From Refugee to Rap Star: K’naan Dives into the Mainstream
“Nothing is perfect man, that's what the world is,
All I know is,
I'm enjoying today.
You know, 'cause it isn't everybody that you get to give.”
Before he felt the warmth of spotlights on his face, he felt the heat of gunfire and grenades. And before he became an internationally recognized celebrity, he narrowly escaped one of the world’s most war-torn countries. Somalia born K’naan returns once again, but this time he’s flooding the airwaves and truly “blowing up the spot.”
K’naan’s first album entitled “The Dusty Foot Philosopher,” slid under the pop culture radar. He opened shows for Damian Marley’s Welcome To Jamrock tour, and kept a small yet diehard following over the past three years. This time around K’naan is being embraced as a hip-hop celebrity and welcomed with open ears by everyone from National Public Radio to MTV. His second album “Troubadour,” released in early 2009, resonates much catchier rhythms and lyrics than his previous tracks and sounds to be catering to a much different crowd. This crowd is the North American popular culture and so far he is having ample success.
Staying true to his poetic roots, K’naan raps as if he’s teaching a course on hip-hop 101. He aims to educate and inform with his clear and clever rhymes. He infuses the mix musically with hints of reggae and authentic African drumbeats.
Recently he has performed and been interviewed on the Jimmy Kimmel show, MTV, NPR, and numerous smaller radio and television networks all over the country.
Some of his new tracks mirror his first album in essence and originality while others ooze with a feeling of exceedingly aged cheese and make the listener long for authentic songs past filled with hand drums and raw riddims. This evidence of smoothing over the raw instrumentals with synthesized sound goo and frequent choral “la la la’s” shows K’naan’s evident migration from raw rootsy goodness to lame ass radio routine.
Although he remains true to the art of rhyme, he falters in successfully trodding through the muck which some of us refer to as “mainstream music,” or “radio rap.” Fame and acclaim will continue to lift this newfound superstar up hopefully without tainting his highly original style any further.
His new album features collaborations with some Hip Hop greats such as Chubb Rock, Mos Def and Chali 2na and also singer Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley, the son of reggae legend Bob Marley. Other tracks feature artists such as Adam Levine, the front man for Maroon 5 and Metallica’s lead guitarist and songwriter, Kirk Hammett.
For more information or to hear his interviews and music visit
http://www.npr.org keyword: k’naan, http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/knaan/artist.jhtml, http://www.myspace.com/knaanmusic, or
http://www.knaanmusic.com/
