Does political correctness play a role in music? Does it play a role in the rap game? My answer to both questions is yes, you’re damn right it does! I was watching “curb your enthusiasm” (my new favorite show) the other night and Larry David faced a dilemma. A director that he worked with wanted a recommendation and this director also had a sob story about his son whom suffered from some muscular disability. Now this director was terrible and Larry was well aware of this. But because of the sad story of his son he recommended him to his friend (Richard Lewis) to use him in a pilot episode. While watching it I stopped to think for a moment, “Doesn’t this occur in the record industry a lot?” I feel lots of people got signed or come out with albums just based upon their back story.
I’ll stop beating around the bush, I’m specifically talking about K’naan. I will openly say that this man has taken advantage of his background and surrounding political environment. Here is a brief bio of early life of K’naan taken from Wikipedia:

“Born in Mogadishu, Somalia, K’naan spent his childhood in the district of Wardhiigleey (“The Lake of Blood”) 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 Mohamed, was a poet. K’naan is also a Muslim. His name, K’naan, means “traveller” in the Somali language.
K’naan’s father, Abdi, left the country, along with many other intellectuals to settle in New York City and work as a cab driver. He mailed money home to his family.[3] As the civil war continued and the situation in Somalia continued to deteriorate, K’naan’s mother, Marian Mohamed, petitioned the United States embassy for an exit visa. In 1991, on the last day the US embassy remained open as the government of Mohamed Siad Barre collapsed, their visa was approved, and they boarded the last commercial flight out of the country.[4]
They joined relatives in Harlem, New York City, before moving to the Toronto, Ontario neighbourhood of Rexdale, where there was a large Somali Canadian community.[5] His family still lives there. In his new country, K’naan began learning English, some through hip hop albums by artists like Nas and Rakim. Despite speaking no English, the young K’naan taught himself hip hop and rap diction, copying the lyrics and style phonetically.[4] He then also began rapping.[3] He dropped out of school in grade ten to travel for a time, rapping at open mic events, and eventually returned to Toronto.”

As you can see K’naan’s personal history is very involved and rather moving when reading. Basically a refugee from Africa comes to North America finding freedom of expression, different lifestyle etc. But just because someone goes through trials and tribulations in life doesn’t make them a great artist. I recently sat down and took the time to listen to his new album that just came out titled “Troubadour.” After listening to this album, I was left in a baffled state. How could this get hype? Are people being nice about the situation and not saying anything bad about the album? I am convinced that critics and people are more interested in K’naan’s life story than his music. And the reason I say this, is because if anyone would say something negative, it would perhaps be deemed politically incorrect. “What? How dare you? Are you aware that this man has lived in a third world country? Do you know what he has been through?”
Some of you may know I come from an Ethiopian background and me writing this isn’t any Somali/Ethiopian beef. And some of you may be aware I am a huge K-Os fan and this has nothing to do with me taking K-Os’s side of the K’naan vs. K-Os beef. This is just my confusion of why this album has gotten critic acclaim. There are no excuses for weak rhymes. Not only that, but “bold” political statements are so easily forgiven from the man. In an interview with NPR recently K’naan was talking about how he found the ghettos of America “humorous”. He went on to say how most rappers don’t know what it’s like to live in a dangerous place. Now, why would you insult a lot of rappers in the American music industry and try to release an album in the United States? I would seriously like to see K’naan walk around the projects of Brownsville, Brooklyn at 2am at night. See what happens then.
Don’t take my word for it. Go listen to his new album and judge for yourself. But in a musical scope and not political, the album is lame. I just don’t see how this album could really be considered good. Despite the fact his voice is incredibly annoying, the production just doesn’t really work as a whole. The predictable rhymes that are laid down on the tracks could have been done by a high school student. Going back to my analogy from the beginning of this post with Larry David, I feel like I’m put in a situation where it’s wrong to discredit K’naan because of what he’s done in his life despite the fact his music is horrible. The fact I would be labeled as insensitive jerk to his work to me is preposterous.

Written by Othello aka Ari 40 oz Gold

Browse Timeline

• « REAL WHITE GUYS, THE NEW ENDANGERED SPECIES
• » How To Resuscitate Hip Hop

Comments ( 1 Comment )

Add a Comment