Dr. Dre and Kendrick Lamar rap of the struggle in Compton, Nas and Jay-Z speak of their incredible journeys growing up with nothing in the streets of New York, and Rick Ross illustrates his rough life as a modern-day hustling gangster. But not one of these prolific artists can touch rapper K’naan’s intriguing past. The creator of Country, God, or the Girl hails from Mogadishu, Somalia, where he lived through a bloody civil war.
While K’naan holds a wealth of powerful, moving stories to tell through his rap—songs from his sophomore album, Troubadour like “Somalia,” and “Wavin’ Flag” still resonate—Country, God or the Girl disappoints with largely unoriginal themes which only hope to be saved by K’naan’s exciting African instrumentals.
In Country, God or the Girl, this unique instrumentation is applied once again in songs such as “Nothing to Lose,” “Simple,” and “The Wall”. But while the tracks on this album are feel-good and fun to listen to, the themes and hooks in the majority of them are extremely cliché. How many artists have songs about not wanting to be “left (behind) in this world”? How many about living life with “nothing to lose?” How many about their “breaking hearts”? At these points in the album, the beats and overall sound are indubitably groovy, but the lyrics and themes leave the listener unsatisfied, especially considering the incredible stories and ideas K’naan usually supplies to his audience.
There are a few exceptions to this trend. “Bulletproof Pride,” which features Bono, along with “70 Excuses,” and “The Wall,” are brilliantly moving records. With “Coming to America,” K’Naan returns to the style and attitude he displayed in Troubadour, as he draws similarities between the terrors he has seen in both Africa and North America. Moreover, he touches upon the more abstract idea that evil exists everywhere and affects everyone.
Though the tunes in Country, God or the Girl will certainly inspire a lot of head-bobbing and hip shaking, K’naan’s typically powerful messages are regrettably absent from this album. If K’nann wants to pursue unoriginal themes in his writing, maybe he ought to rap about about epitomizing the American Dream.
