K'naan Quotes

The only way I see the world now is through coming out of and growing up and living in Somalia. In the time of war, everyone was basically trying to live and manage the best they could. But you also had another period which was not a hard time at all – it was just a beautiful time. I lived in both eras.

You have to let the world speak to you and then you speak, you know, so I'm in that moment now where I'm finding the world's voice.

I am one of those people that's never been really cynical about life, you know.

I think it's a mistake to work on success in career. I've worked on my passions obsessively. How can I say what I want to say more precisely than the last time I said it? Success is such an elusive concept. When you work for it, I think you get it in a way you might regret it.

Art isn't held with the same high regard as it is after success. In any country, in any language, you're a loser if you're making music until you prove otherwise.

I faced quite a few challenging times, and in front of those, I was more positive than some people not facing those conditions. I'm actually of the belief now that it is that struggle that offers you that open-hearted hope.

Somalis really are very musically sophisticated, and they're about their own thing.

Hip-hop in Africa has been very often a duplication of an American experience, but in a context that's totally alien to it.

To reach your goal authentically is probably, in the end, going to mean much more to you than having reached it in a false way.

I'm an optimist about other people. I'm not an optimist about myself.

It was interesting to find how dominating American vision is all over the world. I think there's something to be said about the world's mindset and its economics and all of that, and I think it affects the way we see ourselves and it affects music.

Quotes of the Hour

My parents wouldn't have sent me out into the world with wool over my eyes. You have to be aware, or you'll be swallowed.

The way I feel today, as long as my health is good and I can handle myself well and people still come to my concerts, still buy my CDs, I'll keep playing until I feel like I can't.

Luck is not something you can mention in the presence of self-made men.

I’d rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not.

I don't really understand why so many fantasy writers choose to focus on worlds that just seem strangely denuded. But to them, I guess it doesn't seem strange. And I guess that's their privilege. It isn't mine.

K'naan Quotes

More Related Quotes

Quotes of the Hour

Popular Topics