i are button and needles
and they say i might become because of beetle
but i dont let it all come it all to my head and feed y'all

(Intro)

She shot me, she shot me,
Bang, bang… she shot me. (x3)
She shot me, she shot me,
Bang, bang. (Get out the way, yo)

(Verse 1)

Ahh… there she goes again,
The girl is Ethiopian.
In other words, she came through explodin’
In the podium, dynamite
Napoleon like sodium mixed with petroleum,
Slowly but surely, she was walking toward me
Cut the convo short ‘cause she had to wake up early,
But continuing the story,
Don’t worry she gave me digits for her Blackberry
“You’re very handsome” is what she said.
And the way she looked in my eyes said “Put me to bed.”

(Pre-chorus)

Oh my, oh my, I should have known when she said to me on the phone:
“You do not know me very well, but I would never hurt a fly.”
Then she aimed at my chest with love in her eye.
I said she aimed at my chest with love in her eye.

(Chorus)

Adam Levine:
She was walkin’ around with a loaded shotgun
Ready to fire me a hot one.
It went bang, bang, bang…
Straight through my heart. (Straight through my heart)
Although I could have walked away,
I stood my ground and let her spray.

K’naan:
She shot me, she shot me
Bang ,bang… she shot me (x3)
She shot me, she shot me
Bang, bang.

(Verse 2)

Scorpion,
She’s so hot she’s a scorch-ian,
Killing me softly,
Lauryn or Kevorkian,
Couldn’t tell if she’s coo-coo or corky, when
I asked her her name she said “Call me Ten.”
Testing, testing
Things just got more interesting
She’s dressed in a vest pin, double-breasted holster,
A very Western toaster,
She ain’t nothing Kosher.
Ah… she lets me closer.
Hotter than a pepper-crusted Samosa
While I try to keep my composure.

(Chorus)

(Bridge)

Am I wrong?
But what is love without the pain to go along?
And what is pain if not the reason for me to sing this song?
And this song is for the weak and for the strong.
Cause I was strong and still…
She got me, she got me,
Bang, bang… she got me.
She got me, she got me,
Bang, bang.

(Chorus)

So good things come to those who wait, sure
I've waited about pop, pop, pop, pop that's four cousins shot
I got grudges, let's discuss it
my mucis needs no touch ups
I got a long record of fuck-ups
trust me, you don't know a pst as weird as mine
or a life as hard as mine, I had to hustle,
chop, sell drugs, grind
whatever you wanna call it that's fine, but just listen
and don't pre-judge
I don't want anyone dismissin' me as another thug or some shit like that
no sir, if I fall I will get right back
I got circumstances, but let me stop dancin around the issue
and tell you straight-forward, I'm poor
a refugee been in prison and survived the war
I come from the most dangerous city on this universe
you're likely to get shot at birth

[bridge]
so how could rap quench my thirst?
I don't even hear verses no more I hear jerkin'-off punks
with lip-glosses and purses
I don't even seen no body operation no more I see nurses
fuck that, I'ma stay alive I'd rather do a stage dive

[chorus]
And if rap gets jealous
'cuz I rock heavy
that don't worry me if ma' fuckers don't get it
and if rap gets jealous
'cuz of where I'm headed
I use to be public enemy don't forget it
and if rap gets jealous
'cuz I rock heavy
that don't worry me if ma' fuckers don't get it
and if rap gets jealous
'cuz of where I'm headed
agression, obsession with pain never gain

Yeah, so basically I gotta release occasionally
I gotta let you know what's goin' on with me and
facin' me are some tough choices
I got a good side and a bad side inside my head
I hear screams and loud voices
and I can't lie, I ain't got shit, I ain't gotta brag
I'm hard pressed for some cash
dissent for my ill debt
you're so superficial
of course it's for shizzle that my choice
is to pass on you boys
'cuz my mission in the world
to know, my name, my aim
is plainly success, but I still gotta come fresh

[bridge]
[chorus]

It's what it is, it's pain
you know what I'm sayin'?
I don't know man it's like
you spend years developin' your artistry
you know what I'm sayin? perfectin' your skill
and you can't, do shit with it
that's gotta be fucked up
you know what I'm sayin'?
that's gotta be fucked up
so just imagine, like imagine you build a fuckin' castle
and you can't live in it
that's what it is, you can't live in it
and you got problems you got family?
I ain't got faimly
moment of truth right?
and I still gotta come fresh

[bridge]
[chorus] x 2.5

When i get older, they'll call me freedom
Just like a Waving Flag.

[Chorus]
When I get older, I will be stronger,
They'll call me freedom, just like a Waving Flag,
And then it goes back, and then it goes back,
And then it goes back

Born to a throne, stronger than Rome
but Violent prone, poor people zone,
But it's my home, all I have known,
Where I got grown, streets we would roam.
But out of the darkness, I came the farthest,
Among the hardest survival.
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak,
Except no defeat, surrender retreat,

So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we'll be free,
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day,
It's not far away, so for now we say

[Chorus]

So many wars, settling scores,
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor,
I heard them say, love is the way,
Love is the answer, that's what they say,
But look how they treat us, Make us believers,
We fight their battles, then they deceive us,
Try to control us, they couldn't hold us,
Cause we just move forward like Buffalo Soldiers.

But we struggling, fighting to eat,
And we wondering, when we'll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day,
It's not far away, but for now we say,

[Chorus] 2x

(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And everybody will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And you and I will be singing it
(Ohhhh Ohhhh Ohhhhh Ohhhh)
And we all will be singing it
(Ohhh Ohh Ohh Ohh)

[Chorus] 2x

When I get older, when I get older
I will be stronger, just like a Waving Flag,
Just like a Waving Flag, just like a Waving flag
Flag, flag, Just like a Waving Flag

uh…yeah…Somalia

Yeah,
I spit it for my block, it’s an old, I admit it here
The city cold, it’s lock and load
Any minute it’s rock and roll
And you rockin wrong, and feel you so leavin
It’s just the wrong dance that’ll leave you not breathin
I’m not particularly proud of this predicament but
I’m born and bread in this tenementum sentimental what
Plus it’s only right to represent my hood and what not
So I’m about to do it in the music and the movies cut
To the chase pan across to the face I’m right dead
Freeze frame on the street name
Oops, wait a minute
This is where the streets have no name and they drain of sewage
You can see it in this boy how the hate is brewin
Cause when it’s tummy tucks in, fuck the penis fluid
So what difference does it make entertaining through it
Some get high mixing coke and gun powerders sniffin
She got a gun but could of been a model or physician

So whatchyou know about the pirates terrorize the ocean
To never know a single day without a big commotion
It can’t be healthy just to live with such a steep emotion
And when I try and sleep, I see coffins closin (2X)

yeah…yeah

We use to take barbed wire, mold them around discarded bike tires
Roll them down the hill on full blazin
Now that was our version of mountain bike racin
Damn, do you see why it’s amazing?
When someone comes out of such a dire situation
And learns the English language just to share his observation
Probably get a Grammy without a grammar education
So fuck you school and fuck you immigration
And all of you who thought I wouldn’t amount to consolation
And now I’m here with out the slightest bit and reservation
They love me in the slums and they made it reservations
The world is a ghetto with ministrant and depravation
Buy mommy didn’t raise no fool did she (hoeror?)
I promised I would get it and remain strictly loyal
Cause when they get it they let it all switch and spoil
But I just illuminated it like kitchen foil
A lot of main stream niggers is yappin about yappin
A lot of underground niggers is rappin about rappin
I just want to tell you what’s really crackalackin
Before the tears came down this is what happened

So whatchyou know about the pirates terrorize the ocean
To never know a single day without a big commotion
It can’t be healthy just to live with such a steep emotion
And when I try and sleep, I see coffins closin (2X)

uh…yeah…Somalia

[No lyrics]

Picture the morning taste and devour
We rise early pace up the hour
Streets is bustling hustling their heart out
You can't have the sweet with no sour

Spices herbs the sweet scent of flower
We came out precisely the hour
Clouds disappear the sun shows the power
No chance of a probable shower

I fell in love with my neighbors daughter
I wanted to protect and support her
Never mind I'm just 12 and a quarter
I had dreams beyond our border.

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 Young Man say
Before he stole you away
On that fateful day Fatima
Fatima,
Did he know your name
Or the plans we made,
To go to New York City, Fatima

And after school we studied the lessons
I ask God to slow down the seconds
He does the opposite that's what I'm guessing
I better chill and count my own blessings

Fatima, Fatima what is the matter
How come you ain't come up the ladder
So we can be like there's no tomorrow
Damn you gonna make me wait until tomorrow

She spoke Arabic and Swahili
She'd say Upendo (Swahili for love) Anta Habibi (Arabic for, you are my love/dearest friend)
You so bright, you shine like my TV
Then one day she never came to meet me

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 Young Man say
Before he stole you away
On that fateful day Fatima
Fatima,
Did he know your name
Or the plans we made,
To go to New York City, Fatima
(Repeat)

If beauty was in the eyes of beholder
how come everyone hushed when she walked by
How come girls would look just to scold her
How come the angel wanted to hold her?

Fatima, Fatima I'm in America
I make rhymes and I make them delicate
You would have liked the parks in Connecticut
You would have said I'm working too hard again.

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
(Repeat)

Fatima..

(Spoken)
Now I just want to make it clear, I don't want you to shed a tear.
Because this here, is a celebration, We're not mourning, We're celebrating
Yeah
So baby don't cry, Please don't let the tears fall
So don't cry..

There is no way to write it …there is no way to fight it
And I kick and scream but you got me despite it
And I got my pride so I begin to hide it
Like a fire in a free town you begin to lighten it..

Aha aha aha
Sidii hogasha roobka
Ah ah aha you shine down upon me
Aha aha aha Sidii hogasha roobka aha aha aha you shine down upon me

By some higher order you keep getting bolder…
By god or by country you kill like a soldier…
By some widdle you sung little but scream mighty stronger
Like fire in free town you old magic spoiler….

Repeat Chorus

You place bins in my ribs and ask me to lie down
My pain is your pleasure but pleasure is all mine
You lend me your false ear and I lend you my false lines
Like fire in free town I’m fueled by your gold mine

Repeat Chorus…

She pulled out her match and she burned down my home
Fire Fire
She know it to touch me to turn me to stone
Fire Fire
She come like a storm and she rained on my lawn
Fire Fire
She pulled out her match and she burned down my home
Fire Fire
She come like a storm and she rained on my lawn
Fire Fire
She know it to touch me she know it I know
Fire Fire
She come like a storm and she rained on my lawn
Fire Fire
She pulled out her match and she burned down my home

{Chorus}:
And any man who knows a thing knows, he knows not a damn, damn thing at all,
And everytime I felt the hurt and I felt the givin' gettin' me up off the wall,
I'm just gonna take a minute and let it ride,
I'm just gonna take a minute and let it breeze,
I'm just gonna take a minute and let it ride,
I'm just gonna take a minute and let it breeze,

How did Mandela get the will to surpass the everyday,
When injustice had him caged and trapped in every way,
How did Ghandi ever withstand the hunger strikes and all,
Didn't do it to gain power or money if I recall,
It's to give; I guess I'll pass it on,
Mother thinks it'll lift the stress of babylon,
Mother knows, my mother she suffered blows,
I don't know how we survived such violent episodes,
I was so worried, and hurt to see you bleed,
But as soon as you came out the hospital you gave me sweets,
Yeah, they try to take you from me,
But you still only gave 'em some prayers and sympathy,
Dear mama, you helped me write this, by showing me to give is priceless.

{Chorus}

All I can say is the worst is over now,
We can serve the hard times, divorce is over now,
They try to keep us out, but they doors is open now,
My nigga Akon is gettin awards for covers now,
This is K'NAAN, and still reppin' the S
Comin' out of Mogadishu and still draped in the mess,
And no matter how we strong, homie,
It ain't easy comin out of where we from, homie.
And that's the reason why, I could never play for me,
Tell 'em the truth, is what my dead homies told me,
Oh yeah, I take inspiration from the most heinous of situations,
Creating medication out my own tripulations.
Dear Africa, you helped me write this, by showing me to give is priceless.

{Chorus}

Nothing is perfect man, that's what the world is,
All I know is,
I'm enjoying today.
You know, 'cause it isn't everybody that you get to give.

{Chorus}

Yeah, yeah, yeah x 8

[No lyrics]

Heaven, is there a chance that you could come down
and open doors to hurtin people like me
People like me (4x)

Is it fair to say that I am stressing out
I'm stationed in Iraq and they won't let me out
My homeys said I was stupid for even joining
My counsellor said that my decision was disappointing
How she had good for good state colleges
and with my good grades it wouldn't have been a problem
but they don't understand the power of significance
more than brilliance and certainly more than diffedence
and if you ask me now would i repeat it
Would i fight in a war i don't believe in
Well the answer is if not me where the cancer is
they been doing this before Jesus of Nazereth
and after all this time it is still deadly hazardous
and bush isn't really being all that innacurate
When he says we're winning the war cos its staggering
but thats cos we're killing everybody that we see
and most of us soldiers we can barely fall asleep
and time and time again i'm feeling incompetent
cos my women back home, we're constantly arguing
and i must be crazy cos all i'm obbsessing with is
her myspace and facebook and who's commenting
I swear to god if she's cheatin' I'm doin her ass in
I can tell with one look and it came to me sounding like something from a song hook

Heaven, is there a chance that you could come down
and open doors to hurtin people like me
People like me (4x)

Meet Sarah, the proud mother of young sabastian
suburban professional went to college in ...shton
In self pity she suddenly cried,
would my life be important if I suddenly died?
Neighbours saying what a nice women she was
keeping mostly to herself ever since the divorce
and with the compant downsizein and the fall and all
she really shouldn't take it that personal at all
It wasn't her boss who had his eyes on her thighs
and got a rise from her risin off the desk though
and despite rememberin sayin no plenty of times
it was still a damn surprise being let go
and now stuck with a mortgage she cant afford
and too educated to blame the corporate world
She got on welfare and hated it case work a power trippin
and generally being degraded if,
nothing else she was treated sick
and ineffective which is the worst thing
that she'd been left with
Damn, no magic from david blane,
no painter to pain this pain,
No morgan freeman to narrorate the shame
So she took refuge and prayer
kinda like findin god in the phonebook
and it came to her sounding something like a song hook

Heaven, is there a chance that you could come down
and open doors to hurtin people like me
People like me (4x)

I guess I told you about myself to a degree
just by telling you about people like me
but people like me they speak politely
they don't start no beef or peace ...
Everybody gotta eat but everybody doesn't
which is why i want to tell you about my favourite cousin
he and I grew up where the sun shines
and we both partook with the gun crimes
and we both liked american rap rhymes
even though we didn't understand one line
if you remember my line of notes in my last album
I talked about a close call with a grenade
I think we both must have been about 7th grade
but dont panic we both survived without damage
but we developed a bond like we survived the titanic
but when the country became frantic
my mother tried to get us out, planned it
to the last detail except the plan got derailed
cos there wasn't enough money for the plain tickets
how bitter when my mother had to chose who to take with her
so my cousin got left in the war and thats just hard to recall
but now i take refuge and prayer,
kinda like finding god in the phonebook
it came to me sounding kinda like something from a song hook .

Heaven, is there a chance that you could come down
and open doors to hurtin people like me
People like me (4x)

Heaven, is there a chance that you could come down
and open doors to hurtin people like me
People like me (4x)

[No lyrics]

[No lyrics]