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As I walked into the steamy basement of the Drake Hotel in funky Parkdale, I wasn't sure what to expect from an artist I had heard so much about but had yet to see in action. The room was jam-packed with NXNE enthusiasts, all mesmerized by the dope flow of that Somali-born high school dropout who had come a long way.
Armed with his drum, he filled the room with the sounds of his homeland—ingeniously infused with the hip-hop rhythms he grew up listening to. I couldn't help but bop my head and join the rest of the crowd in his rapture.
He occasionally stops the music and goes a cappella for the avowed purpose of forcing the audience to hear his message loud and clear. Sounding like a street poet, he lashes out at the sorry state of hip-hop today. "Think of real hip hop as the wife that couldn't bear children," he says. Does anyone need any explanation? Anyone who's old enough, or conscious enough, to recall the roots of hip hop must ask themselves what went wrong. Well, to K'naan, it's quite clear. The art form has become the prisoner of cash-hungry record executives who have little appreciation for what's real.
Adding fuel to the fire, he quips, "I can make 50 Cent look like Limp Bizkit." So, is K''naan saying that he can outgun Fiddy in a back-alley shootout? No. Through his introspective lyrics, he recounts the tales of his childhood in Somalia. He reminds us that Fiddy won't know "ghetto" until he lingers through the poverty-stricken streets of Somalia. He tells us about the tin roof of his birth home and the scars of living in the shadows of desperation.
From there, K'naan turns his attention to the international community's favourite gangsta, George W. Bush. "How can they go to war with terror when it's war that's terrorizing!" Daammmn! Drop the poetic science, man!
If you haven't seen K'naan live yet, make it a duty to do so when you get the chance. Check out AfroToronto.com for our upcoming interview with him.
