Experience The Vibe

Album Reviews

Genre: Hip Hop

Artist: K’Naan

Album: Troubadour

Year: 2009

At a time where this country is led by a party of Bush-era zealots, world leaders seem to invent international cocktail parties to pat eachother on the back every other month, and hip hop seems comfortably pocketed in stagnancy once again (unless you call Kid CuDi’s

emo opus a breakthrough, but that’s another topic for another album review), K’Naan represents everything that’s right about Canada, everything that’s wrong about the world, and a giant gasp of fresh air to the music world.

The Somali-born Toronto representative (by way of the Bronx) kicked off 2009 with a storm of a sophomore album. Coming from a country most infamously known to the west for pirate activity off its shores, that should hardly come as a surprise. But that doesn’t limit the artistic genius intrinsically worked into the audio/visual potluck that is Troubadour.

K’Naan makes no concessions about his homeland from the intense opener “T.I.A. (This Is Africa)” to the gut-wrenching love tragedy “Fatima”. However, this being his follow-up to the cult hit The Dusty Foot Philosopher, a step up is in order. His evolution as an artist is marked moreso by his ability to express that same emotion while staying close to home, or at least his home away from home. On “People Like Me” he delves into lives dealing with the recession and at war abroad, and on “15 Minutes Away” recounts tales of anticipation while waiting for Western Union money orders to go through.

But this is anything but a downer of an album. More than positive or conscious, K’Naan comes across as inspirational. From telling stories of childhood perseverance on “Somalia” to “Waving Flag” – the official 2010 World Cup anthem (take that in, repeat it a couple times until it sinks in) – he always finds a way to illuminate even the darkest of realities. Teaching is of course a big theme, and he does that with the aptly titled “ABCs”, featuring the legendary Chubb Rock, and goes deeper on “America”, featuring Mos Def and Chali 2na.

Troubadour’s guest appearances alone are newsworthy enough to write home about. Straying from conventions, he gets props from Damien Marley, Adam Levine of Maroon5, and Kirk Hammet of Metallica, all of whom contribute to the album. Speaking of unconventional music, my personal favourite off the album is “Fire In Freetown”, a song with African rhythm fully sung with no rapping. It’s moments like these that truly set K’Naan apart from the rest of the pack.

For one reason or another – none valid – K’Naan doesn’t seem to get the props he deserves from the local hip hop scene. But one listen to Troubadour and those hip hop heads will certainly be turned. This is the finest Canadian urban album of 2009 and FIFA can back that up.

By: Alborz Mohtashami