9 in '09: K’NAAN
Source: By Tabassum Siddiqui, AOL.ca
Posted: 12/29/08 2:51PM
Filed Under: Music
If you haven’t already heard “ABCs,” the first single from Toronto rapper K’naan’s forthcoming sophomore album, Troubadour, you certainly will in coming weeks. It’s an earworm of a tune, featuring the Somali-Canadian MC spitting rapid-fire over a brass-inflected beat that hopscotches all over the place. But, as with much of his music, its upbeat tone belies a darker message: “All we got is life on the streets,” K’naan proclaims in the chorus.
But K’naan isn’t re-treading the same tedious tropes as many of his hip-hop peers—the man has a life story that would make many so-called gangstas shake in their shoes. Growing up amidst the brutal civil war in Mogadishu, he saw friends and family killed in the violence before escaping with family to North America. Writing out his demons and channeling them into music helped veer him away from a troubled youth, and his 2005 debut, The Dusty Foot Philosopher, drew on his people’s heritage of storytelling to evoke both the ghosts of his past and his hopes for the future.
While Philosopher heralded him as an innovative new voice in hip-hop, garnering him a BBC Radio award and fans around the globe, K’naan seems poised for a mainstream breakthrough with Troubadour, which is getting a big push Stateside thanks to his U.S. label, A&M. The album, tentatively scheduled for a February release, was recorded in Jamaica at Bob Marley’s original home studio and the legendary Tuff Gong studios, and features guest spots from Damian Marley, Mos Def, Chubb Rock, and Maroon 5's Adam Levine. K’naan’s African-inspired rhythms and impassioned delivery are best experienced live, however, so watch out for a cross-Canada tour next summer.
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