WEST AFRICAN EMPIRES song by Mr. Nicky
TEACHERS: Mr. Nicky is booking his 2024-25 virtual assemblies and online history songwriting lessons! These programs (via Zoom/Google Meet/etc.) meet state learning standards in both social studies and ELA, and they’re tons of fun. Please send an e-mail to mrnickychicago@gmail.com for full information. (Students will not receive a response, but thank you for your support!)
- LYRICS BELOW -
Here's the MERCH! : https://www.bonfire.com/store/....mr-nickys-world-hist
A big thanks to Ms. Petty at Carver Middle School (Spartanburg, SC) for inspiring this video with her West African empires parody to the tune of Prince's "Purple Rain"!
West African Empires song
By Mr. Nicky
To the tune of “Walk it Talk it” by Migos ft. Drake
Salt and gold and profit (profit), salt and gold and profit, salt and
Salt and gold and profit (woo!), salt and gold and profit (yeah)
Salt and gold and profit (profit), salt and gold and profit, salt and
Salt and gold and profit (woo!), salt and gold and profit (hey!)
Salt’s in the Sahara and they want it in Wangara (want it)
Gold is in Wangara so you’re crossing the Sahara (woo!)
Once you're in Wangara, gotta trade through silent barter (hey)
Gotta go through Ghana, a lot of taxes go to Ghana (yeah)
You gave Ghana some gold when you came through (woo, hey!)
You took goods from the south, now you gotta pay too (pay too)
Savanna through the Sahel, I rule these trade routes (trade, trade)
Bringing in so much gold, I give it to my chained pooch (woof, woof)
My people gather around me (kneel down x2, beat the drum x2, boop x2)
They use iron tools for farming (iron tools, melt it up, smelt it up, use it)
The men gotta join my army (gotta train x4, yeah)
My royal blood’s from my mommy (mommy x5)
The Senegal and Niger Rivers are my highway lanes (woo!)
We built Jenne-Jenno all on our own, the world's amazed (what?)
And now your caravan is passing Kumbi’s marketplace (hey, hey)
You bought some kola nuts ‘cause where you’re from it barely rains (barely rains)
You bring us
(Refrain)
Hey, Arab traders arrived
Muslim merchants came to Ghana, settled down over time
Showing tolerance for Africans’ religion, inspiring
many to convert to Islam, so when Ghana declined…
Muslim Almoravids captured Kumbi
Then the great king who practiced Islam devoutly
was the famous Mansa Musa, he ruled Mali
Put his kingdom on the map, holding gold up proudly
He made the pilgrimage to Mecca called the Hajj, woo
Word spread about his splendid entourage, woo
Met a Spanish architect in Cairo, took his good designs home
Used some mud and limestone, and some
(Refrain, last line: Mali after Ghana, kingdoms trading trans-Saharan)
(Oh yeah!) Islam brought us new customs (customs)
Following the Five Pillars as Muslims (there are five)
Under central ruling of the sultans (sultans)
and quadi courts’ Shariah law judgments (judgments)
Now succession has changed
through the males it's traced and we communicate in Arabic,
praying five times a day in it, use it to trade and record information (written)
We’ll educate you in Timbuktu (hey/woo)
Study at Sangkore when you come through (brrr)
Choose your own field to pursue (choose)
Put your kids in a Quranic school (school)
Teach them Sunni Ali would subdue (would subdue)
Timbuktu and the Songhai would rule (Songhai rule)
Did more conquering than Mali could do (they could do)
Under Askia Mohammed Toure (hey!)
(Refrain, last line: Songhai, Mali, Ghana, kingdoms trading trans-Saharan)
We have griots to preserve our (culture) history and wisdom
Keeping our ancestors’ records (records) as poet-musicians
Teaching about Sundiata Keita (teaching) without seeing it written
learning through verbal transmission, it's our rich oral tradition
We tell folktales to our children (tales) with good morals, we try to instill them (rabbit tails)
over the centuries they’ve been appealing
to cultures around the world like our drum rhythms (yeah), our dance and traditional instruments (dance)
In this song you can hear the huge influence
of the diaspora Africa’s given us
Even Picasso was trying to exhibit us
(Refrain, last line: Songhai, Mali, Ghana, kingdoms trading trans-Saharan)
