http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlBFLuW-_ek&feature=related
Full disclosure: I fully believe that, done right, rock and rap can live in harmony. It's all about the right fusion of hard and hip and hop - this is why I loved the Wyclef Jean/Serj Tankian collabo on Carnival II and that's part of what drives my love for this song off K'Naan's sophomore album. I also just love Troubadour to make music that combines melodic hooks, heartwrenching choruses, and ill rhymes that blend American pop culture and the harsh relaities of his childhood in Somalia in equal doses. The album features collabos with Adam Levine, Mos Def, Damian Marley, and others, but undoubtedly the prize for oddest guest is Hammett, the guitarist from Metallica. And it works beautifully. "If Rap Gets Jealous" sounds like a 1990's alt rock stadium jam combined with a rapper who can spit rhymes with the best of them, in this case indicting the rap industry for its own failures to embrace change and difference. K'Naan spits with a voice that initially reminds me of the nasal qualities of Eminem, but with greater wisdom, warmth, and vocabulary. Give this track a listen (no video) and if you like, look for more K'Naan. I think it's a shame he's not all over the radio, but he shows why in this song, the industry can't account for a guy who namedrops Mogadishu, Angola and child soldiers instead of Purple Label and Timbs. He's a true twenty first century "troubadour."
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