For the first time in say, oh, eight years, I feel proud to be American. And I credit it all to U.K. singer Estelle and this song. Okay, maybe she doesn’t deserve all the credit. It did take until after our Presidential election for this bouncy and oh so hummable song to click in my mind. I heard it all throughout the summer but thought it was the last single from West’s Graduation, an album that didn’t really hold up for me after repeated listens. Then the first Saturday after the election I heard “American Boy” cranked in the NHL store in midtown Manhattan. Standing there next to a batch of Sidney Crosby jerseys the lines “I just met this 5 foot 7 guy who's just my type/Like the way he speak here, his confidence is peaking” and “Take me to your hood/I neva been to Brooklyn and I'd like to see what's good” hooked me. She’s a very attractive singer (who has an English accent, which always slays me) proclaiming she likes guys from the good ol’ U S of A. How could you not like this song? I finally broke down and downloaded it Saturday afternoon. If we’re lucky, perhaps Estelle will lead a cultural revolution around the globe that makes us American boys seem just slightly less evil than we look right now to the rest of the planet.
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