K'naan can definitely check off the "collaborate with awesome musicians" box for this album; tracks on "Troubadour" feature Damian Marley, Adam Levine (lead singer of Maroon 5), Kirk Hammett (guitarist of Metallica), and Mos Def & Chali 2Na (of Jurassic 5).This album gives a completely different perspective than most American rap. The lyrics almost serve as an informative political statement for the world basically saying "Somalia's effin' crazy", except in a more tactful manner.
The beats on Troubadour are fairly basic, but still sound good. K'naan did a great job with matching artists' rapping/singing styles with the instrumentals for songs, giving the album quite the eclectic sound even from track to track.
On "America', K'naan raps in Somali. Pretty rad, not gonna lie. I think my personal favorite track is "ABCs" with the catchy elementary school sound on the hook paired with some hard verses to compliment. Although Adam Levine helps out singing on "Bang Bang", I'm not the biggest fan. Also interesting to note that K'naan steals some Pharcyde lyrics on this song - probably the reason why I don't like the song. I'm all for listening to good music (which he proves by quoting a classic), but I also think there's something to be said about lyrical originality.
Overall, worth the purchase? Perhaps, just because it's an interesting album. K'naan definitely shows promise as an artist and clearly has the connections, but I think he needs to choose a narrower musical focus to become a great rapper. By that, I mean he's mixing too many genres on this one.
My vote: 2.5/3 stars
My favorite tracks: "If Rap Gets Jealous" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlBFLuW-_ek & "ABCs" - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iu3biFTak2I & "America" -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cTC6rGE9jo
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