k'naan (born: kanaan warsame) grew during the somali civil war in the district of wardhiigleey, mogadishu (translated as "the lake of blood") in what he calls "the meanest streets in the universe".  early in the war, k'naan's father left mogadishu for new york city where he drove a cab to earn money to send back to the family still in somalia.  finally in 1991, as the somali government collapsed, k'naan and his mother were able to secure a u.s. exit visa on the last day that the american embassy remained opened.  they were able to travel to harlem on the last commercial flight out of the country.

eventually the family settled in toronto.  in canada, k'naan began rapping and became friends with sol guy, a canadian promoter.  in 1999, sol was able to secure a speaking engagement for k'naan  at the u.n. high commission for refugees where he performed a spoken word piece criticizing the u.n for their failed somali aid missions.  he received a considerable amount of attention for his courage in performing the piece, ultimately resulting in a spot at the montréal jazz festival and additional u.n. gigs. 

k'naan says he makes "urgent music with a message" and calls for an end to somalian violence and bloodshed.  he specifically tries to avoid gangster rap clichés saying: "all somalis know that gangster-ism isn't to brag about.  the kids that i was growing up with (in canada) would wear baggy track suit pants, and a little jacket and they'd walk into school, and all the cool kids would be like, 'ah, man, look at these somalis. yo, you're a punk!' and the other (somali) kid won't say nothing, but that kid, probably, has killed fifteen people."

k'naan denies that he is overtly political, rather, he says he shows "the state of the world; if you call it like it is, you're being political.  the people of somalia just do not have a voice, they are to me the most forgotten people in the world".

k'naan released his second l.p. troubadour february 24, 2009.  it's really worth hearing.

click here to listen to an interview airing originally on january 06, 2009 on npr's morning edition.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

k'naan has a few dates scheduled.  check here to see if he is coming to your town.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.