Less than an hour after K’naan put on one of the highlight performances at the inaugural All Points West Music & Arts Festival, he sat down with me to chat about a nice range of topics. The man is unquestionably a talent. He recently released his album The Dusty Foot Philosopher in the United Stated (winning multiple international awards) and the content, both lyrically and musically, is as good anything that I’ve heard in some time. Yet as I learn more about K’naan and his background, his songs continue to take on even deeper meanings.

Among the topics that we discussed were how his family escaped the warlord-infested Somalia, how he learned his first English from classic hip hop records, some ways that his unique background shaped his career, his three-month recording project at Tuff Gong Studios with Stephen and Damian Marley, the meanings behind a couple of his songs, his new record Troubadour, and his aspiring career as an actor.

If you are new to K’naan, I thought it might be helpful if I gave you just a brief background before listening to the interview. With an ability to inspire and electrify a crowd, while maintaining a chill vibe, K’naan puts on a mindblowing live show. Once you start to learn about the songs, you’ll find that you like him even more. For instance, on the inside of The Dusty Foot Philosopher, K’naan wrote a few paragraphs telling some stories of his childhood in Mogadishu, Somalia. Here is a small sample:

As we finished our task and emptied the wash basin, the dirty water parted the sand and revealed what looked like a rotten potato.  We took turns examining the object, throwing it back and forth until it began to look less like a potato and more like a grenade.  It had come to rest in my hands when the pin slipped out, triggering a strange ticking sound.  I threw it as fast and as far as I could.  The grenade detonated and took half my school with it.  Lucky for us, there had been no one in the school and were standing so close to the explosion that it had blown over us.  Minor scrapes, but we were fine.

Crazy, I know. I hope you enjoy listening to my conversation with K’naan, the Dusty Foot Philosopher, as much I did recording it.

Listen to the CoS interview with K’naan

More photos and a streaming song at the bottom of transcript.

Interview Transcript

First question I wanted to ask you, for our readers not familiar with your work, can you explain the meaning of “Soobax”?

Soobax means “come out”…not in the… – its more “get out” than “come out.” It’s like a song I had written about the difficult scenario that is called Somalia, where there has been no central government for 18 years. It’s basically run by a bunch of warlords, who are feuding between themselves. My city (I’m from Mogadishu) is divided into a fiefdom and its just kids with guns, so I had basically written this song of frustration saying why should you who causes the problems get to live in this beautiful country that we all love. I got to be an immigrant and misunderstood in different parts of the world, so you get out. That’s what the song is about.

I read that you learned some English from [Eric B. & Rakim's] Paid in Full. How did you get your hands on that while you were in Somalia.

My father was living in New York as a Harlem cabdriver and he was able to get the vinyl to me when Paid in Full came out. What I learned was the phonetics of the English sound – how you say things. That’s what I learned from the record. But I learned form other things from other records as well, like Illmatic. Nas showed me how someone can actually use this art form to paint a real visual of the American ghetto scenario and I wanted to do the African slum scenario. I wanted to paint a vision of that and what it’s like – the longing for home, those messages. That was my first…Illmatic was the first album that showed me it’s possible.

Were there other albums that had a large impact?

Yeah. A lot of Bob Marley albums. You can never choose a Bob Marley song. The man has never done a bad song.

Some Tracy Chapman. She gave me the blues, man. She gave me something to relate to. There is a lot of that – a lot of different music. Some Nina Simone.

How did what was happening in your homeland affect what would later become your music?

I’m a product of it. I’m a product of the war. I lived through it, definitely a lot less than a lot of people who had to stay behind. I got to get out and I’m fortunate for that. I’m also fortunate for the actual experience, to be honest. A lot of people find it weird that I say things like that. It was an eye-opening experience. It is something that enriched the rest of my life. I don’t wish it on anybody, but it’s something that I don’t separate from myself as a truly bad experience because you grow, you know?

Do you sometimes feel a sense of purpose, or even a responsibility, because of those experiences?

I used to have what is called “survivor guilt,” where you want to justify your every minute of the day, so you become a little more productive that your usual society, which is why I was able to learn English so quickly. Why I was able to write poetry after having been in North America for two years. It was that survivor guilt. I’m a little bit over it now. I look at the fortune of my escape and survival rather than the misfortune of my friends and family members who have not escaped. So I wouldn’t say “responsibility”, but I think it’s more like “a reason.”

With all the turmoil, how was your family able to escape? Since your dad was already over in NY, was he sending money over?

He was, but that wasn’t enough to get us out, obviously. You know, cabdrivers just can barely pay their rent. Mainly, the thing that got us out was a mix of my mother’s courage and her audacity. You can imagine that with the kids that she has who live in one of the most violent, if not the most violent, neighborhoods in Mogadishu and the country is going down the drain. There is a war, the embassies are packing out and she was sure that there was not choice but that we were going to be going to New York City. And she did it.

During your set, you mentioned that you’ve never tried alcohol, drugs or smoked cigarettes. Is that for philosophical or religious reasons?

Both. It was more philosophical, I think, first and then it became “hmmm, maybe it’s religious.” But I guess, it’s a little dishonest to say it’s completely religious because there are a lot of nonreligious things that I do. I just chose not to be intoxicated – not that I condemn the thing. You know, a lot of people who are friends of mine or are on tour with me all the time are people who drink or who smoke or who do whatever they do. For me, I honestly like the relationship of mystery. I like what I don’t know as much as what I find out about. I think finding out about everything is a bit boring.

Did any family members pass on musical or poetry interests and/or skills?

I guess it would be a little arrogant to say that my grandfather passed on his gift to me of poetry or something like that because he was one of the most respected poets out of my country. And that’s saying a lot for a country called the “Nation of Poets.”

I’ve never heard that…

Yeah, yeah – that’s what the Greeks called Somalia: “the Nation of Poets.” There is a great Burton, the English explorer – there is a great quote where he says, “the country teems with poets and poeteers.” And he said, “And the fine ear of this nation can ignite their most violent indignation from one false phrase.” So poetry is everything and my grandfather was incredible and, so there is that.

[Full quote: “The country teems with ‘poets, poetasters, poetitoes, poetaccios’: every man has his recognized position in literature as accurately defined as though he had been reviewed in a century of magazines – the fine ear of this people causing them to take the greatest pleasure in harmonious sounds and poetical expressions, whereas a false quantity or a prosaic phrase excite their violent indignation.” From Richard Burton’s First Footsteps in East Africa

Then also, my auntie is the most famous singer out of the country, so I had been influenced a little bit (laughs) in childhood.

I’d say you’re a man of many talents – poetry, music, hip hop (the rapping). What would you consider yourself first? A philosopher?

Artist, I think. I think first, more than a melody maker, music maker, rapper, poet. I thnk I live the life of art. I have always lived the life of art. I have never had another thing that I did or I was interested in. I’ve never actually had a regular job in my life. When I was not performing and making a living out of my musical life, I was poor and not making anything. Art is the only thing that I’ve ever done.

Was there a moment…I’m sure there was a period when you were really struggling that you were not sure that this was going to really happen and you thought maybe you would have to get a real job. Then something happened and you’re like, “alright, this is gonna happen.”

Yeah. Well, you have to know the pressures of a musician’s life. A lot of people tell you that this is impossible. The things I was writing years ago are what became what’s called The Dusty Foot Philosopher, an album that’s kind of winning awards now and shit like that.

But at the time, a lot of people I knew were saying to me, “you’re crazy. You should just do something to make some kind of a living where you can support yourself and the people that love you.” And I’d say, “No, but I don’t want to dilute the thing.” And they’re like, “What thing? There is no thing. It’s just in your head.” But, I meant even in that time, there were always artists or musicians or producers who always said whenever they heard some of my thing, they’d always say “We need that.” It wasn’t like, “We want that.” It was always “We need it,” you know?

I saw Wah Wah Watson [Melvin Ragin], who was at the time playing guitar for somebody on tour. He played “Let’s Get it On” for Marvin Gaye, with the famous riffs. He’s the inventor of the wah-wah. This guy had heard my music and he was like, “the world needs that.” There was Mos Def. He had constantly said, “the world needs to hear you.” There was Nelly Furtado…

How did you meet Mos by the way?

I met him…he phoned me one day. A mutual friend gave him my number. He had seen some of my music and felt that he should call and say, “man, I love your music.”

Saul Williams was one of them spreading it. Cody ChestnuTT. ?uestlove. All of the people I was a fan of, were at some point, while I’m still in the basement in Toronoto’s Rexdale, and no one believes me, they were still saying like, “this is the shit.” It was great.

What was it like to work at the legendary Tuff Gong Studio?

I worked at both Tuff Gong, as well as Bob [Marley]’s house. So I went between his house and Tuff Gong. It was magical. It was amazing. I can’t explain it. You have to have lived the three months I lived, but whatever you dreamt it could be, that’s what it is.

Can you briefly explain what “Rap Gets Jealous” is about?

“Rap Gets Jealous” is about the frustration of someone like myself with a story that is not the usual rapper’s story, who is told that he needs to conform to a box. And I say, “no, I rap, but I sing. I make folk music if I want. I make rock music if I want. Whatever it is that expresses the sentiment that’s what I do.” And so that is what that song is about.

Do you have a take on the current state of overall popular hip hop?

It’s funny. Sometimes it’s cool. I mean, popular hip hop now includes Kanye West, which is amazing. It includes Lupe Fiasco, which is amazing. They make great songs, great lyrics and all of that and it’s part of popular music. There is, of course, a lot of songs that I may not listen to on my headphones on home that are rappers, but the producers are still doing their job. They still have some great beats going. And so I’m kind of more hopeful than I was when I started out, basically. I think there is some interesting shit happening now.

Dusty Foot on the Road – is that going to come out in the US?

Yes, I think so.

Any other releases?

The album that I’m working on now is called Troubadour. It’s coming out in October. Be excited. Be very, very excited.

I am! Are there any other projects that you are working on or is all your focus on that right now?

Yeah, there is some stuff, but it’s film related.

Anything that I might get to see in the future or is it all really small Canadian independent…?

Yeah. I’m the lead of a film that is going to be shot in October. It is a remake of an old classic, British film called “Stump” with Alan Clarke as the director. That is produced by Partizan, who do all of Michel Gondry’s films. (He just did “Be Kind, Rewind” and “Spotless Mind.”)

Great movies.

Yeah, so, it’s going to be my first acting thing. I’m working on another movie about pirates. Ha!

Like sea pirates?

Sea pirates {laughs}. Modern day pirates, though.

Modern day pirates, gotcha. Yeah, I guess that’s it!

Cool!

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Categories: Features, Festival News/Rumor, Interview, News
Tags: ?uestlove, All Points West Music Festival, APW Live Coverage 2008, Bob Marley, Cody ChestnuTT, Eric B. & Rakim, Interview, K'naan, Kanye West, Lupe Fiasco, Marvin Gaye, Michel Gondry, Mos Def, Nas, Nelly Furtado, Nina Simone, Richard Burton, Saul Williams, Tracy Chapman, Wah Wah Watson