Friday, February 27, 2009

K'Naan


K'Naan is a local boy...well, as local as about 80% of the other Torontonians, which means he lives here, but comes from somewhere else. In his case, Somalia. I heard him interviewed on the radio the other day and thought he was surprisingly intelligent for a rapper (I know...my bias). He talked about the issue of pirates in the waters off Somalia, how it feels to carry the burden of stardom for the entire Somalia community in Canada, and how one makes adjustments to this country when coming from somewhere so far away.

I was impressed enough to buy his new album, Troubadour. It's really amazing -- hip-hop fused with Afro-pop and world beat. There's some really great moments when he raps in Swahili, which shows the reach of hip-hop culture around the world.

K'Naan is one bright young man. I would love it if his music could reach out and embrace you too.

Here's a good article about one of his recent shows.

1 comment:

  1. Anonymous3:17 PM

    Heard story on him on Studio 360 http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2009/02/27

    this afternoon-- wow. I really need to start listening to music again.

    ReplyDelete