K’naan was overjoyed to find a DVD copy of There’s Something About Mary on sale…
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[4.29]
Jer Fairall: All too willing to fill the do-gooder role that the various noble incarnations of “Wavin’ Flag” cast him into, K’naan delivers some well-intentioned tales of an assortment of loners and outcasts with all of the delicacy and insight of a Pepsi commercial. Which, when Nelly sings that big, broad hook of hers, this may as well be.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: It gets better, K’naan and Nelly Furtado thought as they signed their contracts and a studio guy sequenced a “Where Is The Love?” rearrangement. Neither was convinced.
[3]
Jonathan Bradley: What’s the worst thing that could happen to a young girl, K’naan? You know, the equivalent of the tragedy that struck little Adam when he got addicted to the drugs and began playing video games? Oh, it’s never feeling pretty. Poor Mary. I hope she appreciates her anthem. I hope she knows a clunky Canadian rapper is repping her and her struggle.
[2]
Alfred Soto: Nelly’s uninhibited warbling suits an arrangement that strains for conventionality. K’naan Plays Smart instead of being smart.
[6]
Anthony Easton: It is a perfectly constructed, lovely truffle. Worth almost nothing, but you don’t want to work too hard at dismissing what is essentially air and sugar.
[5]
Pete Baran: Both artists have extensive ties with Africa, K’naan being Somalian, and Furtado having performed for Gaddafi, but this has no real sense of Africa about it, beyond a stab at being a bouncy summer jam about isolationist depression. K’naan is one of those rappers who seems more than happy to sing as well, and between him and Furtado he is almost relegated to the status of guest on his own track. But he can still whip up a startling line or two here: “Never felt pretty, never looked like Cameron” recalls the puffy over-fed face of the British Prime Minister until the line split “Diaz” comes up.
[7]
Brad Shoup: The two principals sound so adolescent you’d think this single came out of a time capsule. Fucking Astro comes off older than K’naan does here. At least Furtado’s melody supports a tiny bit of desperation… at least until that oblivious bridge.
[3]