It's been nearly eight years since K'naan released his last album, Country, God, Or The Girl. While many loved it - us at Hidden Jams included - it seems K'naan wasn't so proud of the album and what he said on it. K'naan spent some time focusing on other endeavors, included the writing, direction, and production of an HBO series called Mogadishu, Minnesota. Although it was scheduled for a 2017 release, it was, unfortunately, canceled before it began.
Our first new K'naan song in a few years came with "Immigrants (We Get The Job Done)," appearing on the 2016 album The Hamilton Mixtape. In summer 2017 the song also got a music video.
In 2017, K'naan also began recording his new album. He previewed two songs, known to be titled "Come To America" and "Hide And Seek." He also previewed several other songs; while we don't know the titles of any, we're tentatively referring to some of them as "Ha Ha," "Those Were The Days," and "Bad At Love." See all the clips we know of in the "Making the Album" video series, recorded between November 2017 and January 2018.
K'naan has kept quiet about the new music for a few years, but in summer 2019, he began playing some new songs live. We've heard the titles "Don't Call Me Up" and "Disgraceland," but have yet to hear these new tunes in full. Another unreleased song is "Gentrification," which K'naan performed live in early 2014.
During K'naan's summer 2019 performances, some Canadian publications stated that his upcoming album was called Disgraceland, and was, at the time, scheduled for release in Fall 2019. Unfortunately, any such announcement has not been shared online, and in any case, the season came and went with no new music.
In mid-April 2020, a new song called "Siratul Mustakeen" was briefly available on iTunes, Apple Music, and YouTube. However, it arrived with no announcement and was quietly taken down shortly thereafter. Our theory is that it was a planned single release that was then moved back due to the pandemic; the song's appearance on those few platforms may have been missed when plans changed. Hopefully, K'naan's new single will *officially* come out soon, with an album out soon after.
After many quiet months, in early May 2021, K'naan was in Nairobi, Kenya working on music with Blinky Bill and Rayzak Hassan. What does this mean for the album he'd already recorded? Is new music imminent?
In September, K'naan was part of his first officially released song in five years. He joined Sharma Boy on the single "Waayo Waayo."
We're hoping for some more new music soon, ideally with an album out before the end of 2021. Please?
