K'naan - The Dusty Foot Philosopher *Must have for Hip-Hop fans*

[kingwell]

INTRODUCTION



      At age 9, K'NAAN was doing what most American kids were           ÛÛ°
      doing. He was hanging out on his neighborhood street corner,      ÛÛ
      MC'ing for his friends, dropping Nas and Rakim verses,            ÛÛ
      dreaming of a day when he would posses the lyrical skills         ÛÛ
      and the rhythmic flow of his Hip Hop hero's.                      ÛÛ
                                                                        ÛÛ
      K'NAAN, however was very different from those American kids.      ÛÛ
      In fact, he wasn't even an American kid at all, he was an         ÛÛ
      African; and he wasn't on the streets of New York or Los          ÛÛ
      Angeles or Detroit, he was on the other side of the world on      ÛÛ
      the dusty streets of Mogadishu Somali. And although he was        ÛÛ
      rappin' verses from Nas and Rakim and all the other great         ÛÛ
      American MC's with an almost erie attention to detail and         ÛÛ
      pronunciation, he could not speak English.                        ÛÛ
                                                                        ÛÛ
      As hip-hop passes the quarter century mark, it has evolved        ÛÛ
      in ways no one could have imagined. It has gone from              ÛÛ
      under-ground to mainstream, from black to multi- racial,          ÛÛ
      from American to international. It has reached the very           ÛÛ
      furthest corners of the world and planted its seeds in the        ÛÛ
      souls of kids from every country. K'NAAN is a child of that       ÛÛ
      generation, the first generation of true hip-hop children         ÛÛ
      who have grown out of a very foreign soil.                        ÛÛ
                                                                        ÛÛ
      With his unique voice but still truly authentic style,            ÛÛ
      K'NAAN brings an enormous dose of realness and urgency to         ÛÛ
      the hip-hop world in a time when people are desperate for         ÛÛ
      it. From a personal and cultural history rooted in poetry         ÛÛ
      (being the grandson of one of Somalia's most famous poets ),      ÛÛ
      K'NAAN widens the traditional hip hop perspective, from           ÛÛ
      ghetto's to slums, from drug dealers to war lords, from 9mm       ÛÛ
      and eagle 440's to AK's and rocket propelled grenades.            ÛÛ
      "Where I'm from there are no police or fire fighters, we          ÛÛ
      start riot's by burning car tires." from K'NAAN's song            ÛÛ
      entitled "What's Hardcore".                                       ÛÛ
                                                                        ÛÛ
      Leaving Somalia at the age of thirteen on what turned out to      ÛÛ
      be the very last commercial flight to ever do so, amidst a        ÛÛ
      crumbling society and the end to this day of any form of          ÛÛ
      central government, K'NAAN carried with him a very strong         ÛÛ
      sense of purpose. It is this sense of purpose as well as his      ÛÛ
      amazing lyrical gift, which has made him a beacon for other       ÛÛ
      artists as well as those dedicated to global change.              ÛÛ
                                                                        ÛÛ
      In 2001 after gaining notoriety as a skilled mc and spoken        ÛÛ
      word poet, K'NAAN was invited to Geneva to perform a spoken       ÛÛ
      word piece at the 2001 50th anniversary of the UN Commission      ÛÛ
      for Refugee's. In front of some of the biggest suits in the       ÛÛ
      world, K'NAAN brought the house down with his politically         ÛÛ
      charged poem, K'NAAN explains, "I basically called out the        ÛÛ
      UN for its failed relief mission in Somalia" The audience         ÛÛ
      was so moved by the piece that they gave K'NAAN a standing        ÛÛ
      ovation and African superstar Youssou N'Dour who was also in      ÛÛ
      attendance loved the performance so much that he invited          ÛÛ
      K'NAAN to Senegal to record with him.                             ÛÛ
                                                                        ÛÛ
      Similarly, in Toronto in 2002 while recording a verse for a       ÛÛ
      War Child benefit track entitled "Keep the Beat K'NAAN's          ÛÛ
      unique flow caught the attention of artist/producer Jarvis        ÛÛ
      Church, one half of the Grammy award winning production team      ÛÛ
      Track and Field (Nelly Furtado). From there began a creative      ÛÛ
      partnership that would lead to the creation of K'NAAN's'          ÛÛ
      first full length album "The Dusty Foot Philosopher."             ÛÛ
                                                                        ÛÛ
      K'NAAN creates urgent "music with a message" because his          ÛÛ
      whole existence depends on it. "Soobax" produced by Track n       ÛÛ
      Field is percussion-fuelled protest music at its finest.          ÛÛ
      It's more than a song, it's something people raise arms           ÛÛ
      for," explains K'NAAN "The term Soobax actually means to          ÛÛ
      "come out" so when I recorded that in the studio, I imagined      ÛÛ
      myself being in front of gun men, and I'm communicating           ÛÛ
      directly to them". He adds: "Sixty-year-old women in Canada       ÛÛ
      jam to that song because it's saying things they couldn't         ÛÛ
      say. When my brother heard the song he said that it's the         ÛÛ
      first song he'd heard of mine that could get me killed.""         ÛÛ
                                                                        ÛÛ
      "Hardcore", is a truthful reflection, a comparison track for      ÛÛ
      those MC's who believe that they, their circumstances or          ÛÛ
      themselves to be Hardcore. "Strugglin" is tracks for those        ÛÛ
      who struggle and find themselves pushed to the brink yet at       ÛÛ
      that point transform that struggle into power and the             ÛÛ
      ability to overcome. The African Way" utilizes superb             ÛÛ
      backing music supplied from a group of nomadic musicians          ÛÛ
      K'NAAN ran into and recorded in a restaurant in Mombassa,         ÛÛ
      Kenya. "Wash It Down" is another must-hear track made             ÛÛ
      entirely out of the sounds of crashing water, done by the         ÛÛ
      "forces of nature". All and all the LP is a break out from        ÛÛ
      the braggadocio world of Hip Hop                                  ÛÛ
                                                                        ÛÛ
      "One of those homeless kids in the video that was dancing         ÛÛ
      actually hid his machete in his coat pocket when he heard my      ÛÛ
      music. He then started to dance and put his machete away          ÛÛ
      under the tree. That's why my long term goal is to use            ÛÛ
      whatever fame I get to help change the situation in my            ÛÛ
      region...not to own a clothing line like some of my rap           ÛÛ
      peers".



www.thedustyfoot.com <-- SAMPLE A HANDFUL OF SONGS FROM THE ALBUM IN THE PLAYER
http://www.myspace.com/knaanmusic

http://www.cduniverse.com/productinfo.asp?pid=6901254

[Sikotic™]

I didn't know Eddie Griffin rapped

I'ma check it out though 

[everlast1986]

nice album didn't think anyone else on here ever even heard of him

[kingwell]

http://download.yousendit.com/7205DF89786F52B7

STRUGGLIN'
By K'naan.

Intro: Yeah, Yeah, it's me, strugglin.

Verse1: I start out, just to vibe out, I ain't about
to bow out, I'm more gangsta than you are but I ain't
about the raw raw, my season will come, it has to,
honestly I feel like I'm ten months pregnant or
something, I'm passed due, sincerely I'm touchy these
days I can't take nothing, I'm tryna treat my record
like the law shit I'm dying to break something, and
mostly, I'm up and stressin, when other folks sleep,
believe me, I know struggle, and struggle knows me, my
life owes me, like an overdose I'm slowly, drifting in
the arms of trouble, then trouble holds me, and
nothing else's close to me, more than pain
unfortunately, like a self fulfilling prophecy, I'm
suppose.

Chorus: Strugglin, and it's trouble in, in this
circumstance I'm dwelling in I find myself in the
corner huddling, with some angry men, and I gotta
settle shit again before they gotta kill again, I'm
strugglin, and it's trouble in, in this circumstance
I'm dwelling in I find myself in the corner huddling,
with some angry men, and I gotta settle shit again
before they gotta kill again.

Verse2: I should be chillin on beaches, instead my
bone freezes, ducking glocks and I walks, well, like
Jesus, the realest thing for me is, since I was a
fetus, the only break I ever got, was at recess, so
legitimately, I remain very little relieved, and at
thug rappers, I remain very little intrigued, and can
you blame me, look how we lived in the late eighties,
throwing rocks at the crazy ladies, and when we'd play
these, crazy game, the whole crew had crazy names, we
even had a cripple we use to call em lazy legs, but my
faith remains, untouched and unchanged, still in my
block you hear more shots than a gun range, I'm...

Chorus: Strugglin, and it's trouble in, in this
circumstance I'm dwelling in I find myself in the
corner huddling, with some angry men, and I gotta
settle shit again before they gotta kill again, I'm
strugglin, and it's trouble in, in this circumstance
I'm dwelling in I find myself in the corner huddling,
with some angry men, and I gotta settle shit again
before they gotta kill again.

Verse3: Aight aight, more to the truth, no writing
just record me at the booth, forced by the loop and
the guitar but I'm the boss of the groove, I speak
truth my deep roots remain in equal danger, the pain
on my song is crazy but the sequel is stranger, hey
man, I'm from the hardest heartless projects, dear
departed I'm now known as a recording artist, spilling
what little remains of your memories in the process,
bitter a little, but making your names in to a
colossus, believe me, I'm thankful my brother is still
with me, and ain't much changed Bobby is still
troubling Whitney, and Bush is still bombing poor
people yo he's deadly, and me I got a little recording
gig but evidently, I'm....

Chorus Repeats.

Outro: Yea yea. The pain on my song is crazy, the
pain on my song is crazy, strugglin, still strugglin.