K'naan and his negative perpetuation of Somalia

[AbdiWahab252]

Alluring is jealous because K'naan turned her offer to be his groupie down

[James Dahl]

I like K'naan a lot, I think he's got a lot of talent.

I don't think you can just peg him as a "Hip Hop Artist" though, a lot of his stuff, especially his NEW stuff, is more like folk music.

[Alluring]

Alluring is jealous because K'naan turned her offer to be his groupie down

Yes, you are so right - my dream has always been to be with a man who weights 90 pounds, has yellow teeth, nappy hair and comes from a low ranking family without a formal education.

Yeah...that is just want a girl like dreams of *throws pom-poms into the air* nice try, old man.

[James Dahl]

Some of his earliest work isn't hip hop at all either, my favorite song of his is "Soobax".

[GacanSareeye]

Knaan

i Used to think the guy was trash til i listened to eminem, and the rest of them. wallahi when you listen to them, you will thank Knaan for it. i thought the guy was focking up the game for everybody, though is meek ass voice fails him more than his music, but he is actually elevating it to another level were the Jareer lovers wouldnt appreciate. AW dont listen to alot of broads, they are the same ones who say aakhaas to Somali jareers and bring up marrying converts.

[Alluring]

Knaan

i Used to think the guy was trash til i listened to eminem, and the rest of them. wallahi when you listen to them, you will thank Knaan for it. i thought the guy was focking up the game for everybody, though is meek ass voice fails him more than his music, but he is actually elevating it to another level were the Jareer lovers wouldnt appreciate. AW dont listen to alot of broads, they are the same ones who say aakhaas to Somali jareers and bring up marrying converts.

Talking from experience?

By the way, K'naan music takes inspiration from Jamaican music, but I think you'd call that "jareer music."

Idiots talk for days.

[*Nobleman*]

Initially I was offended and would often mention this when people where promoting knaan as the Somali saviour. But now see that the fella is just tryna sell his records and if you believe 50 cent was shot 5 times at close range and that little wayne is mentally stable then believe that knaan was on the last commercial flight out of Somalia. The whole music industry is make belief, who cares.

fifty was shot 9 times, the game was shot 5 times, get with the programme bro

brah if he got shot 9 times and lived then the shooter is retarded.

[qardasay]

he is a true poet, a very talented

[James Dahl]

Initially I was offended and would often mention this when people where promoting knaan as the Somali saviour. But now see that the fella is just tryna sell his records and if you believe 50 cent was shot 5 times at close range and that little wayne is mentally stable then believe that knaan was on the last commercial flight out of Somalia. The whole music industry is make belief, who cares.

fifty was shot 9 times, the game was shot 5 times, get with the programme bro

brah if he got shot 9 times and lived then the shooter is retarded.

He was probably shot with a machine pistol like a modified MAC-10 or something of that ilk, unless they hit a vital organ or your brain or something you could survive being shot 9 times.

[qoraxeey]

Let the truth be told, James Dahl – I certainly believe that you are a Somali. But for the heck of it - let us say you aren't.

You are talking in secondary fashion. The fact is reading about something or drawing your own conclusions doesn't mean you know anything – for instance I read books about the First World War -does that mean I know what truly happened or is it my place to make judgments? The answer is, NO. Therefore for you to say that Siad Barre was "this" or "that" or even insinuate that K'naan saw devastating circumstances is what I could call ducktales.

No matter how many maps you draw on Wikipedia or other nonsensical garbage, you'll just a mere fictional character who thinks he knows what he is doing, but really doesn't.

This guy SPENDS his time drawing maps, about what Somali regions are owned by what clans. Come on FOLKS. What caadan man would waste his precious time with that?

something is very weird about him walle

i dont belive inuu yahay cadaan .lol

[gedo_gurl]

Alluring, waad aqli bandantahey...that song TIA makes me want to kill him

[LastREALSomali]

When someone is talented and has the ability of music to transcend their voice from one place to another that is truly a blessing and a gift – especially if they are from a country like Somalia. But when someone uses their ability to continue to attach negatively to its people to only violence, and bloodshed - there lays the problem.

are you stupid?

negativity, violence, and bloodshed are the only things that come outta Somalia....what you want him to do???

make rap songs about Somalia being a nice place to live right now?

According to many reliable sources K'naan left Somalia before the civil war, and since he was from a particular clan, who was doing the devastation there is little he could have felt or seen. He didn't die of hunger nor did he live in refugee camps. But that is beyond the point.

Each couple of days we see a video of him saying how he was in Somalia at the time of the civil war and saw numerous things that changed his perspective and that he is from a "city they call doomsday" and how American rappers are purely a group of fakes, because they talk about things they haven't experienced (insert eye roll here).

There is a interview K'naan gave a couple of years back where he said his story isn't special or unique but rather a struggle that almost every Somali refugee had to go through. I don't know whether K'naan lying about his experiences during the war, but I have no reason to NOT believe him because what he says is what almost every Somali I know went through. There isn't a single Somali here in the West that I know that didn't have some experience first hand with the war. Except for those who were young children, the stories are pretty much the same.

Last month, at the Juno awards many have said to be the equivalent to American Grammy awards - in which he won various awards, he was seen wearing a "pirate" necklace - again perpetuating a negative image of Somalia - no good bandits whose people agree with whatever they do even if they are famous.

uhhhhh.....most us Somalis support the pirates......fukk white people for trying to demonize our people who are just defending their livelihoods......I think once again you prove your ignorance.......what on earth makes you fall for the media lie that the pirates are the bad guys????

I actually think K'naan has been one of the most ELOQUENT voices on the pirate situation......practically the only voice in the media that doesn't demonize our people

When he went to Hargesia, he said that he had to carry a pistol – labeling a peaceful region in Somalia close the dangers of Mogadishu. He was invited and welcomed to a place (whether for political motives or not) and without talking about how good Hargesia is doing and how they are maintain their stability – he wanders off with tangents.

you issaqs are the joke

I went to Hargesia in 2003 and I was at the airport for no more than 20 minutes (while waiting for a flight to Garowe) when gun fire came from the distance.....sh*t sent everyone there into a frenzy

don't gimme this crap about Hargesia being some bastion of safety.....if I ever went back I would come strapped like K'naan

He spoke about the A. Yusuf Administration of TFG, and said that the ICU in 2006 were better for Southern Somalia, yet has kept his mouth shut when the leader of the ICU became the leader of the TFG.

He has the right to make money, and the right to express his opinions. But he is doing it at the expense of other people, and trying to act "thug-like" to get some sort of status. That is where I objective to this travesty. The lowest thing you can do as a human being is make money off of the strife of your people – and many Somalis have done this and get away with it.
I have yet see him donate money or build a school in Somalia. Coca-Cola probably paid him a lot of money to use his song for the WC, if you can talk the talk you should be able to walk the walk.

But beyond this, I am going to reserve judgment because on June the 11 K'naan has the path to change this as he will be performing live from South Africa with his song "Wavin' flags" perhaps we might see a Somali flag, or traditional Somali clothing – and maybe a more positive image of Somalia. It is up to him now to reserve this trend! It is not cool nor will it ever be cool to be a "thug."

I've never seen that from him. Dude makes soft music. Look at his songs. Sh1t most of the time he singing and not even rapping. Your over the top criticism tells that there must be some other reason why you don't like K'naan. I'm sensing that its more mindless tribal sh*t. K'naan is one of the few POSITIVE images of the Somalia there is in the world and you are criticizing him because he makes music about the REALITY of life in Somalia. Even if your view is right and that he never really went through anything that he writes about, the mere fact we have ONE GUY out there telling OUR STORY to the world is something to be proud of. You have a problem with what you say is a 'negative perpetuation" of Somalia, I look at it as TELLING THE TRUTH.

Our country has been a SH1T HOLE for 20 years. Its the most dangerous place in the world. There is never any good news outta there.

K'naan is the least of our problems sista. The negative perpetuation of Somalia keeps coming from Somalia everyday we read the news. K'naan is only making music. Eventhough he writes about the REALITY of bad news that always comes outta Somalia, at least he portrays our people in a dignified manner even as we continue to show the world everyday that we're not.

[Alluring]

LastRealSomali,

Let's make this clear – I am not Issaq. And funny you draw your conclusions as such, because I gave a group of people a compliment – ones who are working towards a common peace for their region, even though I am vehemently against separatist movements. So your assumption is flawed, and most of your arguments are deeply contrived.

Regardless of anything you say, there is no way on EARTH that K'naan suffered to the magnitude that many of us did. Maybe he was poor as a young child in Somalia, but his father was already in New York providing money for his family. He is a storyteller telling someone else's story and he needs to admit that.

K'naan is not a refugee, do you know the definition of refugee? What political oppression, or ethnic persecution did he flee from? It was more "oh this place is bad - might as well leave." I bet you my right arm this dude did not see half of what I saw. Just because he is Somali doesn't mean he knows the Somali struggle or the feeling of not being able to ever step foot in Mogadishu. So, spare me your shrivel speech.

There is already a resolve that Somalia is not going well - it is a given. But instead of saying this is where we are (reality) he should at least say (where we were) and how we can go (somewhere). Instead he tries to act hard in front of a group of African-Americans and continue to tell them that their struggle is not half of what his was - comparing the descendents of a 240 year oppression to him hoping off one plane to another. And as Gedo_gurl mentioned his video T.I.A is filth, and continuing the path of African violence mentality.

I support any Somali success story. But we need to find more poets who are with us instead of going against us for their own selfish needs.

Again, has he built a house or even a school for kids to be educated in? I can talk all day, but at the end of the day what matter is my actions. He keeps going from one show to the other and plays the victim, "my success is their success" he says. So someone singing songs is a success for me as a Somali? What is success for me as a Somali is seeing a poor kid who came from a war torn nation rise to become a doctor and goes back to his country and builds a hospital. That is the true definition of success.

I find it astonishing that people cannot voice their own opinions about a certain person, because they will be accused of (a) being a qabiilist or (b) being a hater. That mentality is sickening. I don't appreciate K'naan because his character is flawed – and he perpetuates the continuing decrease of my Somali people.

[FAH1223]

Alluring, listen to Tribal War rendition on Nas/Damian Marley's new album

[SultanOrder]

Why are we the most critical to our own people? We don't have that much exposure and their are only a few that shine, and those few carry the weight of all our eyes. Either we stop hating on each other period or We throw more people into the light to ease the burden of the few.