Born in 1978 (one year after the civil war began in Somalia), K’Naan (meaning “traveler”) Warsame grew up in Somalia’s capital of Mogadishu, specifically the violent and war-torn district of Wardhiigleey (aka the “River of Blood”). As a seven year old, he was introduced to American hip hop as his father sent him hip hop albums from the United States (the first English he ever learned were the rhymes of the likes of Nas and Rakim). As an eleven year old, he watched his three best friends murdered by armed gunmen. Two years later, he was awarded a visa (after years of petitioning by his mother) and a chance to avoid a fate similar to his friends’ as he caught the last commercial flight out of the country. Arriving in Harlem, NY, he barely had a chance to introduce himself to the culture before his family made the move to Rexdale, Ontario so as to join a large community of Somalis. It was here that he perfected his English and passionately began his craft of emceeing, where he soon became one of Somalia’s first emcees to achieve international acclaim.

Fast forward to 2005 and K’Naan, now residing in Toronto, drops his first LP, The Dusty Foot Philosopher as a Canada only release. Produced by Canada’s Jarvis Church and his Track and Field production unit, it is an album full of “urgent music with a message” as K’Naan himself describes it. Track such as “Soobox,” which also served as his first video, are exemplary of this sound. Rhyming the verses in English and hooks in Somali, K’Naan proceeds to democratically call out the gunmen, warlords, and everyone else playing any role in furthering the war in Somalia. By the way, “Soobox” is Somali for “come out” or “come out with it” and the chorus of the track translates to:

You’ve exasperated the people (so come out with it)

The troubles have increased (so come out with it)

You’ve spilled the blood (so come out with it)

You’ve burned the root of the earth (so come out with it)

But, trust me, it’s a lot more powerful listening to him say it as opposed to reading me type it. Listen to or download the “Soobox” MP3 here:

mp3: “Soobax”

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Alright, what else can I tell you in a few paragraphs that will help give you an appreciation, or at least an introduction, to this immensely talented poet/emcee. He’s worked numerous events for the United Nations, although he maintains he doesn’t want to be pigeonholed as a “political emcee”. As he explains, he talks about reality and if reality happens to be political, then so be it. He’s worked with artists ranging from Pharoahe Monche to Dead Prez to Damian Marley. Here’s a video clip of him performing “My God” live with Mos Def at BB Kings in New York City:

One of my favorite aspects of K’Naan’s flow is his ability to sound both impossibly laid back, yet energetic and passionate at the same time. And I hate to say “so and so sounds like such and such.” However, it won’t do you much good to say the obvious “K’Naan sounds like himself” if you’re not familiar with K’Naan himself. So when I say K’Naan’s delivery and enunciation is reminiscent of Eminem’s (or we can flip it and do the inverse, Eminem’s flow and verbal dynamics resemble K’Naan’s), it is important to keep in mind that K’Naan truly does not sound like anyone but himself. Regardless, check this link for his video for “Struggling” and see if you agree or disagree with me:

It is also interesting to note that K’Naan points to Nas and his gifts for description and vivid storytelling as direct influences. Only difference is while Nas described low income housing projects in Queens, K’Naan describes the typical African ghetto.

One of K’Naan’s most hyped projects rose out of a firsthand confrontation with racism while on tour in Sweden. Apparently, K’Naan was refused entrance backstage (despite his performance pass). In the chaos that ensued, K’Naan and his staff were physically assaulted and Sol Guy (friend and manager) was wrongly thrown in jail for the night. He decided to deal with the situation by borrowing the instrumental from Lupe Fiasco’s “Kick Push” to record his own version, titled “Kicked Pushed,” bringing light to the events and racism that continues to penetrate our society on so many (blatant and subtle) levels. Check the video:

K’Naan does a remarkable job of avoiding gangsta clichés. No song of his captures this more eloquently than his astutely critical “Hardcore,” in which he analyzes what it actually means to be “hardcore” in hip hop and further picks apart the vague, ambiguous concept of “keeping it real” in terms of the context of authenticity within a genre of music. I’m not sure I understand all of the words I just used in that sentence. K’Naan sums it up much more concisely and poignantly in his jaw dropping, smirk creating, eye opening, laughter generating, ‘oh snap’ of the year line

I’m a spit these verses cause I feel annoyed,

And I’m not gonna quit til I fill the void,

If I rhyme about home and got descriptive,

I’d make 50 Cent look like Limp Biskit

Oh snap. K’Naan quickly follows it up by closing his final verse with a vivid look into the tragic state of his home country:

We begin our day by the way of the gun,

Rocket propelled grenades blow you away if you front,

We got no police ambulances or fire fighters,

We start riots by burning car tires,

They looting,

And everybody starting shooting…

To view a clip of him performing this song live, again at BB Kings in NYC, click the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ie096CuEGsc

If you’re digging K’Naan’s first album and looking for more joints, check for his Dusty Foot on the Road, a collection put together while he toured the globe.

Extra bonus K’naan goodie. Watch this live performance of his uplifting track “Smile”:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrxS-OAWeP4