K’naan “Coming To America”
Following the large wave of critical acclaim, international commercial success and top accolade-garnering that met his last album, 2010′s Troubador, and it’s mega-huge (and endlessly remixed) global anthem single “Wavin’ Flag”, Somali-Canadian hip hop musician K’naan makes his return to the new music section with new EP release More Beautiful Than Silence, a five-cut set boasting appearances from Nas and Nelly Furtado, and a stand-out track in “Coming To America”, a catchy, but most importantly compelling, narrative tracking K’s venture across the globe to the States in pursuit of that much-desired “good life”.
Cleverly built around a sample of the song playing in the opening credits of comedy classic Coming To America (Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s rendition of African-pop standard “Mbube”, better known to most as the source of “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”), “America” gives the listener more than just earworm-y hip-pop sonics and amusing film tie-ins, with K’naan offering far-from-upbeat glimpses at his “gory” life growing up in war-torn Africa–where “life expectancy is shorter than a caterpillar” and the sound of gunfire becomes such a constant background presence, it eventually becomes “soothing” to the ears–through the tough Rexdale projects of Toronto, where continuous bouts with the law drive K to flee across the border, securing a marriage of convenience partner to help nab him a green card.
With its lyrical wit, social commentary depth and pop-smart musical creativity, it’s difficult to not come away from “America” scratching your head on why K’naan isn’t a bigger force to be reckoned with in the U.S.
Hear the cut below, then peep the lyric video for the latest More Beautiful Than Silence single, the Coldplay-sampling “Better”.
“Coming To America” (iTunes):
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