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While numerous rappers drop references to the (often imaginary) guns and violence they're surrounded by in their lives, few of them have actually experienced the type of bloodshed that Somalian rapper K'naan was exposed to as a child. Raised in the midst of an ongoing conflict between the people of Somalia and the country's unpopular dictatorship, a conflict that eventually led to a civil war in 1991 and continues to this day, K'naan grew up listening to American hip hop that was mailed to him by his father, a taxicab driver in New York at the time. Without being able to speak the language, K'naan managed to pick up the art of MC'ing, an art he's since made a career out of after leaving Africa. Now based in Canada after a brief stint in Harlem, K'naan has recently begun touring in America with Stephen Marley.
K'naan's lyrics tell the story of a man that has seen more conflict than even the hardest of gangsta rappers, yet he clearly does not approve of the glorification of violence that some rappers have made a living off of. As he says on his song Strugglin', "I'm more gangsta than you are, but I'm not about the raw route." Despite his proclamation that he's a man of peace, its clear from his lyrics that K'naan is a man willing to take action for his country. While he's not the greatest lyricist - though considering the fact that he didn't learn English until he was a teenager, he's a more than adequate MC - the message in his lyrics makes up for any deficiencies he may have. I don't entirely agree with his politics - among other things, he doesn't believe that democracy will ever work in Africa - but his story, and the story of his homeland, is one that everyone should hear.
Here are two of his tracks, the first one is straight hip hop the second track is more like an African Folk take on hip hop:
K'naan - Strugglin'
K'naan - Soobax (Live)
To hear more from K'naan, including a track with Mos Def, stop by his MySpace page. He also has some audio up at his website, thedustyfoot.com.
And for those of you in the New York area, K'naan is opening for Stephen Marley on Friday over at Times Square.
5/7/2007 5:28:29 PM posted by Fresh