(Blog) Somalia-Canadian rapper K'Naan stole beats from Oromo singer
Published 06/11/2009
- 2:30 a.m. GMT
(Blog) Somalia-Canadian rapper K'Naan stole beats from Oromo singer?
By Blogger Jaalala
Why would an African steal songs and beats from another African? I just heard this week that one of my new favorite singers/rappers, Somali-Canadian K'Naan, stole the beats of Oromo-Ethiopian singer Tilahun Gessesse. Even worse, K'Naan is getting millions of hits, awards and fame from these songs at the same time while the great legend Tilahun recently passed away. Tilahun was one of the best muti-ethnic singers in Ethiopian history, very talented and the first Oromo singer to use modern mass media technology for Afan Oromo songs. Especially for those who love oldies tunes, Tilahune's songs will surely live forever.
It is sad that K'Naan did not respect Tilahun and other singers which he copied beats from. It is one thing to casually acknowledge that he was influenced by music from Ethiopia, which he had admitted before on the sideline. But it is completely another thing to copy and paste full similar themes and exactly identical beats from other singers WITHOUT GIVING FORMAL CREDIT to the original composer (s). The somali rapper K'Naan should respect fellow African singers instead of making money from other people's work or not giving credit.
Please watch the video below and judge for yourself.
By the way, i liked K'Naan and his songs. He got skills and a growing African fan base. He was even wearing an Ethiopian flag wristband in some of his music videos. (not many somalis would ever do that) Some of his songs are simply amazing but if he hopes to keep his fans, he should apoligize or formally give credit to Tilahun and other singers, composers he stole works from.
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I bought both the Troubadour and Dusty foot philosopher. K'naan gives credit for every song he smapled plus he is in Major record lebel which means they wouldn't release his album without clearance. When you sample a beat, you get the original artist's permission and give them some money which K'naan did. Now like the dude above me said, if you would purchase his albums instead of downloading, you would know all these by reading the fine prints which i myself read. Do some reseach before posting something so inaccurate and making youself look very stupid. Can you read? if so, go buy troubadour and it will tell you everything you need to know. K'naan is great artist and in my opinion, he is better than any other rapper. I never listened Rap before K'naan. I love his work and i'm not even african. besides if he didn't sample them, noone would even known who those african artists are therefore he did them a huge favour for introducing them to the world.
1. K'naan did not steal anything. He obtained permission to use the material.
2. He showed respect to the original artists by giving them full credit in his album liner notes. Did you bother to read them?
3. Why didn't you check the facts thoroughly before you printed such incorrect assumptions?
Your journalism is grossly at fault and not helpful at all. What you've written only nurtures unwarranted, undesired, and unneccassary negativity. Shame on you!
What are you saying about k'naan singing the exact words of other somali artists, whether it is from an old artist or current one's. I also have issues with him even singing the same melody's from our favorite artists of somali heritage, I have heard many songs of k'naan and as a Somali person it's terrible to see him enrich himself from other somali artists work. I understand he's trying to have little somali flavor into his work but i would advise him to be more original. I myself did not purchase the album because i would be ripping off the original artist's work. it's seems like this has been a trend for him, from what i heard of his last two albums. On other note, we don't care if american hip hop artists sample other people's work because they don't hold music to higher standard like we African's do.
Its not stealing, its call sampling, which means you sample the beat and take beep or same of it and create your own.
and K’naan sample lots of African early 70’s and 60’s music to honour and make people in the west aware of the richness of African music and artists in the past.
