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“I don’t label my music because it is just too rigid.” Vertelt K’naan in de skybox van de Amsterdam Arena. “I tell you though; hip-hop fans would tell you that this is hip-hop. People who listen to pop radio and who know Waving Flag would say that this is great pop music. People who know Fire in Freetown would say this is world music. It just depends on who you are talking to.” Het succes van de inmiddels wereldberoemde rapper is naar eigen zeggen niet uit de lucht komen vallen. Ondanks dat zijn eerste single dateert uit 2005, wordt hij door velen nog steeds gezien als nieuwkomer. Zijn nummer Waving Flag is door Coca-Cola verkozen als officieel anthem van het WK voetbal in Zuid-Afrika. Speciaal daarvoor heeft K’naan een nieuwe versie van het nummer opgenomen.

“I think Coca-Cola chose waving flag as their World Cup anthem because I think someone told them I drink a lot of Coca-Cola.” Grapte K’naan terwijl zijn sushi werd geserveerd. “I think they really felt the song. The song is a positive song. It celebrates unity and all of that. Coca-Cola asked me to write a new tune for their campaign. My problem I had with that was when you go in the studio as an artist and you have to write something for a specific subject of a campaign, that doesn’t usually becomes a song. It becomes a jingle. And I really didn’t want to write a jingle, so I told them I can’t really do that. I do have a song called Waving Flag that I think would fit perfectly, and they loved it. Waving Flag has hit the #1 position in so many countries, which is incredible. There are a few things that have happened that are huge. I think my favorite moment since we have spoken last time was bringing the Somali flag on to the stage of the World Cup.”

Na een lange voorbereiding begon op 11 juni het Wereld Kampioenschap voetbal in Zuid-Afrika. Dit is de eerste keer in de 80-jarige geschiedenis van het WK dat het toernooi wordt gespeeld in Afrika. Volgens velen had Zuid-Afrika niet de potentie om een evenement van dit kaliber te organiseren. “I think a lot of people are surprised, because the skepticism and criticism about the World Cup being held in South Africa is totally disproven. The atmosphere is incredible. There are peoples in thousands from every part of the world. When you go to the games it is so beautiful. People are very friendly and there is nothing to be afraid of. The people are chillin, it is great.” Aldus K’naan.

K'naan werd 32 jaar geleden geboren in de hoofdstad van Somalië, Mogadishu. Somalië staat tegenwoordig jammer genoeg bekend om hun meedogenloze krijgsheren. Een land waar zelfs ouderen en kinderen niet veilig zijn voor de gruwelijkheden van de oorlog. Het tijdschrift Forbes riep Somalië onlangs nog uit tot de meest gevaarlijke bestemming op de wereld. Onlangs bestormden militanten een woning in de hoofdstad Mogadishu en executeerden zij twee jonge mannen voor het kijken van het wereldkampioenschap voetbal.

“That hurts me more then anyone else.”Vertelt K’naan met veel moeite. “Because I think about it sometimes and I’ll be like, what if they had heard that a Somali guy was performing at the World Cup. What if they heard that and they would want to see one of their brothers be up on that stage and they got killed for that? That bothers me more than anyone you know. The last few nights I had problems sleeping because of that, but what can one do about it. I don’t have to address the issues in Somalia. There are a lot of successful Somali’s who never address these issues. I could be one of them too and make some money and buy a big house and not really think of the things that happen in Somalia. But that is just not in my nature. Something inside of me makes me address these issues. For the song 'Somalia' I play a special version live. I can play that song in Aspen, Colorado where people are not even aware of Somalia’s plight and the song will still evoke strong emotional reactions. Struggle is universal, and with my music I can transfer that in such a way that other people can feel my pain.”

Recentelijk werden de BET-awards uitgereikt in Los Angeles. K’naan was genomineerd voor de categorie ‘Best International Act’. Voor veel mensen is dit niet meer dan logisch, maar vergeet dan vooral niet dat mede-Canadees Drake en mede-Afrikaan Akon niet onder deze categorie vallen. Dit is wat K’naan hierover te zeggen had via zijn Twitter: “Hmm, I'm thinking BET's "international" category really stands for "shit we don't play" cause otherwise Drake would have been on the list.”

“I don’t feel like I am being discriminated by the BET Awards.” Vertelt K’naan. “I just think that the questions that I was raising on my twitter were just funny. Like listen, I’m friends with Drake, we are both Canadian except I am Somali as well. He got nominated as an American in the BET Awards, while I was nominated as a Somali. If you think about this you would say yeah that’s because you are also Somali. But Akon would not be nominated as a Senegalese. He would be nominated as an American. This is like a weird thing they haven’t figured out yet.They asked me to do this thing that they were going to air during the night, because I can’t be there. I’m thinking about making a funny little thing out of it where I will make fun of the whole situation. Like I would dress up as an African and talk with an accent because that’s how they think of me anyways.”

Het artiestenleven is naast bijzonder ook enerverend. Zoals veel artiesten kan hij niet altijd evenveel genieten van het leven als muzikant. Hij is tenslotte ook maar een mens. “Imagine sometimes I got to really check myself. I have good friends around me that remind me that we really got to do this music thing. Sometimes I don’t really want to play a show and I’ll be like; I’m not going to go on stage. I need K’naan time too. I’m only human I can’t do this. My friends would turn to me and would remind me that there are thousands of people waiting for me who have planned for months to come and see my show. And they would say: “K, to you this is your thousand show but to them its their first.” Aldus K’naan.

Toen K'naan veertien was begon de burgeroorlog in Somalië en verhuisde hij naar Toronto Canada. In 2005 kwam zijn debuutalbum The Dusty Foot Philosopher uit en werd in Canada meteen bekroond met een Juno Award voor Beste Rapalbum. Dat leverde K'naan een contract op bij A&M/Octone, onderdeel van EMI. Op 24 februari verscheen zijn meest recente album Troubadour. Een album waaraan verschillende grote, maar vooral ook diverse namen hebben meegewerkt, zoals Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Adam Levine (Maroon 5), Mos Def, Damian Marley en rapper Chubb Rock. Onlangs werkte K’naan nog met Nas en Damian Marley voor hun Distant Relatives album. Voor het album nam hij 3 nummers op, waarvan er uiteindelijk 2 het album hebben gehaald.

“Nas is one of my favorite artists of all times.”Vertelt K’naan met een grote glimlach. “We happened to become very good friends because he really got into my music. He told me that nowadays he uses my music to help him write new songs. I’m flying high when it comes to stuff like that. Nas felt that my verse on Tribal Wars was one of the best verses on the album. But I don’t know. I don’t have some kind of meter to judge those things. I think my Wale verse is my best verse up to date. I said better lines on that track than I did on Tribal wars. I think people liked that track because I was really explaining something. And I was really precise in my explanation.”

“The other day I recorded a song with Akon.” Vertelt K’naan verder. “Akon and I were trying to get in the studio for a long time. We have been friends of each other for many years. Finally he called me when his plane landed in South Africa and said: ‘If it doesn’t happen now than it would be a shame.’ So we jumped in the studio and we recorded a song that I’m really proud of.”

“I’m also working on some new videos for the singles 'Take a minute' and 'Bang Bang' with Adam Levine. People are happy with Troubadour, but on my next album I’m about to take them to another level.”

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