Bulletproof Pride
A song by a gifted artist by the name of ,K’naan, I was listening to yesterday that last I heard from someone on Reddit of all things he had retired (of course it’s reddit) which if so is unfortunate to hear because he really was talented musically. Never knew him interpersonal wise or anything but liked his art. Saw him as an opening act for ,Lenny Kravitz, back in the fall of 2009 when I was a kid. He came out of the era of conscientious hip hop of the early to mid 2000’s until about the 2011–2012 era. Some seem to know of him as “The Waving Flag Guy” of 2010’s World Cup theme but he had been in mainstream music since about 2004ish. I have raised the point before the song seems really synonymous with survivors of human rights violations such as sexual violence, domestic, etc when it comes to interpersonal matters particularly.
And yes people like me do have a license and will shoot if given the reason to IE self defense only, physical attack, break in, etc in the actual sense — and in the figurative sense the song speaks of. lol Us survivors are pretty bulletproof honestly not much gets to or at us before we’ve been through all of it and dealt with a great deal others have not nor ever will to put it bluntly. On a similar subject matter one of his band mates and singers by the name of ,Rayzak, put out his own album about 5 years ago now. The single ,The Garden, spoke on the vast contrast of being of Refugee/Immigrant status particularly of color then coming to the US, Canada, and or Europe even. The Refugee and Immigrant experience is often (as the world has witnessed) resented, highly scrutinized, monitored, and really placed into not the best circumstances. Like all people of color are thus the gauge is whether or not a person of color particularly from another land is going to do something illegal because after all Black and Brown people running for their lives from war torn countries just must be doing something illegal. Funny, not so unlike survivors of things like trafficking, sexual violence, etc also often of color but back to the main subject. This is not to speak on in many countries such as certainly many parts of Africa and the Eastern World the people actually from there can be highly educated, have adequate livelihoods, live comfortably - until they migrate to America, Canada, or regions of Europe only to end up in the slums basically, survival of the fittest, not having the same opportunities at their disposal that non refugee people of color have. Thus finding that immigration isn’t always what is made out to be. Then again if there is war involved but not having much choice but fleeing from war is the only option. It conveys that the American, Canadian, or European Dream isn’t always for everyone just a select few. That’s just the reality.
It addresses this in the opening lyrics of,
“Searching high searching low where are all my friends I used to know? We were warriors with a worthy cause now in America we’re breaking the law. We were lawyers in the halls of justice now we’re drivers for your city buses. Look over those fences look over those walls you’ll find my brother’s one and all.”
