K’naan was living in Somalia when the Somani Civil War broke out. He was lucky enough to get a Visa and board the last flight to North America in 1991 before the American Embassy closed in the war-torn country. He’s lived in Toronto ever since, teaching himself English as well as the art of rapping by listening to other hip-hop albums and copying them phonetically. His first album, “My Life Is a Movie,” came out in 2004, and since then he’s released several more albums, including this year’s “Troubadour,” which “Wavin’ Flag” appears on.
The official video for the song was released this week, another milestone to top off a busy year. K’naan wrapped up a tour with Jason Mraz before hitting the road with icon Lenny Kravitz. He’s now in the midst of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Cup Trophy Tour, where he performed in places like Ethiopia last week. He tweeted, “I gotta say, Kenya was amazing, Uganda was great, but nowhere in the world thus far parallels da love i've been given in Djibouti & Ethiopia.”
Canadian artists have had tracks chosen for worldwide soccer events before – for Euro 2004, “Forca” by B.C.-native Nelly Furtado was the official song.
