K'Naan - Country, God Or The Girl - Printable Version +- Music Discussion (https://www.music-discussion.com) +-- Forum: Music Discussion (https://www.music-discussion.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=4) +--- Forum: Soul/R&B/Hip Hop/Rap (https://www.music-discussion.com/forumdisplay.php?fid=15) +--- Thread: K'Naan - Country, God Or The Girl (/showthread.php?tid=7620)

K'Naan - Country, God Or The Girl - Music Head - 18-10-2012 online listen whoa! who's this guy hiding in Canada I'm liking this quite a bit Is this the same guy doing the singing and rapping? unreal if it is and the rap tracks have actual music with the smart lyrics I don't get many first listens this high 1.9 from me and a converted 2.4 from the pros at allmusic from the album - Is Anybody Out There? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nevOsRGqL2c now check this one is this the same guy? love this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF6bcTd3QBo released Oct 16th. 2012 Bio - from allmusic Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, just as the civil unrest that rocked the country was beginning, rapper K'NAAN spent the early years of his life trying to avoid death and listening to the hip-hop records sent to him from America by his father, who had left Somalia earlier. When K'NAAN (whose name means "traveler" in Somali) was 13, he, his mother, and his two siblings were able to leave their homeland and join relatives in Harlem, where they stayed briefly before moving to Rexdale, Ontario, where there was a large Somali community. As soon as his English started improving he began rapping, and in tenth grade he dropped out of school and traveled around North America for two years, performing occasionally. Through his friendship with Sol Guy, part of promotion team Direct Current Media, K'NAAN was able to perform at the United Nations' 50th anniversary concert in 1999, held in Geneva, where he used his platform to publicly criticize the United Nations' handling of the Somali crisis in the 1990s. One of the audience members, Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour, was so impressed by the young MC's performance and courage that he invited him to contribute to his 2001 album Building Bridges, a project through which K'NAAN was able to tour the world. In 2002, he met Jarvis Church, part of the Track and Field Productions team that helped propel Nelly Furtado to fame, a connection that eventually led to a record. The Dusty Foot Philosopher came out in Canada in 2005, and was followed with tour spots with Mos Def and Talib Kweli, as well as a performance at Live 8. In 2007, the live album On the Road appeared and then, two years later, the album Troubadour became K'NAAN's first for the major-label A&M. After his track "Wavin' Flag" became the anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, his More Beautiful Than Silence EP arrived in 2012. Album Review - from allmusic "See, my blood's on fire, I can't help but survive" declares K'NAAN on "The Seed," the kinetic opener to this Canadian singer's 2012 effort, Country, God or the Girl, another grand step down the Wyclef and U2 road where you'll find sincerity, grandness, poignancy, political anthems, and big productions, as in could-fill-a-canyon big. For this modern Marley-like man who crossed over with the global hit "Wavin' Flag," this is nothing new, but that all- encompassing title references how the personal and intimate have returned to his music here, as light melodies and reflections of growing old fill the precious and proud "Gold in Timbuktu," while "Bulletproof Pride," with special guest Bono, is universal truths and touching whimsy on a "You Can Call Me Al" level, kicking off with "I could have been a doctor, were it not for a degree" and building into a horn-filled jubilee that shakes with mirth. Rappin' what's happenin' as "Waiting Is a Drug" bounces like A Tribe Called Quest, K'NAAN peppers his harrowing story of growing up a Somalian Civil War refugee ("life is a cage" when your surrounded by "cold blades") with crisp, cool punch lines ("Shout out to anyone named 'Mohammed'/'Cause, no lie, I know about a hundred"). If "Is Anybody Out There?" feels just like B.o.B's "Airplanes" with a different rapper (K'NAAN) and a different grand hook deliverer (Nelly Furtado), it's still genuine and moving enough to overcome that déjà vu. Actually, the weird and wonderful whirlwind of funk, hip-hop, rock, and Nas called "Nothing to Lose" is the only thing that feels entirely new because Sting, will.i.am, Damian Marley, and others have done this multiculti, well-funded extravaganza thing before. Still, K'NAAN's a rock-solid songwriter with a charismatic delivery that rains down sparks of cool guy and clever, so call this familiar but rewarding one "Gracedland" or just "Highly Recommended." Track Listing 1. The Seed 2. Gold in Timbuktu 3. Waiting is a Drug 4. Better 5. Simple 6. Is Anybody Out There (feat. Nelly Furtado) 7. Hurt Me Tomorrow 8. Sound of My Breaking Heart 9. Nothing to Lose (feat. Nas) 10. 70 Excuses 11. Bulletproof Pride (feat. Bono) 12. The Wall13. Sleep When We Die (feat. Keith Richards) 14. More Beautiful Than Silence K'Naan - Country, God Or The Girl - CRAZY-HORSE - 19-10-2012 will check this one out on the weekend properly K'Naan - Country, God Or The Girl - DirtyScopeBeatz - 29-10-2012 Definitely going to check it out.