The Clarion

Issue date: 11/11/09 Section: Entertainment

Creative Commons by MoEaFaTi

Drawing on his experiences of growing up in war-torn Somalia, Toronto-based rapper K'naan sings about war and violence in his homeland with lush and varied instrumentation and a voice filled with unbridled energy and honesty on his first full-length album, "The Dusty Foot Philosopher" (BMG, 2005).

K'naan (full name K'naan Warsame) grew up in Mogadishu, the capital city of Somalia. Having lived in the city's violent Wardhiigleey district ("The Lake of Blood") during the Somali civil war, K'naan grew accustomed to the military violence within the city.

When he was 13 he and his mother left Somalia on the last commercial flight out of the country and joined K'naan's father in New York City. Later they moved to Toronto where K'naan began writing his own songs.

The Dusty Foot Philosopher is a wonderful collection of creative, thought-provoking songs rich in instrumentation, candor and emotion. From the heavy hip-hop beats of "Soobax" to the acoustic pop of "In the Beginning" to the jazzy horns on "Blues for the Horn," the album pulsates with a lush variety of beats and melody.

The heart and soul of the album, however, is K'naan's singing. He wears his heart on his sleeve and in his voice. While the guitars and African drums pulse he raps with an incredible amount of emotional depth and versatility.

He can rap with a cool, unshakeable manner on "I Was Stabbed by Satan" and "If Rap Gets Jealous" unabashedly share childhood memories of life in the city and refuse to glorify the violence that surrounded him.

Yet on other songs, like "Boxing My Shadow" and "Voices in My Head," K'naan sings with so much pain and trauma in his voice that you know the things he raps about are just as brutal as he says they are.

The energy and sincerity in his voice give every song an unpolished purity, a rawness that brings sensitivity and soul to the music.

K'naan's ability to rap with the tough, imperturbable attitude that many rappers have, yet bring so much heart and human emotion into his songs, gives the album an incredible amount of depth, and I have never heard rap music that reached me on so many levels. On The Dusty Foot Philosopher K'naan tells it like it is, with candidness and creativity, from the bottom of his heart.

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