The grandson of one of Somalia's most famous poets, K'Naan Warsame started rapping verses from his heroes Nas and Rakim as a young child - but without actually speaking a word of English at the time. K'naan is originally from an area with the harrowing name River of Blood, a notorious part of Mogadishu, Somalia. By the time he was 13, he had already been on both ends of guns and seen classmates die but then by a stroke of luck K'naan, his mother and siblings managed to leave war-torn Somalia on what would prove to be the final commercial flight out of Mogadishu. In 2001 after gaining notoriety as a skilled mc and spoken word poet, K'Naan was invited to Geneva to perform a spoken word piece at the 2001 50th anniversary of the UN Commission for Refugee's. In front of some of the most influential politicians in the world, K'Naan brought the house down with his politically charged poems, in which he called out the UN for its failed relief mission in Somalia. The audience was so moved by the piece that they gave him a standing ovation and African superstar Youssou N'Dour who was also in attendance loved the performance so much that he invited K'Naan to Senegal to record with him. Similarly, in Toronto in 2002 while recording a verse for a War Child benefit track entitled "Keep the Beat, K'Naan’s unique flow caught the attention of artist/producer Jarvis Church, one half of the Grammy award winning production team Track and Field (Nelly Furtado). From there began a creative partnership that would lead to the creation of K'naan’s' first full length album "The Dusty Foot Philosopher."

Website www.thedustyfoot.com