Hip Hop as a second language: 5 Minutes with K’naan
K’naan is no stranger to gracing a big stage. We’re talking about a guy who brought down the house when he performed his spoken word infused Hip Hop to talk about the plight of refugees at the 2001 50th anniversary of the UN Commission for Refugee’s. But for the spoken word artist/MC sharing the stage with some of Hip hop’s greats on the Rock The Bells Festival’s stage is still an honor. “It’s amazing, man. There’s something about it. A couple of the people that are on the bill are people that I came up listening to. So to be playing with them is a beautiful thing.”
K’naan’s journey to Hip Hop’s largest festival stage was an interesting one to say the least. Coming from an artistic family (his aunt was one of Somalia’s most famous singers and his grandfather was a highly respected poet) its easy to see how he became involved in music. Before he could fully understand and speak English, he was memorizing the rhymes of MC’s like Rakim & Nas (whom he shares the stage with at Rock The Bells) in his homeland of Somalia. As one of the last to leave the country in the midst of civil war, he first made his home in NYC before moving to Toronto, Canada, where he became a part of the music scene. A few albums later (his latest troubadour features Mos Def and Adam Levine from Maroon 5) and he is on tour with some of Hip Hop’s legends. We caught up with him to talk about Hip Hop as second language, rocking the crowd and how you can have fun and still be seen as political.
G. Valentino Ball: Since some much of importance is placed on lyrics in Hip Hop, how did you get drawn in since English is not your first language? What was it about that made you enjoy it?
K’naan: The energy. The rhythmic energy. There’s something about music in general. Its not a 100 hundred percent necessity for you to know the details of someone’s lyrics and what they mean (to get drawn in). A lot of times music means what we want it to mean. And Hip Hop is no exception, although its more heavy on lyrics and lyrics based. But what really was drew me in was the rhythmic patterns and the energy of it. It had such a youthful energy to it that I connected to.
G. Valentino Ball: When you did start to understand the music did it coincide with what you had imagined the meaning to be?
K’naan: Sometimes it did. Sometimes it was just funny. (laughs). Other times lyrics you thought were powerful and world changing were kinda not talking about not much. And you’re like, “Wow”. But to be honest it was never one way. There were lyrics that you unraveled and find out had great depth and meaning.
G. Valentino Ball: Do you think you get pegged as being political because of the content of what you say or because nobody else is saying anything?
K’naan: (Laughs) I think it’s the later to be honest, man. I think it’s so easy to pick me out as the artist who is being political mainly because a lot of music is devoid of anything to say at all. There’s not a story to follow. There’s nothing that they actually are telling, even if it’s just a love song. There’s nothing for me to get out of it. When I do songs there are precise about something. The only time they know that that happens in the genres that I’m in usually it’s political so they tag me the same.
G. Valentino Ball: Do you feel like carrying that tag is kinda like a burden? People seem to have a higher expectation of you so because of that you can’t just go out and having fun.
K’naan: Actually the truth of the matter is that its not so much a burden than that its just not true. We do have fun. That’s why I can write a record like “Bang, Bang”, which is a fun pop record. I do have those sides to me. I’m not always serious. Its always an activist type of tag that I get as well. If you say. “I saw the rain today.” They are like, “Oh my God. He called it like it is. He must be conscious. He must be political.” No. I just can see shit. (Laughs) And maybe know why. Maybe that is the extra element. Maybe I have some clue as to why.
G. Valentino Ball: What is a K’naan show like?
K’naan: My show has always been different and a little bit of a stand out. It’s a honest and direct approach to music that whenever we play every night feels like a new show. Even if we play as we have in the past over 500 shows in the last two years.
Rock the Bells 2009
featuring Nas, Damian, Marley and The Roots
Saturday
07/18/09, 2:00 PM
Comcast Center
885 South Main Street
MANSFIELD, MA 02048
$34.75-$120.00, (508) 339-2333
www.livenation.com
Rock the Bells 2009
featuring Nas, Damian Marley and The Roots
Sunday
07/19/09, 12:00 PM
Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
1000 Ocean Parkway
WANTAGH, NY 11793
$40.50-$120.50,
(516) 221-1000
www.livenation.com
