K'naan quotes

K'naan is a Somali-Canadian musician, poet, and rapper, recognized for blending hip-hop with traditional Somali music. His song "Wavin' Flag" gained worldwide fame as an anthem for unity and hope. He uses his art to highlight social issues and share stories from his homeland. Here are 15 of his quotes:

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)
The people of Somalia just do not have a voice. They are to me the most forgotten people in the world. View quote
K'naan
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. View quote
K'naan
The poetry I grew up on is really an intense form of poetry; it's so pure and powerful. View quote
K'naan
I am one of those people that's never been really cynical about life, you know. View quote
K'naan
Somalis really are very musically sophisticated, and they're about their own thing. View quote
K'naan
I enjoy meditation. I think the artist's position is often to mend the things we feel are broken. Whether that's between two cultures or two thoughts. We're always trying to reach, trying to expand something. View quote
K'naan
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. View quote
K'naan
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. View quote
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. View quote
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)
I'm writing from a place of - a center of authenticity, somewhere that only I know how to write from. View quote
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. View quote
K'naan
I wasn't making music consciously when I was younger. I was a musician, but that has its own stigmas. Anywhere on the planet, it's one of the more undervalued positions. View quote
K'naan
It was not my dream to be an artist. How could it have been? I thought, artist, much like a leader, was something you either were or weren't. Never something you set out to be. View quote
K'naan

K'naan

K'naan - Image
Photo: David Shankbone, CC BY 2.0
Occupation: Somali Musician
Born: May 30, 1978
Quotes count: 15