Tyler Van Slyck
And any man who knows a thing knows
He knows not a damn, damn thing at all
And every time 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 Gandhi 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
And any man who knows a thing knows
He knows not a damn, damn thing at all
And every time 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
All I can say is the worst is over now
We can serve the hard times, divorce, it's over now
They try to keep us out but they doors is open now
My man, Akon is gettin' awards and covers now
This is K'naan and still reppin' this 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
Ooh yeah, I take inspiration from the most heinous of
situations
Creating medication out my own tribulations
Dear Africa, you helped me write this
By showing me to give is priceless
And any man who knows a thing knows
He knows not a damn, damn thing at all
And every time 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
I got nothin' to complain about
You know where I'm from
You know where I'ma last, so
You know I was flyin' high
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
K’naan Warsame was born in Moagdishu, Somalia,
February, 1, 1977. He lived in Somalia until the age of
thirteen through all of the Somali civil war. When he was
thirteen he left his home country to Harlem with his mother
and three siblings for a better life.
After a short lived experience in Harlem, New York. He
and his family moved to Toronto, Ontario, in Canada, to a
large Somali community. While living in Canada K’naan
taught himself to better speak English by listening to several
rap and hip-hip albums.
When K’naan was in tenth grade he dropped out of high
school to pursue his dream of rapping. In 1999 K’naan spoke
at the United Nations High Commissions for Refugees on
the Somali civil war. This is what started off his career he
worked with various artists on several tracks and received
great acclaim for them. (The Guardian)
Back
Then a producer named Jarvis Church saw what he
had musically accomplished during the years after 1999
and he signed K’naan in 2002. With Church K’naan
released his first album in 2005 called, “The Dusty Foot
Philosopher”. This album won a Juno award and received
multiple nominations for other categories in musical
excellence. This album contains several hits in it such as;
“Soobax” and “If Rap gets Jealous”. Also this album was
on The Guardians list of 1000 albums to listen to before
you die.
After receiving much acclaim and being very
successful with his first album he immediately started
touring around the world and working on his second
album. He toured in the Live 8 and Breedlove Odyssey
tours with many other artists such as; Nelly Furtado, Mos
Def, and Damian Marley.
K’naan’s second album, “Troubadour” was released in 2009 with many hits on it.
The album helped K’naan win songwriter and artist of the year. The album had hits such as;
“ABC’s”, “Waving Flag”, and “Take a Minute” just to name a few.
K’naans songs have been featured in a couple of movies and various
videogames such as; Fifa 2006, Madden 2009, and Fifa World Cup 2010. One of the
biggest achievements that his songs have been linked with mass media is the use of his
song, “Waving Flag” as the Coca-Cola World Cup theme song. (The dusty foot)
Nelson Mandela was put into jail in
South Africa for having his own separate
beliefs that differed from the South African
governmental regime. When Mandela was
let out of jail he had been deprived of
music and all other activities which he was
unable to enjoy in jail, but when he got out
of jail he listened to music, and told his
inspirational story and won a Nobel Piece
Prize.
K’naan cites Mandela in his song
because Mandela's story is inspirational, as
is K’naans. And so he references him in his
song to talk about two current,
inspirational people who have triumphed
even under their hardships that they faced
in Africa. (Anc.org)
Back
Mohandas Gandhi was a spiritual and political
leader in India’s independence movement. He resisted
tyranny through mass civil disobedience, such as
starving yourself. He was such an inspirational leader
in India that his day of birth, October 2nd, is now a
holiday in India and is also then international day of
non violence.
(Ascension
gateway)
Back
This line in, Take a Minute, refers to the
obstacles that the city off Babylon constantly
had to overcome. The city was a holy city in
Mesopotamia, current day Iraq, and is now
reduced to pure rubble. However, throughout
time Babylon was a magnificent city but was
always being taken over. This is referenced in
K’naan’s song because his city of Mogadishu
has to come over the turmoil of a Somali civil
war.
Back
This line makes reference
to how in K’naan lived in
Somalia and faced much
hardship and many diverse
experiences which most
people wouldn’t be able to get
through but he did. But now a
days when the going gets
tough the tough gets going. So
people can just escape hard
situations, but he triumphed
over them in Africa and now
is an inspiration to everyone
in Mogadishu like Gandhi
was to India and Mandela to
South Africa.
Back
This line in the song is about the Somali civil war in particularly.
Even though the whole song references it, this line shows that even
though K’naan got out of trouble and made something of himself
people are still in Somalia. These people still have to face the civil war
and so that’s why he continues on in the song to talk about how its
easy to help, because he is in a good position to help other people who
need it. (Global security)
The Somali civil war started in 1991 and continues on until today.
Roughly 300,000 people have died from the war and the war continues
on today with some intervention from the U.N and other
organizations.
Back
Akon is an a key figure in the life of K’naan because
like K’naan Akon is from Africa, however he is from
Senegalese. Akon came to America at the age of seven
but only officially moved here when he was 15. He is
an inspiration to K’naan because Akon went through
many troubled times in his life and he showed K’naan
that a man could become a successful musician even
though he came from a place of conflict. This was
important to the instrumental push for K’naan’s music
because without Akon K’naan wouldn’t have had a
similar role model. (Akon fan)
“Im just gonna take a minute” fits the
requirements of what an anaphora would be
because in the chorus those six words are
repeated four times each in subsequent lines.
And an anaphora is when a group of words or
phrases are repeated multiple times. (Spsd)
Back
The literary device
connotation means that there is a
word being used, such as gold
which is a ductile, malleable,
yellow element, however when
used in music is can relate to
money or greed. In “Take a
Minute” the word priceless is
used to mean easy, however the
word normal definition relates
to something being cheap or
inexpensive.
Back
A couplet is a specific rhyme scheme in a song or
poem. The scheme is just a simple A-A, meaning that
the last word in each line rhymes with the line before
it, but a couplet is only two lines. An example of that
in, “Take a Minute,” is; (Tnellen)
Ooh yeah, I take inspiration from the most heinous of
situations
Creating medication out my own tribulations.
Back
Setting is the time, place, or physical
description in a work or literature. In this song
the setting of reference is in Africa, and
specifically Mogadishu.
Back
In literature theme is a common interest or
idea incorporated into a literary work. In this
song, the theme is overcoming your obstacles
so that you can help more people who cant
overcome theirs. Two key examples of this in
the song is when K’naan talks about Mandela
and Gandhi.
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<http://www.ascensiongateway.com/quotes/gandhi/biography.htm>.
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<http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://blockbloggers.files.wordpress.c
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<http://www.fifa.com/index.html>.
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<http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/nov/20/1000tohearbeforeyoudie3>.
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<http://www.live8live.com/theconcerts/>.
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