K'naan Lyrics

Boxing My Shadow lyrics - K'naan

[Verse 1:]

It's like writing to the dead, dear people, I don't know if you'll hear my last plea,

But somebody needs to be a little concerned about me, it's like I'm standing on the edge of a high tower by kanie,

Ya'll are rootin me to jump, nobody stoppin me,

It's like a drug filled rock n roll documentary,

Just wait till the world knows what's inside of me,

Cause you ll be sorry when I'm gone, and I'll be gone so very soon,

If the pressure on my diaphragm keeps resisting,

If the feds keep my brothers stompin up and down prisons,

If you can't understand my offerings and deep mission,

No label is willing to see my unique vision,

If metro housing keep threatning my poor mother with eviction,

You'll be sorry, (you'll be sorry),

You'll be sorry if I stay so poor I can't afford my own medicine to cure my ulcer,

And get vexed at every rich person that walks passed, that won't blast, just yet I don't even have enough gas to pass the exit, so don't laugh, (don't laugh) I think a smile is a charity, but fuck don't laught my anger, (resulted) from pressure, (exhaustion) my boys be (orphans), my voices, (is all bent), I'm tired (I'm coughing) my daddies, (divorcin), my momma (is hopin), my eyes be (so open), for chances, (I'm walkin), I'm walkin an

Talkin and boxing my shadow.

[Chorus: x3]

I hate you!, I hate this

I hate food, I won't eat,

In case you, Offend me

I wait you, so don't sleep

[Verse 2:]

It's like the possibility of making it in the industry is just around the corner now,

It's just about your ability, but see it's like an enigma,

An insomniac singer, a dream a figment of your imagination it seems,

Itll never be succesful, please protect your neck before they squeeze,

I'm your biggest hater you suck, and even if you don't,

You know your luck you'll probably get runover by a truck before your first label meeting,

Meeting is the issue you prick, yo yo you really make me sick, no no you make me sick,

I can't stand this argument, see this is what happens when my mind starts to dwell

And my strenght starts to fail,

And I get an anxiety (resulted) in panic attacks (exhaustion)

I might as well look for (a fence), my health is (dissolving)

I am tired (I'm coughing) my wife is (divorcing), my girlfriend, (is open)

Cause I gotta so (open) over these niggas, (walkin) I'm walkin and talking,

And boxing my shadows.

[Chorus x3]

[Verse 3:]

And now I sing about the poor, and I sing about the war,

And how can I not represent, when I'm the most critically acclaimed,

Put most emcees to a lyrical shame, get some um fame,

Express my pain and still keep this shit raw, how can one person be so poor,

Look at it, your better off, (without me), I mean even I (doubt me),

My own dreams, (mock me) the snicker and talk, (about me),

They want me to suffer, [? ], take my life around me, (rob me),

They got me boxing my own shadow!

[Chorus x3]

For Mohamoud (Soviet) lyrics - K'naan

You know my closest friend got killed

And the way I used to see him

He was like the dusty foot philosopher

It means the one that's poor

Lives in poverty but lives in a dignified manner

And philosophizes about the universe

They talk about - they talk about

Things that well-read people do and they've never read

They've never been on a plane but they can tell you

What's beyond the clouds

And that's who the dusty foot philosopher is

Until The Lion Learns To Speak lyrics - K'naan

[Verse 1:]

Until the lion learns to speak

The tales of hunting will be weak

My poetry hales with in the streets

My poetry fails to be discrete

It travels across the earth and seas

From Eritrea to the West Indies

It knows no boundaries

No cheese

It studied in parts of Greece

(runtaa hadii kale waxaan lahaa aaheey)

I am sick as far as lyrics

And with this far as gimmicks

I spit par age and limit

The shit they talk in rapid

I am hip the hop as living

I skip the obvious woman

Don't get what I am presenting

No rims my mind spinning

(runtaa hadii kale waxaan lahaa aaheey)

[Verse 2:]

I was born and raised in a place

Where torn of flame would place

Where the foreigners not embrace

Where they warn you jog and pace

Where loners low what they gaze

Where the corners slow at a chase

Where they tarts and turn in the maze

With the pistol upon your face

(runtaa hadii kale waxaan lahaa aaheey)

So come with me to my longs

The death and deal we run

With passion see how I come

No cash I am free in the slums

The past can we overcome

I am asking we be the ones

To actually be the ones

To free our people from gun

(hadii kale waxaan lahaa aaheey)

[Verse 3:]

I was born and raised in a place

Where torn of flame would place

Where the foreigners not embrace

Where they warn you jog and pace

Where loners low what they gaze

Where the corners slow at a chase

Where they tarts and turn in the maze

With the pistol upon your face

(runtaa hadii kale waxaan lahaa aaheey)

So come with me to my longs

The death and deal we run

With passion see how I come

No cash I am free in the slums

The past can we overcome

I am asking we be the ones

To free our people from gun

(hadii kale waxaan lahaa aaheey)

[Verse 4:]

Until the lion learns to speak

The tales of hunting will be weak

My poetry hales with in the streets

My poetry fails to be discrete

It travels across the earth and seas

From Somalia to the West Indies

It knows no boundaries

No cheese

It studied in parts of Greece

(Hadii kale waxaan lahaa aheey)

Say I am sick as far as lyrics

And with this far as gimmicks

I spit par age and limit

The shit they talk in rapid

I am hip the hop as living

I skip the obvious woman

Don't get what I am presenting

No rims my mind spinning

(runtaa hadii kale waxaan lahaa aaheey)

Blues For The Horn lyrics - K'naan

In a conservative form

I wanna ask you a few things before I conform

To the popular belief about where I was born

Are they still illin', still killin' poppin' the corn?

How's the horn, how's the love wavin' the ocean morn'?

How 'bout the young, do they still possess the poetry tongue?

And do they still greet sincere like the depth of the lung"

How's the nomad, did the herd graze well this year?

From the news to what I know, the growin' gap ain't clear!

How's the earth, how 'bout the stars under we conversed?

Do you still await on change like a new moon's birth?

Does it still flood ancient wisdom parallel with blood?

Do you still see the pain of vision holy/only scriptkeeper?

Or did you fight off the plight of the colonized mind?

What of the rainy season, do the kids still bury seeds?

And get taken with uncertainty like me scared of leavin? '

How are the poets, the women and the orphans torn?

I miss 'em all like, old opportunities gone

What of the elders, story tellers in abandoned homes

Miss 'em all like, childhood, reminisce with songs

Disputes, do they still settle 'em by bloodying shoes?

Fist rules, rather finger equipped with sick tools

What of the wind, I recall it was serenity's end

When the breeze would come and the trees would bend

And the people would say "look what it leads with sin"

And the air was violent and our care was silent

And the only law we bore was of pair of tyrants

Man you know, this is why I'm down in deep indigo

And I sleep really poor, on the circumstance floor

Anyway, how's stress, does it still rule your chest?

Do the camps still rape girls with no breasts?

Our moms, are they still screaming "put away the arms"?

And against the dispossession of their family-owned farms

How are the many rivers and the lakes and the seas?

Are they still angry with us for our poisonous deeds?

And the lakes and the seas

For our poisonous deeds

This is my blues for the horn, for the horn

So who's dead and who's alive, did the rates multiply?

Did the poor fight the drought with their minimum supply?

Did the warlords abort the wars and for supporting the peace, they force

To promote disease and easening 'creased divorce?

What of police and courts, are they still even in force?

Leaking pores and cheatedly to the bleeding corpse

What of the kind and good, can they still, laugh intensely

Like the, mind and word or is it, innocense lost as I understood

And what of the playwrights, reflection in the scapes of great sights

Revolution from power's the writings of brave fights

Despite the luxury that you hear(d) we live by

I head with refuges and niggers ain't share right, and

Don't you play soccer by the ocean front?

In America, I shovel the snow while I'm smoking blunts

You mean to tell me that you out there still totin' guns?

Bloating sons of the hardened, hardly copin' moms

Damn you and circumstance too I can't stand you

You make a mockery of our struggle like hollywood plans do

And I swear to god I wish you hell, burn and bake too

And I curse the Europeans who instigated you worse

And I curse the Russians who impregnated the kalashnikov birth

And hurts you never wake and see the destiny

It's like the conflict of self, submerged in satanic hate

Remember eatin' food, walking back in hot sun from school

Bare feet, the hot sand, massaging our feet is

Cause now my mother slips on the ice and her back is weak

And I feel like a failure, a mute in the age of speech

Look at me, yo! look at me, look dead in the eyes

Don't flinch, you are an accomplice to great white lies

I can't even begin to express how breakdown and stressed

I gotta live to tell, give me a bullet-proof vest

This is my blues for the horn, for the horn

Til We Get There lyrics - K'naan (feat. M-1, Stori James)

[K'Naan:]

Here we go

From the poorest and blackest of people

To surviving the streets of Mogadishu

The most dangerous armed and lethal

Yet peaceful, we know evil

I come from the slums that's run down

Spit native intelligent tongue sounds

Would rather get gunned down than dumbed down

So calm down

[M1:]

Much success to you comrade

To who I wronged, if it's never been said before, my bad

I took a page from the book of Martin Luther

And decided that it's better to hug you than to shoot you

I'm sorry homie if it's not what you're used to

But the way that we living' these black lives is beautiful

All the things we've been through

And the tree we done blew

We probably family but we never knew

[Stori James:]

'Til we get there, I'm on your side

And it can take some time, 'til we win this fight

'Til we get there, I'm on your side

[M1:]

That's what's called solidarity

When we struggle it's therapy

After chaos we get clarity

My enemy's enemy is my man, remember?

I ain't trying' to be ending up in this man's dilemma

We only here for a minute, it's what you make it so live it

See I'm a rider and I'm going to be remembered

For those of you not born, to those of you not here

I wish you the best, and that's real

[K'Naan:]

This ain't your average

When they portray us they say "us savage"

Cause we have it, blast it, won't stash it

Cause we fight to the death and manage

To makes songs of struggle and to habits

And dammit, if I don't get even

It's chant down Babylon season

Die for New Orleans to Cleveland

'Til we even, we not believing

[Stori James:]

'Til we get there, I'm on your side

And it can take some time, 'til we win this fight

'Til we get there, I'm on your side

[M1:]

I love when we making plays

I love all our brilliant ways

I love when we get paid, and never move away from the hood

We keep getting while the getting is good

You right at home in our neck of the woods

Cause we people

Momma said treat others like you want them to treat you

We just want to live and be peaceful

Long as it makes sense, I'mma have patience

Especially with my brothers I go back in the day with

We speak the same language, suffer the same dangers

Cause our children are victims of lead paint chips

Out in L.A. they put the Black against the Mexicans

Old rivalries is throwing up their sets again

They put the short against the tall and the old verse the new

Pretty soon it's going to be me against you

All the things we been through

And the tree that we blew

I wish you much success, and stay true

[Stori James:]

'Til we get there, I'm on your side

And it can take some time, 'til we win this fight

'Til we get there, I'm on your side

[x4]

K'naan other songs:

Immigrants (We Get The Job Done) lyrics - K'naan (feat. Residente, Riz MC & Snow Tha Product)

(from "The Hamilton Mixtape")

["Yorktown" sample:]

[Hercules Mulligan:]

And just like that it's over, we tend to our wounded, we count our dead

[John Laurens:]

Black and white soldiers wonder alike if this really means freedom…

[George Washington:]

Not yet

[K'Naan:]

I got 1 job, 2 jobs, 3 when I need them

I got 5 roommates in this one studio but I never really see them

And we all came America trying to get a lap dance from lady freedom

But now lady liberty is acting like Hillary Banks with a pre-nup (Banks with a pre-nup)

Man I was brave sailing on graves

Don't think I didn't notice those tombstones disguised as waves

I'm no dummy, here is something funny you can be an immigrant without risking your lives

Or crossing these borders with thrifty supplies

All you got to do is see the world with new eyes

[Chorus:]

Immigrants

We get the job done

Look how far I come

We get the job done

Look how far I come

Immigrants

We get the job done

[Snow Tha Product:]

It's a hard line

When you're an import

Baby boy it's hard times

When you ain't sent for

Racist feed the belly of the beast

With they pitchforks, rich chores

Done by the people that get ignored

Ya se armó

Ya se despertaron

It's a whole awakening

La alarma ya sonó hace rato

Los que quieren buscan

Pero nos apodan como vagos

We are the same ones

Hustling on every level

Ten los datos

Walk a mile in our shoes

Abrochenze los zapatos

I been scoping ya dudes

Ya'll ain't been working like I do

I'll outwork you, it hurts you

You claim I'm stealing jobs though

Peter Piper claimed he picked them he just underpaid Pablo

But there ain't a paper trail when you living in the shadows

We're Americas ghost writers the credit is only borrowed

It's a matter of time before the checks all come

But…

[Chorus:]

Immigrants

We get the job done

Look how far I come

We get the job done

Look how far I come

Immigrants

We get the job done

Not yet

[Snow Tha Product:]

The credit is only borrowed

It's Americas ghost writers the credit is only borrowed

It's Americas ghost writers

It's Americas ghost writers the credit is only borrowed

It's...

[Part Chorus:]

Immigrants

We get the job done

[Riz MC:]

Ay yo aye immigrants we don't like that

Na they don't play British empire strikes back

They beating us like 808's and high hats

At our own game of invasion, but this ain't Iraq

Who these fugees, what did they do for me

But contribute new dreams

Taxes and tools swagger and food to eat

Cool, they flee war zones, but the problem ain't ours

Even if our bombs landed on them like the Mayflower

Buckingham Palace or Capitol Hill

Blood of my ancestors had that all built

With the ink you print on your dollar bill, oil you spill

Thin red lines on the flag you hoist when you kill

But still we just say "look how far I come"

Hindustan, Pakistan, to London

To a galaxy far from their ignorance

Cause immigrants, we get the job done

[Residente:]

Por tierra o por agua

Identidad falsa

Brincamos muros o flotamos en balsas

La peleamos como Sandino en Nicaragua

Somos como las plantas que crecen sin agua

Sin pasaporte americano

Porque la mitad de gringolandia es terreno mexicano

Hay que ser bien hijo de puta

Nosotros les sembramos el árbol y ellos se comen la fruta

Somos los que cruzaron

Aquí vinimos a buscar el oro que nos robaron

Tenemos mas trucos que la policía secreta

Metimos la casa completa en una maleta

Con un pico, una pala

Y un rastrillo

Te construimos un castillo

Como es que dice el coro cabrón?

[Chorus:]

Immigrants

We get the job done

Look how far I come

We get the job done

Look how far I come

Immigrants

We get the job done

Look how far I come

Immigrants

We get the job done

Not yet

Refugee lyrics - K'naan

If I was gonna be free, I'd have to change my name

Mama don't feel shame, somebody call me refugee

My old name was all wrong, I've waited for so long

To decide my destiny, somebody call me refugee

Somebody call me refugee

I am

And I walked a long way

I am

But I was not at all alone

I am

Whole city gone astray

I am

Every suitcase held a home

Somebody call me refugee

And I'll wear it proudly, refugee

I am

There's a weight inside my shoe

I am

Built a nest for those I grieve

I am

And no matter what I do

I am

They will always walk with me

Somebody call me refugee

And I'll wear it proudly, refugee

I am

Take me

I am

Make me, take me

I am

Make me, take me

I am

Make me, take me

I am

Make me, take me

I am

Somebody call me refugee

And I'll wear it proudly, refugee

I am

And I'll wear it proudly, refugee

Sunny Days lyrics - K'naan

[Verse 1:]

Pour me a cup of tea like dat old song

Dat I had like dat old girl I was wrong

And it's sad if I spit I will cuss you

Is that bad cause I really did trus you

If the thought ever surfaced to leave you

I would die cause the purpose would be you

You've changed for the world look how you are

You front grillin me from a dudes car

How sudden let me see you got a tongue ring

How funny we forget about the little things

Say word now you hang out with big girls

And the guys you date these days differn

I hear the stories and it makes me sicker

My heart aches you fake like a picture

So close to reality but not quite

So dope man her body was so right

She was a highschool shit how would I've known

That her thoughts would conflict like the bible

I don't offend I pretend ike I'm laughin

Like we connect like some shit could really happen

And it did we made a move for this long thing

I met the parents and gave her the round ring

And all of a sudden she got a license to nag me

What the fuck I'm jus tyring to make you happy

[Chorus:]

(Sunny days)

-nope don't have em no more

-watchu on the phone for

-don't cal lme no more

(Sunny days)

Naw so don't agonize me

-I can't stand the stress

-see I'm alright without you

(Sunny days)

-see I'm far from your reach now

-your body doesnt tempt me... maybe jus a lil

(Sunny days)

-yea on the real

-like welfare checks

-you and I are through... through... through

[Verse 2:]

Alright I'm vexed

Aite look I'm tired and stress

Don't commend me like that cool it

I'll be back watch dr phill or somtin

You a lil to excited it's not your birthday

You might as well be a rapper talkin all that shit

What the... you throwin things aite that's it

You goin fix it I'm not gona scream

Not on some bitch shit, nothing but chill

I'm not callin you a bitch jus a figure of speaech

What's all these I hates yous

You sound like kellis, love look

You'r piercing me with this fierce scream

Seriously my ears feel like they bleeding tears

And hears the head scarf you left in my domain

And hears teh photos of our memory lain

[Bridge:]

And hears teh photos of our memory lain and there's

(nothin for you around here)

You crossed over the other side of the tracks so there's

(nothing for you around here)

I used to bet on you

But now the bets off and you know I got roots

There for my ex love

A brother like me deserves the best of

And your not some...

[Chorus]

(Sunny days)

-nope don't have em no more

-watchu on the phone for

-don't cal lme no more

(Sunny days)

Naw so don't agonize me

-I can't stand the stress

-see I'm alright without you

(Sunny days)

-see I'm far from your reach now

-your body doesnt tempt me... maybe jus a lil

(Sunny days)

-yea on the real

-like welfare checks

-you and I are through... through... through

Nothing for you around here

(nothing for you around here)

-nope don't have em no more

-watchu on the phone for

-don't cal lme no more

(Sunny days)

Naw so don't agonize me

-I can't stand the stress

-see I'm alright without you

(nothing for you around here)

-see I'm far from your reach now

-your body doesnt tempt me... maybe jus a lil

(nothing for you around here)

-yea on the real

-like welfare checks

-you and I are through... through... through

(Sunny days)

... (Sunny days)

The Great Depression lyrics - K'naan (feat. Damon Albarn)

It's the great depression,

The greatest of the century,

People hot and thirsty,

But the water barrels empty,

There is no more to love about,

it's masculine and many,

And if you are hungry,

you'll join the fight eventually.

The market used to be the place for lovers and magicians,

Making fire with their hearts and hands to make decisions,

Now you find the baskers full of weiry inhibitions,

Once a year this happening, displayed on exhibition.

Now they need a candidate to take the fault of circumstance,

Trust and riddled then came and chose a man that flood an over [?]

Now his fate is sown in he had to call all relatives,

But he took his last appeal and claimed so he could take the chance,

So the constant love, the spirits told'em that he had to go,

No one dared to disagree cus' God said they were in the know,

So he kissed his boys goodbye, feeling deep as indigo,

Knowing he would have to prove his worth to all his friends and foes.

[Damon Albarn:]

Simple sounds, (songs[?])

Of repair,

That's enough,

For me,

And you,

It would take a million years before he found this little town,

And it was in Dappa found the locals called it middle ground,

So he took the journey back to share the fortune that he held,

Only then to find out the rain had drowned it when he left.

Wavin' Flag (The Celebration Mix) lyrics - K'naan

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh. [2x]

Give me 'Freedom',
Give me fire,
Give me reason,
Take me higher.

See the champions,
Take the field now,
Unify us,
Make us feel proud.

In the streets our heads are liftin'
As we lose our inhibition.
Celebration.
It surrounds us.
Every nation.
All around us.

Staying forever young,
Singin' songs underneath the sun.
Let's rejoice in the beautiful game.
And together at the end of the day
We all say,

When I get older,
I will be stronger.
They'll call me 'Freedom'.
Just like a wavin' flag.

When I get older,
I will be stronger.
They'll call me 'Freedom'.
Just like a wavin' flag.

So, wave your flag.
Now wave your flag.
Now wave your flag.

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh. [2x]

Give you 'Freedom',
Give you fire,
Give you reason,
Take you higher.

See the champions,
Take the field now,
Unify us,
Make us feel proud.

In the streets our heads are liftin'
As we lose our inhibition.
Celebration.
It surrounds us.
Every nation.
All around us.

Staying forever young,
Singin' songs underneath the sun.
Let's rejoice in the beautiful game.
And together at the end of the day,
We all say,

When I get older,
I will be stronger.
They'll call me 'Freedom'.
Just like a wavin' flag.

When I get older,
I will be stronger.
They'll call me 'Freedom'.
Just like a wavin' flag.

So, wave your flag.
Now wave your flag.
Now wave your flag. [repeat]

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh. [2x]

We all say,

When I get older,
I will be stronger.
They'll call me 'Freedom'.
Just like a wavin' flag.

When I get older,
I will be stronger.
They'll call me 'Freedom'.
Just like a wavin' flag.

So, wave your flag.
Now wave your flag.
Now wave your flag. [repeat]

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh.
And everybody will be singin' it.
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh, oh oh oh oh oh.
And we all will be singin' it.

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