The song I have chosen to examine this week is “I Can” by Nas. The song appeared on Nas’ sixth studio album, titled God’s Son. The song was released in 2003 when I was 4 so I wouldn’t say it is the most recent but it does have a timeless message.
The song begins with the chorus that is sung by Nas and a group of children. The chorus says “I know I can be what I want to be. If I work hard at it, I’ll be where I want to be.” These words guide the entire song. The song is meant to be inspiration to kids to show them that they can accomplish their dreams as long as they work for them.
Nas begins the first verse with a story of a woman he knew who was an up and coming singer. He talks about how she began to hang with the wrong crowd which led her to drugs like coke and heroin. Nas warns that she risked dying at a young age and now looks old and unattractive due to her substance abuse. The moral of this story is to warn kids about the friends they keep. There is an old spanish saying that translates to: “Show me who your friends are and I’ll show you who you are.” This basically means that your friends are a reflection of the person you are and it is important to keep good ones.
In the next verse Nas talks to the little girls first warning about acting older. He warns that though your body may have developed earlier, you should still give yourself time to develop. He warns that they should not be attracted to older men just because they have wealth due to the many other risks associated with older men including STDs and rape. He says that the best thing that they can do is act their age and wait for their time.
Nas then moves on to talk to the young boys. He says that life is not about smoking weed and buying fancy jewelry. He warns them that if they stay on that path they will end up in their 30s and illiterate. He says that smart boys turn to men and move on to achieve whatever they work for.
In Nas’ last verse he looks at black excellence in history. He says that before blacks came to this country they were kings and queens, not the porch monkeys they were referred to as. Blacks had advanced civilizations that many other civilizations came to for education. He talks about the gold they had before the Europeans came in and took everything. After robbing the resources dry they decided to build ships to take the last of what Africa had, its people. He talks about how black faces were etched in mountains before Africans were taken to America to be viewed as lesser which still occurs. He says that just because you grow up in a bad neighborhood, it does not mean you have to be a gangster. It is most important to believe in yourself and if you do that you will succeed.