K'naan

Keinan Abdi Warsame (born 16 April 1978) (Keynaan Cabdi Warsame, كَينَان عَبدِ وَرسَمَ Kaynān ʿAbdi Warsama), better known by his stage name K'naan (ˈkeɪnɑːn), is a Somali-Canadian musician. He rose to prominence with the success of his single "Wavin' Flag", which was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Besides hip hop, K'naan's sound is influenced by elements of Somali music and world music. He is also involved in various philanthropic initiatives. K'naan was born 16 April 1978 in Mogadishu, situated in the southeastern Banaadir province of Somalia. K'naan's family was from an artistic background. His grandfather was a famous poet, and his aunt Magool was a renowned singer. His name, Keynaan (ˈkeɪnɑːn), means "traveller" in the Somali language. K'naan spent his childhood in Mogadishu. His father, Abdi, left earlier when he was still a boy to work as a taxi driver in New York City. K'naan's early years were idyllic and enveloped in poetry and song, with his aunt Magool often singing to him. This changed following the start of the civil war, when at the age of 12, three of his friends were shot by an older adolescent gunman. K'naan also narrowly escaped death one day at his school, when he mistook a grenade that he found in the dirt for a potato and threw it away just before it detonated. These incidents and the general escalation in violence prompted his mother to seek a visa so that the family could join his father in New York. When he was 13, K'naan and his mother and two siblings, older brother Liban and younger sister Sagal, moved to the United States. They stayed in New York for half a year, before relocating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, his family still resides there. In his new environment, 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, he taught himself hip-hop and rap diction, copying the lyrics and style phonetically. He then also began rapping.