nas - i know i can

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im ok with all you dudes who hate this wonderful song, yall just havent heard peoples singin along with it every day, it does baffle me that its the same heads who loved the tired 'made you look', thats like preferring phish to abba!!! the lyrics are mad inspirational, kids in the video cute as hell, nas does falsetto, it must be the love

― trife (simon_tr), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 05:03 (twenty-two years ago)

is this the one where the chorus goes "i know i can/be what i wanna be"?

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 05:53 (twenty-two years ago)

no jess thats the other nas song with 'i know i can' in the chorus

― trife (simon_tr), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:01 (twenty-two years ago)

lionel richie's "all night long" : 84 summer olympics :: nas' "i can" : 04 special olympics

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:04 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm torn between whether i love or hate this song, which is usually a good place for a pop song to be

― jess (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:05 (twenty-two years ago)

does it even have a bassline? I've never heard it properly.

― Josh (Josh), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:10 (twenty-two years ago)

ooh check the indie rock fans hating unfunky hiphop!! burn!!

― trife (simon_tr), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:15 (twenty-two years ago)

burn

i feel a bloodhound gang song coming up.

― nathalie (nathalie), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:20 (twenty-two years ago)

a bassline just seems like the natural choice to offset the singsonginess of the rest of the parts.

― Josh (Josh), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:21 (twenty-two years ago)

i get chills every time when the piano is tuning up on the intro and then the beat comes in

― trife (simon_tr), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Yeah, if your idea of ABBA is "I Have a Dream"!!

― Clarke B., Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:47 (twenty-two years ago)

man, i really hope they remake "free to be you and me" soon and let nas in on it.

― your null fame (yournullfame), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 06:57 (twenty-two years ago)

i forgot we talked about this already

― trife (simon_tr), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 07:28 (twenty-two years ago)

"I Have A Dream" is great!

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 07:29 (twenty-two years ago)

I have heard people singing along to it every day. And then some homeless guy told the woman working in the gas station that Nas was 50 cent's cousin, and she nodded sagely like "yes, that's true, I've heard that too."

― Dan I. (Dan I.), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 07:35 (twenty-two years ago)

"Go to school or you will die. PS: Africa roxx u r all gay"

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 09:30 (twenty-two years ago)

When I first heard the song and saw the video on MTV, I was like "What the fuck is this?", but eventually it melted my heart. For all you cynics: there's nothing wrong with inspirational music, as long as it isn't "Heal the World".

I'm not sure, however, how much my reaction had to do with the song itself and how much with the state of hip hop today.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

i still say the best thing about the song is that one of the kids in the video is wearing a Lil Bow Wow shirt.

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 12:34 (twenty-two years ago)

It's okay, I didn't know there were lots of people hating it.

― Nicole (Nicole), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 12:36 (twenty-two years ago)

I think this song is catchy but Nas is seriously slacking.

nothing will ever come close to Illmatic.

― sarah mccormick (unsarah), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 12:50 (twenty-two years ago)

you can host the TV like Oprah Winfrey!!!!!

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 13:40 (twenty-two years ago)

http://www.loc.gov/loc/lcib/9812/images/tv-capnog.gif

Read More, Learn More, Change The Globe!

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 13:41 (twenty-two years ago)

"you can host the TV like Oprah Winfrey!!!!!"

Still doesn't match Nas' earlier masterpiece "You could be abortin' the next Michael Jordan"

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 13:53 (twenty-two years ago)

I love this song. "Fuer Elise" roxx U R all etc.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 13:56 (twenty-two years ago)

i love it too, but really, it's funnier than "Ignition"

― Al (sitcom), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 14:01 (twenty-two years ago)

i liked it the first time i've heard it

(and all the other times too)

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 14:22 (twenty-two years ago)

although the 'if you work hardatit' line is kinda lame in terms of rhythmic/syllable stress, seems like there should be a better way to deliver it

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 14:25 (twenty-two years ago)

I wanted to like this song when I saw the vid but its just too bland.

― bnw (bnw), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

I love it. The end is self-aggrandizing, but nothing compared to children announcing they are DMX (I just saw Malcolm X recently and was like "WOW! I had no idea this is where it's from! That's cojones!!!"

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 16:23 (twenty-two years ago)

Awful. Nas should be ashamed of himself.

― Jeff Sumner (Jeff Sumner), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 23:08 (twenty-two years ago)

I avoid this tune with gusto

― Millar (Millar), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 23:22 (twenty-two years ago)

Potential wrongness-I like a song by Michael Jackson which features a child singing ('HIStory') but am torn when Nas does the same thing.

― Barima (Barima), Tuesday, 17 June 2003 23:39 (twenty-two years ago)

two months pass...

I just saw the video on MTV again, and was struck by these particular lyrics:

"Be, B-Boys and girls, listen again
This is for grown looking girls who's only ten
The ones who watch videos and do what they see
As cute as can be, up in the club with fake ID"

"Whatever you decide, be careful, some men be
Rapists, so act your age, don't pretend to be
Older than you are, give yourself time to grow
You thinking he can give you wealth, but so
Young boys, you can use a lot of help, you know"

"I Know I Can" may or may not be schmaltzy and preachy, but for someone to say those lines in an MTV hip hop video in 2003 just about justifies the existence of the whole song.

― Tuomas (Tuomas), Friday, 22 August 2003 08:32 (twenty-two years ago)

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