Tracklisting:
1. "T.I.A." – 3:39
2. "ABC's" (featuring Chubb Rock) – 3:10
3. "Dreamer" – 4:32
4. "I Come Prepared" (featuring Damian Marley) – 4:09
5. "Bang Bang" (featuring Adam Levine) – 3:07
6. "If Rap Gets Jealous” (featuring Kirk Hammett of Metallica) – 3:40
7. "Wavin' Flag" – 3:41
8. "Somalia" – 3:34
9. "America" (featuring Mos Def and Chali 2na) – 4:46
10. "Fatima" – 5:02
11. "Fire in Freetown" – 4:37
12. "Take a Minute" – 4:07
13. "15 Minutes Away" – 4:56
14. "People Like Me" – 6:17
Roughly four years after
The Dusty Foot Philosopher was released, K'naan returns with his second album.
Rife with guests, and filled with a fusion of hip-hop, traditional african instrumentation, as well as metal and reggae, K'naans second album not only manages to live up to the Dusty Foot, but in my less than humble opinion, exceed it.
Guests in clude
Chubb Rock, Damian Marley, Adam Levine, Kirk Hammett (yeah, I did not see that one coming), Mos Def, and
Chali 2na.
Backed up by that hefty list, K'naan brings a heping of some of the most accessible, yet impassioned, intelligent yet catchy, and gritty yet hopeful music to grace the hip-hop community.
The album has no weak tracks as far as I am concerned, but a few really stand out above the rest.
In particular;
If Rap Gets Jealous, with Kirk on guitars. As a remake of one of the most intense songs off of the Dusty Foot, the remake/re-write is even more, with the introduction of a heavy metal guitarist playing some fierce ****ing licks for the track. In fact, the fusion is the kind of intense ferocity that made Rage Against the Machine so enthralling. Headbang worthy, and powerful.
Fatima, a hauntingly beautiful, and tragic song of celebration. Beautifully sung, and immensely compassionate. The song deserves full head phone attention, so as not to miss any of the tale.
15 Minutes away is one of those tunes, anyone ever needing to wait on a money transfer, or loan can relate to. It is funny, uplifting, kind of gleefully grim and catchy as all hell.
The albums finale, People Like Me, is one of my favourites, with its impassioned compassion and hope, almost hypnotically catchy flow and child-like innocence and fear floating through out.