Country, God or the Girl | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 16, 2012 | |||
Recorded | 2010–2012 | |||
Genre | Hip hop, pop rock, afrobeat, folk | |||
Length | 46:58 (Standard edition) 63:09 (Deluxe Edition) | |||
Label | A&M/Octone | |||
Producer | RedOne, Edwin "Lil Eddie" Serrano, Sham & Motesart, Chuck Harmony, Brian "Sweetwesty" West, Jimmy Joker, Jon Levine, Wayne Wilkin, Troy NoKA, Glass, Bob Ezrin , Alex da Kid, will.i.am, Ryan Tedder | |||
K'naan chronology | ||||
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Singles from Country, God or the Girl | ||||
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Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 74/100 [1] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [2] |
PopMatters | 6/10 [3] |
Country, God or the Girl is the fourth studio album by Somali-Canadian hip hop artist K'naan. It was released worldwide on October 16, 2012. [4]
The album was first announced in February 2012, with a release date of May 1, 2012. Coinciding with the announcement, he confirmed that he has collaborated with Nas, U2 lead singer Bono, Keith Richards of The Rolling Stones, American hip-hop and electronic artist and producer will.i.am and Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado. [5]
"Is Anybody Out There?" was released as the lead single from More Beautiful Than Silence . It features vocals from Nelly Furtado. The song was released as a promotional single in the United States in early January, and as a single worldwide on January 24, 2011. [6] The single made its chart debut on the Canadian Hot 100 at #67, before peaking at #14. [7] It notably topped the New Zealand charts and peaked at #92 on the Billboard Hot 100.
"Nothing to Lose", featuring American hip-hop artist Nas, was released as the second single from More Beautiful Than Silence on February 1, 2012.
"Hurt Me Tomorrow" was released as the album's first official single on May 1, 2012, notably the album's original release date. It peaked at #12 on the Canadian Hot 100 [8] and at #37 on the Billboard 40 Pop Songs [9]
Country, God or the Girl received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 5 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". [10] K'naan wrote an op-ed criticizing himself and his attempts to make the album more palatable for American audiences. [11]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "The Seed" |
| Sham & Motesart | 3:35 |
2. | "Gold in Timbuktu" |
| Chuck Harmony | 4:34 |
3. | "Waiting Is a Drug" |
| Harmony | 3:17 |
4. | "Better" | Tedder | 3:15 | |
5. | "Simple" |
| Sweetwesty | 3:26 |
6. | "Is Anybody Out There?" (featuring Nelly Furtado) |
| Sham & Motesart | 3:58 |
7. | "Hurt Me Tomorrow" |
| Tedder | 3:47 |
8. | "The Sound of My Breaking Heart" |
|
| 3:51 |
9. | "Nothing to Lose" (featuring Nas) |
| Harmony | 3:57 |
10. | "70 Excuses" |
| Sweetwesty | 4:11 |
11. | "Bulletproof Pride" (featuring Bono) |
|
| 4:42 |
12. | "The Wall" |
|
| 4:27 |
Total length: | 46:58 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
13. | "Sleep When We Die" (featuring Keith Richards) |
| Alex da Kid | 4:00 |
14. | "More Beautiful Than Silence" |
| Harmony | 3:53 |
15. | "Alone" (featuring will.i.am) |
|
| 3:49 |
16. | "On the Other Side" (featuring Mark Foster) |
| Harmony | 4:29 |
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Furtado has sold over 40 million records worldwide making her one of the most successful Canadian artists. She is widely known for her musical versatility and genre experimentation.
Country Grammar is the debut studio album by American rapper and singer Nelly. It was released on June 27, 2000, by Universal Records. The production on the album was handled by Jason "Jay E" Epperson, with additional production by C-Love, Kevin Law, City Spud, Steve "Blast" Wills and Basement Beats. Nelly contributed to all lyrics on the album, with Epperson and City Spud also contributing. The album introduced a unique St. Louis sound, and introduces Nelly's vocal style of pop-rap singalongs and Midwestern, Missouri twang. It was supported by four successful singles: "Country Grammar ", "E.I.", "Ride wit Me" and "Batter Up". Its lead single, "Country Grammar ", peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and UK Singles Chart. Its second single "E.I." peaked at number 16 on the Hot 100, number 12 on the UK Singles Chart and number 11 on the ARIA Singles Chart. "Ride wit Me" peaked within the top five on the Hot 100, ARIA Singles Chart, Irish Singles Chart and UK Singles Chart. The album's fourth and final single, "Batter Up" featuring St. Lunatics members Murphy Lee and Ali, achieved moderate chart success.
Keinan Abdi Warsame, better known by his stage name K'naan, is a Somali-Canadian musician. He rose to prominence with the success of his single "Wavin' Flag", which was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Besides hip hop, K'naan's sound is influenced by elements of Somali music and world music. He is also involved in various philanthropic initiatives.
Loose is the third studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado, released on 7 June 2006, by Geffen and Mosley Music Group. Following the release of Furtado's second album, Folklore (2003), through DreamWorks Records, it was announced that Universal Music Group would acquire DreamWorks Records, the latter was folded into the Interscope Geffen A&M umbrella label where Furtado would release any new music. Recording sessions for Loose took place from 2005 to 2006. Timbaland and his protégé Danja produced the bulk of the album, primarily a pop album which incorporates influences of dance, R&B, hip hop, latin pop, synth-pop, reggaeton, new wave, funk, and Middle Eastern music. Lyrically, it explores the theme of female sexuality and has been described as introspective.
The discography of Nas, an American rapper, consists of fifteen studio albums, one collaborative album, one group album, five compilations, four mixtapes, one extended play, and seventy-nine singles. The son of jazz musician Olu Dara, Nas dropped out of school during ninth grade and began his music career in 1991 with a guest performance on the song "Live at the Barbeque" by Main Source. In 1992, Nas featured on the MC Serch posse cut, “Back to the Grill”, alongside Chubb Rock and Red Hot Lover Tone, and later contributed the track, "Halftime" to the soundtrack to the film, Zebrahead. Soon Nas ignited enough hype and signed to Columbia Records, where he released his debut album Illmatic in 1994. Including Nas's solo debut track "Halftime", Illmatic was certified double platinum in the US, spawned several singles including "It Ain't Hard to Tell" and "The World Is Yours", and earned much critical acclaim. With a more mainstream-oriented sound, Nas's second album It Was Written was released in 1996 and included the Lauryn Hill collaboration "If I Ruled the World " and "Street Dreams", the latter of which reached number 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 1 on the Hot Rap Singles chart. It Was Written was certified triple platinum. In 1999, Nas released two albums: I Am... and Nastradamus. While I Am reached double platinum status like its preceding album It Was Written and spawned two singles that reached the top ten spots of the Hot Rap Singles chart, "Hate Me Now" and "Nas Is Like", Nastradamus signaled a decrease in quality and critical reception and sold only half as many units. Still, Nastradamus featured two charting singles, "You Owe Me", "Nastradamus" and was certified platinum.
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"Te Busqué" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado from her third studio album, Loose (2006), featuring Juanes. The song was written by Furtado, Juanes, and Lester Mendez, who also produced the song. The song was released in June 2007 as the album's sixth single.
"All Good Things (Come to an End)" is a song by Canadian singer Nelly Furtado from her third studio album, Loose (2006). It was written by Furtado, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, Chris Martin, and Nate "Danja" Hills. The song was released as the album's third European single in November 2006. It was released as the fourth single in the United States and Australia. The single features Chris Martin, frontman of the band Coldplay, harmonizing throughout the song. The original version of the song included Martin saying a few words at the beginning and singing the chorus behind Furtado.
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Canadian singer Nelly Furtado has released six studio albums, 28 singles, one video album, one live album, two compilation albums, three extended plays, and 23 music videos. She released her debut album Whoa, Nelly! in 2000 and it became a commercial success selling 6 million copies worldwide. It has been certified multi Platinum in countries such as Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand. The album spawned four singles including the successful top 10 hits "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light". In 2003 she released her second album Folklore, while the album did not match the success of her previous album in such markets as the US and Australia, it did however become a success in several European countries. Folklore has sold 2 million copies worldwide. The album produced two European top 10 hits: "Powerless " and "Força", while "Try" peaked inside the top 10 in Canada.
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The discography of K'naan, a Somali Canadian rapper and singer, consists of four studio albums, one live album, one extended play and 21 singles.
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