K’NAAN, the thrilling hip hop artist who writes Bob Marley-like anthems, played a sold-out concert Tuesday at the Fox Theatre in Boulder to a hand-waving and sing-a-long audience.
The rapper from Somalia by way of Toronto has lyrics that can humiliate the bravado of American hip hop stars, with street cred from the war-torn alleys of Mogadishu and life among pirates.
He can switch immediately to heart-felt songs with choruses about as catchy as a Madison Avenue jingle. On Tuesday he was also a seasoned showman, prompting the crowd into pogo-ing sing-alongs and revival-like hand-waving.
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K'NAAN brought his worldly interpretation of hip hop to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. Photos by Kyle Wagner, heyreverb.com.
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K'NAAN brought his worldly interpretation of hip hop to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. Photos by Kyle Wagner, heyreverb.com.
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K'NAAN brought his worldly interpretation of hip hop to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. Photos by Kyle Wagner, heyreverb.com.
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K'NAAN brought his worldly interpretation of hip hop to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. Photos by Kyle Wagner, heyreverb.com.
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K'NAAN brought his worldly interpretation of hip hop to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. Photos by Kyle Wagner, heyreverb.com.
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K'NAAN brought his worldly interpretation of hip hop to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. Photos by Kyle Wagner, heyreverb.com.
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K'NAAN brought his worldly interpretation of hip hop to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. Photos by Kyle Wagner, heyreverb.com.
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K'NAAN brought his worldly interpretation of hip hop to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. Photos by Kyle Wagner, heyreverb.com.
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K'NAAN brought his worldly interpretation of hip hop to the Fox Theatre on Tuesday night. Photos by Kyle Wagner, heyreverb.com.
Backed by a tight band, K’NAAN played songs almost exclusively from his 2009 album, “Troubadour,” opening his 90 minute set with “ABCs” — a song that was his first single off the album with lyrics that show his third-world roots, “They don’t teach us the ABCs / We play on the hard concrete.”
At times the Fedora’d singer came off a bit self-indulgent and almost killed the night with a pedestrian mash-up of U2’s “Stuck In A Moment You Can’t Get Out Of” and Jay Z’s “Hard Knock Life.” K’NANN, himself, must have recognized the crowd’s ambivalence, asking the audience whether they were too young to even know U2.He also came close to torpedoing his most popular song, “Wavin’ Flag” (a soundtrack for the 2010 World Cup games) with a tortured introduction.
Once the song began in earnest, though, all was forgiven.
The best part of the night that gave insight to why so many believe K’NAAN could be the “next big thing” was when the singer gave an a capella version of a heartfelt song about his native Somalia. It was the same version that he said he initially played for his family and friends that had everyone crying. It’s no wonder, with lyrics like, “They say since you learn how to kill, you should learn how to die,” sung in a hushed tone that invoked Michael Jackson at his most vulnerable.
K’NAAN, who said his tour has taken him to 62 countries, is bound to play bigger venues than the Fox. Surely then, everyone who was at this week’s show will be saying, “Remember when we saw him when…”
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Jeremy Meyer is an education reporter at The Denver Post and a regular contributor to Reverb.
Kyle Wagner is a music freak and journalist at The Denver Post.
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