July 4, 2010
by CartOOnist ARiF
K’naan (pronounced /ˈkeɪnɑːn/), born Keinan Abdi Warsame (Somali: Keynaan Cabdi Warsame, Arabic: كنعان عبدي ورسمه) in 1978, is a Somali-Canadian poet, rapper, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist.
Biography
Born in Somalia, K’naan spent his childhood in Mogadishu and lived there during the Somali Civil War, which began in 1991. His aunt, Magool, was one of Somalia’s most famous singers. K’naan’s grandfather, Haji Mohammad, was a poet. He isMuslim, and his name, Keinan, means “traveler” in the Somali language. He spent the early years of his life listening to the hip-hop records sent to him from America by his father, who had left Somalia earlier. When he was 13, K’naan, his mother, and his three siblings, older brother, Liban, and younger sisters Naciimo, Sagal were able to leave their homeland and join relatives in New York City, where they stayed briefly before moving to Canada, to the Toronto neighbourhood ofRexdale, where there was a large Somali community and his family still resides. There, K’naan began learning English, partly by listening to hip hop albums by artists like Nas and Rakim. Despite the fact that he could not yet speak the language, the young K’naan taught himself hip hop and rap diction, copying the lyrics and style phonetically. He then also began rapping.
He is married to Deqa, a pharmacist. They have two sons, born in 2005 and 2007. Read more of this post
