WAVIN FLAG

MEANING

• The title comes from his grandfathers poems
• Reflects a time of hardship in Mogadishu
• First line is his grandfathers exact words

"Born to the throne
Stronger than Rome
But violent prone
Poor people zone
But it's my home
All I have known
Where I got grown
Streets we would roam"

WHAT IS IT ABOUT?

• Knaan wrote this song as a reflection of the hardships he faced in his hometown
• The song is about freedom
• Made to help escape the civil war he was amidst

2 LINES

1. "When I get older, I will be stronger they'll call me freedom just like a waving flag"

2. "But out of the darkness I came the farthest among the hardest survival

Poetic devices

• Simile: "But we just move forward like Buffalo soldiers."
• Hyperbole: "Stronger than Rome."
• Simile: They'll call me freedom just like a waving flag."
• Repetition: "And then it goes it goes back, and then it goes back, and then it goes back."
• Symbolism: "And then it goes back, and then it goes..."
• Assonance: "Learn from these streets, it can be bleak accept no defeat, surrender retreat".

Interesting Facts

• Knaan was born in Somalia in 1978
• He had an aunt who was a famous singer
• His song was chosen for the 2010 World Cup theme song
• Knaan's name means traveler in the Somali language

THANK YOU