For Record Store Day tomorrow, K’naan will be giving away a free limited edition 7″ at participating independent stores. The 7″ will include unreleased track “Waiting Is A Drug” and K’naan’s cover of Bob Dylan‘s “With God On Our Side”, which was previously featured on an Amnesty International compilation. Stream the cover below and watch one of three fan-made videos for “Waiting Is A Drug” above (the rest can be viewed here).
K’naan gets mega-star producer will.i.am to rework his Nas-featuring More Beautiful Than Silence standout “Nothing To Lose”. Will.i.am flips the beat for a laidback, guitar-driven progression coupled with blues-man samples. K’naan adds a new end verse (2:50) while Nas’ bars remain untouched — as do the original Toronto-streets visuals. Watch above.
K’naan and Nelly Furtado‘s More Beautiful Than Silence tune soundtracks sullen teenage times in this new Chris Robinson-directed clip for “Is Anybody out There”. K’naan’s upcoming Country, God or The Girl album is set for a May release. See both Canucks playing the track live on Letterman, watch the music video above.
K’naan stopped by David Letterman last night to perform “Is Anybody Out There” with Nelly Furtado (it’s been a minute). K’naan rocks a Canadian tuxedo, Nelly goes black-on-black, Letterman’s unsure what “EP” stands for and the duo do a pretty flawless rendition of the More Beautiful Than Silence cut. Watch above.
(via TRU)
K’naan and Nas link up with a keffiyeh-donning crew to trek the streets of Toronto, visit neighborhood spots like Poets & Pirates Cafe and hang with Marlo Stanfield [2:44]. K’naan raps rocks, chucks and Fugees while Nas spits Somali war lines — they each also give a spoken summation of the “Nothing To Lose” youth paradigm.
Check out OKP’s exclusive interview with both MCs on the set of the music video. And read our in-depth talk with K’naan on working with Nas and transnational identities. More Beautiful Than Silence EP is available now.
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The fam at Okayplayer got this exclusive clip of K’naan and Nas on the video set for their joint track “Nothing To Lose,” in OKP’s words:
Straight from the set of a shoot for the forthcoming video for their collaboration “Nothing to Lose,” distant relatives NaS and K’naan chop it up on who linked them up (three guesses and the first two Marleys don’t count) how they subsequently came to work together and on building a Pan-African bridge across the gulf between Queensbridge and Somalia.
Check out our exclusive interview with K’naan on working with Nas, transnational identity and his More Beautiful Than Silence EP.
K’naan drops another lyric-video for More Beautiful Than Silence track “Coming To America.” He dished on the making-of the song in our interview:
We were in the studio, me and Chuck Harmony, messing around talking about Eddie Murphy’s flick. And I mentioned to him I have this idea of doing a song about that. Kind of the non-comedy version of it, the real serious version of it. Then he pulled out some samples and we used that real prominent sample. That stereotype of Africa, what they hear when they think Africa — that Paul Simon Graceland, you know. That kind of sound. I wanted to slip that in, so we made that song.
Elsewhere, house producer/DJs Richard Dinsdale, Cutmore, and MYNC have remixed MBTS‘s “Is Anybody Out There ft. Nelly Furtado.” Hear a cut below.
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“Is Anybody Out? There ft. Nelly Furtado” (Richard Dinsdale Club Mix)
Somalia’s troubadour released this lyric-video for the Coldplay-sampling “Better” off his More Beautiful Than Silence EP. The track, produced by One Republic‘s Ryan Tedder, sees K’naan addressing pre-fame times — way before “Wavin’ Flag” and the FIFA/ I was a dreamer/ Life was a gamble.
Read our in-depth interview with K’naan on Nas, the new EP and transnational identity. And check out other clips for “Nothing To Lose ft. Nas” and “Is Anybody Out There” with Nelly Furtado. More Beautiful Than Silence is coppable now.
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Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has been using K’naan‘s global hit “Wavin’ Flag” (above) throughout his campaign tour, seemingly in honor of the ol’ red white and blue. The incidence prompted K’naan to release a statement yesterday saying:
“I have not been asked for permission by Mitt Romney’s campaign for the use of my song. If I had been asked, I would certainly not have granted it. I would happily grant the Obama campaign use of my song without prejudice.”
Romney’s camp claim the song was used through the campaign’s regular blanket license but, out of respect for K’Naan’s statement, won’t be used again. Chapter closed. Still not as bad as Ronald Reagan‘s complete misinterpretation of Bruce Springsteen‘s “Born in the U.S.A.”
Below, watch Jon Stewart‘s breakdown of the staggering (nauseating) wealth of Mitt Romney. Clue: he paid $6 million in taxes last year.
Audio/Video: K’naan ‘Hurt Me Tomorrow’
Here’s a new joint from Somali troubadour K’naan. “Hurt Me Tomorrow” is an anti-significant-other uplifter that sounds equally influenced by McCartney‘s piano ballads and Cee-Lo‘s 2010 gold-digger bashing tune. Watch K’naan debut the song live at Jay Leno above (props Yardie) and stream the proper recorded cut below.
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>>>Stream: K’naan “Hurt Me Tomorrow”