K'Naan Warsame is one of my favorite rappers. His lyrics are deep, on point, conscious, and real. He combines spoken word artistry with African rhythms and his life experiences. He has gone through a lot and he sums it up in one line - "If I rhymed about home and got descriptive, I'll make 50 Cent look like Limp Bizkit".

Yesterday, I attended my first K'Naan concert. I am not done seeing K'Naan perform because the energy he and his band bring on stage and to the crowd is something music fans want again and again. My friends and I got to the club (where he was going to be performing) around 11 but he didn't show up on stage until 12 midnight. The DJ played some good tunes to keep the crowd dancing but personally I would have rather sat somewhere and listened to some K'Naan tunes in anticipation of his performance. Hearing lines like "I'm so sick my rhyme book throws a fit/ I need a vaccination just so I can spit my own shit" (from African way) have to be better than trying to have a good time while waiting for K'Naan to show up.

K'Naan finally arrived to some thunderous cheers from the crowd that had paid around $10 to see him. For all the promoters out there, a K'Naan concert deserves a fee of more than $10 so please note this for next time. The first song K'Naan Warsame performed was 'In the beginning', the fan favorite which made it onto the soundtrack of the Harold and Kumar: Escape from Guantanamo Bay movie. He followed that with 'Until the lion learns to speak' which had the crowd shouting "Hahee" at the top of their voices. Sometimes, I felt I was singing even louder than K'Naan. Soon after, K'Naan was going off the stage to shouts of "Encore, Encore, Encore".

When he came back, he served up two new songs. He taught us to sing the chorus which goes as follows: "When I get older, I will be stronger, they'll call me freedom, just like a waving flag". These are the kinds of lyrics that make K'Naan the best kept secret in all of the rap industry. I think this song is called Freedom. Search youtube for clips. He raps about home, he raps about hope, he raps about the things people from all walks of life can take cues from. He also performed what he said a friend called the "most ghetto song he (K'Naan) had ever wrote". The hook was "You can pick it up today, it's fifteen minutes way". The song was about Western Union money transfers. Have you ever waited on a money transfer right after the sender told you he/she just sent it your way? Sometimes, it could take an eternity. K'Naan's new album, due early 2009, is called 'Troubadour'. Watch out for songs like 'Freedom', I'm just gonna take a minute', '15 minutes away', 'I come prepared', etc. He also performed a new song which he said combined 50's, 60's, Ethiopian music with today's hip hop.

After every performance, the crowd would shout their favorite K'Naan songs hoping those would get played. I heard nominations for 'Smile', 'Strugglin', 'If rap gets jealous', 'I was stabbed by Satan', 'Wash it down' but 'What's hardcore' won the first round and K'Naan and his crew gave a delightful performance. They rounded off all the whole show with 'Soobax', the song which was featured on the FIFA 06 soundtrack. K'Naan is quite the drummer and his talent was on display. I felt the show was short but he did perform about 7 songs and the crowd was really appreciative. After all, we only paid 6 to 10 dollars.

K'Naan has been performing all over the world for years now and he has an entourage of fans everywhere. He's now signed to label which should help push him into the limelight more and earn him shows at bigger places. K'Naan is a fresh voice for hip-hop, cast in the Mos Def and Talib Kweli type. He's more than a rapper like his "If rap gets jealous" track suggests, and he's not just a spoken word artiste. I don't want to even go on about his experiences living in Somalia and how he escaped from the brutality of the war there. He tells all in his music. In fact, too many of his lyrics are important to pick a couple of lines to blog about.

I can't wait for K'Naan's new album, it's been a long time coming. I heard he recorded it in Jamaica in Bob Marley's old house with Stephen and Damian Marley. I expect an even better album this time around and with the new songs I've heard him perform on Youtube, we are in for a great treat. I love how he keeps on repping Somalia and Africa too. Museke.com will bring you more info on his new tracks and album. Stay tuned.

Watch one clip of K'Naan performing Freedom