THE STREETS SAY: “Troubadour” (K’naan)
THE STREETS SAY: 4 out of 5
KevinNottingham (85 out of 100)
Summary: “Troubadour certainly shows no wear and tear on the philosopher’s dusty foot, in fact, his gait and consistency on this LP will be hard to top. Beyond the diversity of the beats, sharp lyricism and intricate wordplay, Troubadour is a multi-layered project at the forefront of 2009 conscious hip-hop game, but moreover, a album with knowledge far beyond it’s 14 songs.”
Complex Mag (No Rating)
Summary: “Picking up where his debut The Dusty Foot Philosopher left off, K’naan continues to bridge the gap between the western and eastern worlds with a musical melting pot of Bob Marley samples, acoustic guitar and rap drums. With every rapper claiming to want to explore other forms of music because they’re bored with rap, it’s nice to hear a dude who has no problem exploring rap.”
Potholes In My Blog (3.5 out of 5)
Summary: “Troubadour seems to fall short of its predecessor [Dusty Foot Philosopher] because of a lack of growth. K’naan seems to be working within a formula (which to his credit worked well on his debut), but it leaves much more to be desired. Most tracks play it safe and do little to push creative boundaries. Overall, Troubadour stays true from start to finish, and there is little filler, each track does have something to contribute, making the album as a whole fairly complete, and very listenable.”
Nappy Afro (4 out of 5)
Summary: “Some debate if this album is Hip-Hop, I don’t know where that debate comes from. Hip-Hop is not a sound; it’s a culture and experience. If this isn’t Hip-Hop, there is no definition. The story of struggle is universal, a hood is a hood, but like our star says, they’ve been trying to kill him since he was 2 feet tall. I thoroughly enjoyed this album and look forward to more music from K’naan in the future and don’t be surprised if this rating slowly creeps up to near 5 star status as time goes on.”
DJ Booth.net (4.5 out of 5)
Summary: “Hip-hop has thrived and spread from the Bronx to Compton to Mogadishu precisely because it’s so malleable, so capable of incorporating that can be put on a turntable. So while the ultimate promise of K’naan’s musical capabilities are far from fulfilled on Troubadour, he’s subtly but surely changing the face of hip-hop. Troubadour’s wandering sound often has as much in common with hip-hop as a square dance party in a Iowa retirement home, but let’s start with one simple fact: K’naan can f**king rap.”
Tags: Knaan, Troubadour
Best album on itunes i have bought this year. so far best album in my humble opinon might just be sky high. for hip hop and getting my grind on. But seriously this album killed it, If rap gets jelous was one of my fav songs and for him to go do what he did man that shit was ill. the only song im iffy on is America, simply cause i have no idea what hes saying. But i can just see k’naan getting bigger and bigger. He might just be the best thing to come out of canada. Kardi was dope when he was here. Akon made him suck. Dangerous what the hell, He was better on that song whatcha like. with busa bus but anyways this album is pullin a solid 4.5 out of 5.0
I actually haven’t copped it yet. But people are raving about it, so I have have to grab it. I’m open to new things. And as I’ve found running YFWB, some of the dopest music can be found in the most unusual places.