K'NAAN
From Philospher To Troubadour, K'Naan Grows Into A Man Of Many Words
Thurs September 4, 2008

words_ryan warnberg

K’Naan grew up in Somalia, in a neighborhood named “The River of Blood.” Violence pervaded his life, but he found solace in hiphop, eventually learning to speak English by aping the Paid In Full raps of Rakim. At age 13, he was forced to flee his home on the last commercial flight to ever leave the country. “Somalia Airlines ends with me,” he says, with finality in his voice. He can never go back. Imagine Jay-Z without Marcy, Dre without Compton, Em without Detroit. But instead of lamenting the loss, K’Naan has embraced his status as a nomad. The road truly is his home, and you can hear it all over his new album, Troubadour.

Over a quiet breakfast in NYC, K’Naan tells of his travels since his debut album, The Dusty Foot Philosopher, which have taken him everywhere—Toronto, Minneapolis, New York, Venezuela, South Africa—eventually landing him in fertile Kingston, Jamaica, to record his new album at Tuff Gong, Bob Marley’s home and studio. “Stephen [Marley] in fact gave me the keys personally and said, ‘Here, there are very few people in the world that I would do this for, but I think that what you are doing is important. So take your time, do what you need to do. Spend three months in there.’”

Without a single song penned, K’Naan just showed up in Jamaica and Troubadour began to grow. “I spent about three weeks in Jamaica, soaking up Bob Marley’s house. Tuff Gong is an amazing place and I spent my days walking the streets, eating, talking to friends and listening to music, before I recorded a single bit for the album. I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know what I was going to do at all for this album until one day it just hit me.”

“The last album sounded like Somalia, like dust,” he says, leaving this album to sound like the entire world. There’s the straight-up pop rock of “Bang Bang” featuring Maroon 5, the vicious dancehall tirade “I Come Prepared” with Damian Marley, the tongue-incheek club track “Does It Really Matter?” the astonishingly positive hip-hop of “Take a Minute,” and the warlike rock track “If Rap Gets Jealous.”

Troubador is all over the place, just like its creator. While the rest of the world ruins each others’ economies and steps on each others’ land mines, K’Naan mends the damage with music—the last frontier left.