K'naan

At 46 years old, K'naan physical status not available right now. We will update K'naan's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Keinan Abdi Warsame (Somali: Somali) is a Somali poet, singer, guitarist, and instrumentalist.

He rose to fame with the success of his single "Wavin' Flag," which was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

K'naan's sound is influenced by elements of Somali music and world music, in lieu of hip hop.

He has been involved in several philanthropic causes as well.

Personal life

K'naan was born in Mogadishu, the southeastern Banaadir province of Somalia, on February 1, 1978. K'naan's family came from an artistic background. His grandfather, who was also a well-known writer, and his aunt Magool was a well-known singer. In the Somali language, his name, Keynaan (), refers to "traveler" (traveller).

K'naan spent his youth in Mogadishu. When he was still a boy, his father, Abdi, left to work as a taxi driver in New York City. K'naan's early years were idyllic and engulfed in poetry and song, with his aunt Magool often singing to him. Following the outbreak of the civil war, three of his friends were shot by an older adolescent gunman at the age of 12. When he mistook a grenade he found in the dirt for a potato and threw it away right before it detonated, K'naan barely escaped death one day at school. Because of the incidents and the general increase of violence, his mother was prompted to request a visa so that the family could visit his father in New York. When he was 13, K'naan and his mother, two siblings, older brother Liban, and younger sister Sagal immigrescend to the United States. They were in New York for half a year before relocating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where his family lives there.

K'naan started learning English in his new environment, partly by listening to hip hop albums by artists like Nas and Rakim. Despite the fact that he could not yet speak the language, he learned hip-hop and rap diction, copying the lyrics and style phonetically. He also started rapping. K'naan lost many friends to murder, suicide, jail, and deportation while growing up in Toronto's Rexdale neighborhood.

In 2006, K'naan returned to New York City, where his father still lived. Born in 2005 and 2007, K'naan was married to Deqa, a pharmacy technician with whom he has two sons. The couple divorced before K'naan joined Coca-Cola for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

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Career

In 1999, K'naan became a friend and associate of Canadian promoter Sol Guy, who helped him secure a speaking engagement before the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, where he wrote a letter accusing the UN of its failed peacekeeping missions to Somalia. Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour, one of the audience members, was so impressed by the young MC's appearance and courage that he invited him to participate in his 2001 album Building Bridges, a program by which K'naan was able to tour the world.

This project culminated in his appearances at other UN conferences, as well as the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Halifax Pop Explosion. It also helped him connect with Canadian producer Brian West and Jarvis Church's Track & Field team in 2002, who produced his debut album The Dusty Foot Philosopher, which was released in 2005 to critical acclaim. It received the Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year in 2006 and was nominated for the 2006 Polaris Music Prize. In the newcomer category for 2007, it also received the BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music. In 2008, the Dusty Foot Philosopher was re-released and repackaged as a "Deluxe Version" featuring new tunes and a bonus DVD in the United States (and other international territories) by the new media company and record label iM (Interdependent Media, Inc.).

K'naan toured and collaborated with artists such as Nelly Furtado, Mos Def, Will.am, Dead Prez, and Pharoahe Monch on tours such as Live 8 and Breedlove Odyssey. He also worked with Damian Marley on the "Welcome to Jamrock" touring session.

On the Road, K'naan introduced The Dusty Foot on the Road, a series of tracks from his world tour on Wrasse Records.

By participating in the 2008 BET Awards Cypher, K'naan came to mainstream fame. This was his first appearance on American television. Troubadour, his second studio album, was released on A&M/Octone Records on February 24, 2009, and was distributed worldwide by Universal Music Group. "ABC's," the album's first single, was released in late 2008. K'naan's music has appeared in numerous video games, including Madden NFL 09 (with his song "ABC") and FIFA 06 (with his song "Soobax")). Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett appears in the song "If Rap Gets Jealous," a re-recording of a track of the same name with different verses from The Dusty Foot Philosopher. K'naan was also the first featured artist on X3, a CBC Radio 3 collaborative project. Exclaim! New Canadian music will be promoted by a magazine and an aux.tv. He did a cover of U2's "Stuck in a Time You Can't Get Out Of" for iheartradio in July 2010. "More Than Silence" is a Japanese word that refers to music by K'naan, which includes songs such as "Nothing to Lose," "Better," and "Is Anybody Out There?" The songs also feature collaborations with Nas and Nelly Furtado.

Country, God or the Girl, K'naan's 2012 album, was met with little of Troubadour's critical acclaim and success. Unlike Troubadour, which was almost entirely produced by a design team Track and Field, Country, God, or the Girl, the Girl featured a diverse range of different designers, some of whom work on more mainstream projects. K'naan wrote an article in the New York Times announcing and apologizing for the change in his sound since the album's outing. "My songs should change,' my company's leaders said; radio programmers avoid topics that are too far from fun and self-absorption," K'naan says. "I began to say yes. Yes, we're excited to try out songs from A-list producers. "Yes, we're moving from Kingston to Los Angeles." "I hadn't made my Marley, my Dylan, or even my K'naan," K'naan says; an album in which a few genuine songs have been virtually drowned out by the tumultuous siren of ambition. Fatima was Mary and Adam was Mohamed, Mohammed.

When I Get Older: The Story Behind Wavin's Flag was published in 2012.

In the Cosmopolis (2012) soundtrack, he is joined by Howard Shore.

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Awards and nominations

• 2006 Juno Awards
  • Rap Recording of the Year for The Dusty Foot Philosopher (Won)
• 2010 Juno Awards
  • Rap Recording of the Year for Troubadour (Nominated)
  • Artist of the Year (Won)
  • Songwriter of the Year (Won)
• 2010 Mobo Awards
  • African Artist of the Year (Won)
• 2011 Juno Awards
  • Single of the Year (Won)
• 2011 SOCAN International Achievement Award
• 2012 MTV Music Video Awards
  • Best Video With a Message (Nominated)
• 2012 Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award Winner
• African Muzik Magazine Awards
  • Best Male Diaspora (Pending)