What?

So, I'm half-way through listening to this on recommendation from Christgau who, if you don't read him, you should, as he's a million years old, still listens to hip-hop, and understands that music and art should be about meaningfully engaging with life as opposed to empty posturing; and all the sudden I get it, this guy, K'Naan, is the greatest hip-hop artist of the last several years. I don't think he'll ever have much mainstream appeal even though he pushes through meaty major-key pop-hooks, but he's successfully fused American hip-hop and Africa in a way that's more compelling than anything any American has done in recent pop music history. He's got a sick flow. He's from Mogadishu.