K 'naan - The Dusty Foot Philospher
Stacy Malden

Despite the overwhelming prevalence of candy shop hip hop in today’s countdowns, a major hip-hop revival has begun by way of Somalia. The Dusty Foot Philosopher, K’naan, has sparked notable attention with the delivery of his straight forward dialogue in his compilation, My Life is a Movie. K’naan’s lead single Soobax sends a dynamic message to the gunmen and warlords to stop the violence and bloodshed in the region. Soobax, which translates to “Come Out!” in Somali relays what K’naan describes as “ a soundtrack to a poor man’s revolution in East Africa.”

The Somali-born Canadian- based emcee is a prime example of how hip-hop has expanded on the global front. Evoking the excitement of what hip-hop was at its grassroots in American culture, tracks like Soobax address the survival and strength of a people, while Smile, much like a certain late emcee, instructs people to smile when they’re struggling. In tradition of what K’naan explains as the old poets, he performs Until the Lion Learns to Speak in which he spits “I skip the obvious women, don’t get what I presenting, no rims my mind is spinning,” over simple drum beats. While in My Mother’s Pearls, he gives spoken word-like tribute to mothers as Sade’s vocals from Pearls coos “it hurts like brand new shoes.”

Together the tracks make for magnetic re-telling of East-African struggle. Rather K’naan is rapping over the stylings of Lauryn Hill and Sade or going solo in spoken word, his messages are clear, progressive, and refreshingly uninhabited of sugar coated lyrics.

 

For more information on K’naan, go to thedustyfoot.com