After his debut album--The Dusty Foot Philosopher--took Canada by storm and collected a 2006 Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year, the pressure was on for K’Naan’s major label follow-up. Troubadour, in a word, delivers. Lyrically, the Somali ex-pat out-rhymes the majority of his native English-speaking counterparts with a mix of violent personal history and charismatic uplift, the occasional melodic chorus, and a voice that’s fairly compared to Eminem’s but more accurately recalls the upper-register nasality of Pharcyde’s Booty Brown. Pop-leaning cuts like “Dreamers” and “15 Minutes Away” duck in and out of instrumentals that borrow from Afrobeat (“Fire in Freetown”), a world/soul sound that hits its apex in the gorgeous “Wavin’ Flag,” and hip-hop’s best use yet of a Bob Marley sample (opener “T.I.A.”). Recorded at Marley’s legendary Tuff Gong studio in Jamaica, the album gets a heavy dose of collaborative energy from such diverse contributors as Mos Def, Chubb Rock, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine (“Bang Bang”), and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett (“If Rap Gets Jealous”). In a year that has already seen an early girth of really strong rap releases that eschew the superficial violence, misogyny, and inanity of most radio fare, Troubadour stands as a front-runner for Hip-Hop Album of the Year. --Jason Kirk
About the Artist
The name alone conjures up images of unbridled destruction, merciless warlords and ruthless terror. A place where nobody--children, the elderly, religious figures--is safe from the atrocities of war, and where the idea of "childhood," where 8-year olds handle AK-47s like toys, exists in chronological terms alone. When Forbes magazine recently unveiled their "Most Dangerous Destinations," Somalia--above Iraq and Afghanistan--topped the list.
But it's also "The Nation of Poets," where a poem can both inspire peace and end wars. Where every weekend, regardless of the climate, one can find a play or concert at a local theatre.
Growing up, it was both of these Somalias that informed musician/emcee K'naan Warsame, whose sophomore album, Troubadour, is released this February. The grandson of Haji Mohamed, one of Somalia's most famous poets, and nephew of famed Somali singer Magool, the emcee is creating his own musical path through reggae, funk, pop, soul and, above all, hip-hop.
Recorded primarily in Kingston, Jamaica, at the legendary Tuff Gong studios and Bob Marley's home studio, Troubadour is a hip-hop album like no other. With contributions by Damian Marley, Mos Def, Chubb Rock, Vernon Reid, and Adam Levine (Maroon 5), K'naan successfully blends samples and live instrumentation for a sound that's rooted in both traditional African melodies and the classic hip-hop tradition.
It would be easy to brand K'naan with the "political rapper" tag. But that'd be both easy and disingenuous. K'naan's lyrics lie in stark contrast to emcees that use their medium as a pulpit to promote their beliefs. "My job is to write just what I see / So a visual stenographer is who I be," he rhymes in "I Come Prepared." Doubtless, K'naan is not without his opinions, but songwriting always comes before sermons.
On Troubadour, events like these don't need to be glorified or exaggerated for the sake of art. "I think there are some people that are struggling in 'hoods [in Canada and America], but it is so much harder and so much more violent [in Somalia]," says K'naan. "If you want to be like, 'I'm from the hood. We got it rough. We got gats,' I think you should know the alternative exists. I'm speaking in the same language of hip-hop which decidedly speaks about rough neighborhoods. So if there is a place for rough neighborhoods, then here comes the Mother of Rough Neighborhoods."
Troubadour represents the sum of these experiences and more. Having spent the better part of the last two years on the road, soaking in everything from Bob Dylan to Fela Kuti to Talib Kweli, K'naan here releases the sonic document of an artist who has a lot to share now, but clearly a lot more to come. For anyone who's said that hip-hop has nothing left to say, Troubadour proves that it all depends on where you look.
Product Description
2009 release. Recorded primarily in Kingston, Jamaica where K'Naan was granted unprecedented access by his friends Stephen and Damian Marley to their father Bob Marley's original home studio at 56 Hope Road and the legendary Tuff Gong studios Troubadour is a Hip Hop album like no other. K'Naan successfully blends samples and live instrumentation for a sound that's both rooted in traditional African melodies and the classic Hip Hop tradition. Features Kirk Hammett of Metallica on the song 'If Rap Gets Jealous'.
