K'naan Quotes K'naan 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. Art Country High Regard Language Loser Music Otherwise Success
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. K'naan
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. K'naan
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. K'naan
The people of Somalia just do not have a voice. They are to me the most forgotten people in the world. K'naan
The problem is that rap is so often a caricature of its own image. Nobody comes to the table with the seriousness of the effect that it can have; nobody is prepared for that. K'naan
I don't feel political most of the time. Sometimes I'm placed in positions because no one else will go there. K'naan
I'm not about trying to get and get and get. I feel good when I get, but I kind of feel better when I give. K'naan
Hip-hop in Africa has been very often a duplication of an American experience, but in a context that's totally alien to it. K'naan
From the stage, I can reach a large audience, and you learn from being on stage how much a song reaches, what extent of the crowd a song can reach. I write in a way that can reach most of the audience, but I also wanted to have truly intimate moments as well, many intimate moments, more so than the big moments. K'naan
I was raised to be very wary of the police. I was raised to stay away from them unless you absolutely have to. Because they're dangerous. Nora K. Jemisin
Every emancipation has in it the seeds of a new slavery, and every truth easily becomes a lie. I.F. Stone