If you haven’t heard of the Somali-Canadian rapper K'NAAN yet, you’ll certainly know all about him by July 11, when the last two teams battle it out for the FIFA World Cup Trophy at Soccer City in Johannesberg, South Africa. K'NAAN’s infectious anthem, “Wavin’ Flag” is the official Coca-Cola anthem for the 2010 World Cup. Raised in war-torn Mogadishu during the Somali Civil War that broke out in 1991, K'NAAN fled an already dissolving situation before it got worse. After a short time in New York City, he and his family relocated to Toronto, which is when he began rapping.
K’NAAN’s story is one of tremendous success, but he’s humble about it. His 2009 record, Troubadour, is an album filled with reflective tales of the streets of Mogadishu, written years after he and his family escaped the strife there. This winter, he went on a FIFA Coca-Cola World Cup trophy tour across Africa, and was able to visit his home country for the first time since he fled. Upon his return from Africa, he took the time to talk with Fair Play about Mogadishu, “Wavin’ Flag,” and Africa’s first-ever World Cup. K'NAAN |MTV Music
On adolescent life in Mogadishu. It had its positives. The physical nature of the country, it’s a really beautiful place. All the people, the culture and your own language and your family—the valuable things. Eventually, it was the war. Of course, like war does, it ruins those things. We lived in a time of turmoil. We lost people. Eventually, we were fortunate to get out on one of the last commercial flights to leave the country, and we came to New York City.
How his years in Mogadishu shaped his music. I wrote a lot about those experiences as a form of therapy. They were the kinds of songs that I had to get out. Not the kinds of songs that you had to create and search for.
On what “Wavin’ Flag” says to him about Somalia and Africa as a whole. When I sing “Born to a throne/stronger than Rome/but Violent prone/poor people zone,” it says a lot about the state of the continent in general. The former glory that everyone attributes to Africa, its accomplishments, its enlightenments, and ancient traditions—that is great, but where are we now? It’s all that we’ve been, so what are we now?
On Africa’s first-ever World Cup and what it means to South Africa and the continent. It’s a huge matter of African pride. To a lot of people on the continent, it's a moment of recognition and solidarity between them. The world gets to experience African people on their own continent, which is a really nice moment for South Africa.
On his first trip back to Somalia since he left. It was everything Somalia is: Complicated, beautiful, amazing, and dangerous all at the same time.
Photo by Piet Suess.
