The Graceless Limp of a Befuddled Fox

A few weeks ago, I wrote a review of K'Naan's third and latest studio album, "Country, God, or the Girl." In the review I criticized Somalia native for ineffective features and an overall ingenuine feel as he strayed from his usual subjects and inspirations, to a more pop and Top 40 worthy soundscape. I was not alone in my sentiments. Millions of fans worldwide were discontent with the straying sound and fleeting poignancy of their beloved "Dusty Foot Philosopher." In yesterday's Issue of The New York Times, K'Naan addressed these issues in an introspective essay about the age old tension between success and artistic truthfulness.

The essay begins with a Somalian fable about a fox who had a beautiful walk but lost it in an attempt to imitate the walk of a prophet. After he failed to match the prophet's gait, he finds that he had forgotten his own walk and was left with the unremarkable way the fox walks today. K'Naan proceeds to explain how he, the fox, was pressured by his record label and the music industry as a whole, to imitate the walk of the popular artist and as a result, forgot his own once beautiful walk.

Censorship is any artists worst nightmare, and K'Naan suggests that in the interest of success, he was forced to censor himself. Before recording the album, his record label had urged him alter his style. They didn't tell him what to do or give him specific choices but rather " raised [a question] in the quiet of [his] soul." Was success worth separting from his lyrical and artistic identity? In a desperate attemot to alter his walk, he was jammed in a corner of self censorship, that left "bruises on the unheard lyrics of [his] yet-to-be-born songs." Whereas his previous albums are strongly inspired and centered around Somalia, this latest release strays away from his usual artistic and lyrical chakra. On "The Dusty Foot Philospher" he spoke of his cousin Mohammed who was left in the war zone of Somalia on the account of insufficient funds and on "Troubador" he sang longingly of a lost love, Fatima who was shot and killed in mere adolescence. Those extremely emotional and powerful anecdotes are unfourtunately, exactly what the general public doesn't like. "Radio programmers avoid subjects too far from fun and self-absorption." As a result, K'Naan's subjects shifted from memories of war to school bullying and drug use. The Islamic and Afro-Centric names of his childhood mates where given western alternatives. "Mohammed became Adam and Fatima became Mary." 

"One cannot hide his historical baggage. His sense of self. His walk," he concludes. In this essay, K'Naan is more aware of himself and has greater appreaciation for his genuine sound. After being unable to match the gait of the music industry, this befuddled fox is desperately trying to rediscover his own stride; and although he may never find his "old walk again, [he hopes] someday to see beauty in the graceless limp back toward it." 
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/09/opinion/sunday/knaan-on-censoring-himself-for-success.html?_r=0