Tyler Van Slyck

And any man who knows a thing knowsHe knows not a damn, damn thing at allAnd every time I felt the hurtAnd I felt the givin' gettin' me up off the wall

I'm just gonna take a minute and let it rideI'm just gonna take a minute and let it breezeI'm just gonna take a minute and let it rideI'm just gonna take a minute and let it breeze

How did Mandela get the will to surpass the everydayWhen 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 onMother thinks it'll lift the stress of BabylonMother knows, my mother she suffered blowsI don't know how we survived such violent episodes

I was so worried and hurt to see you bleedBut as soon as you came out the hospital you gave me sweetsYeah, they try to take you from meBut you still only gave 'em some prayers and sympathy

Dear mama, you helped me write thisBy showing me to give is priceless

And any man who knows a thing knowsHe knows not a damn, damn thing at allAnd every time I felt the hurtAnd I felt the givin' gettin' me up off the wall

I'm just gonna take a minute and let it rideI'm just gonna take a minute and let it breezeI'm just gonna take a minute and let it rideI'm just gonna take a minute and let it breeze

All I can say is the worst is over nowWe can serve the hard times, divorce, it's over nowThey try to keep us out but they doors is open nowMy man, Akon is gettin' awards and covers now

This is K'naan and still reppin' this SComin' out of Mogadishu and still draped in the messAnd no matter how we strong, homieIt ain't easy comin' out of where we from, homie

And that's the reason why, I could never play for meTell 'em the truth is what my dead homies told meOoh yeah, I take inspiration from the most heinous of situationsCreating medication out my own tribulations

Dear Africa, you helped me write thisBy showing me to give is priceless

And any man who knows a thing knowsHe knows not a damn, damn thing at allAnd every time I felt the hurtAnd I felt the givin' gettin' me up off the wall

I'm just gonna take a minute and let it rideI'm just gonna take a minute and let it breezeI'm just gonna take a minute and let it rideI'm just gonna take a minute and let it breeze

I got nothin' to complain aboutYou know where I'm fromYou know where I'ma last, soYou know I was flyin' high

I'm just gonna take a minute and let it rideI'm just gonna take a minute and let it breezeI'm just gonna take a minute and let it rideI'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)

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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)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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)

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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.

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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 situationsCreating medication out my own tribulations.

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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.

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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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