You Oughta Know : K'NAAN

You might know K'NAAN from his multi-platinum global smash single, "Wavin' Flag," especially since a remixed version of the song was selected as Coca-Cola's theme song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign and reached #1 on iTunes in 18 countries around the world. But if you don't, trust us that the Somalian-born, Canadian-based singer and MC has a refreshing artistic depth to him; shifting his first-album focus from global issues like his war-torn homeland, K'NAAN is now turning his attention to the most universal and personal emotions and experiences which everyone struggles with and rejoices in. On his fourth full-length album "Country, God Or The Girl," K'NAAN marks his attempt to address "the internal wars, rather than the external ones, which I'd been pr... Moreğ

You might know K'NAAN from his multi-platinum global smash single, "Wavin' Flag," especially since a remixed version of the song was selected as Coca-Cola's theme song for the 2010 FIFA World Cup campaign and reached #1 on iTunes in 18 countries around the world. But if you don't, trust us that the Somalian-born, Canadian-based singer and MC has a refreshing artistic depth to him; shifting his first-album focus from global issues like his war-torn homeland, K'NAAN is now turning his attention to the most universal and personal emotions and experiences which everyone struggles with and rejoices in. On his fourth full-length album "Country, God Or The Girl," K'NAAN marks his attempt to address "the internal wars, rather than the external ones, which I'd been preoccupied with on my previous albums." At the same time, though, he never loses the greater sense of the world that has defined him as an artist. The product of a creative family, K'NAAN fled Mogadishu with his family at age 13. After learning English, partly by immersing himself in the classic hip-hop albums of the '90s, he came to prominence in 1999 with a spoken word performance at the United Nations that caught the attention of Senegalese superstar Youssou N'Dour. Fast-forward, and the enormous success of "Wavin' Flag" opened up countless doors for the dynamic live performer, as reflected by the caliber and range of guests who appear on the new album, from Nas to Bono.ĞLess