He rose to fame after releasing the single "Wavin' Flag", which was chosen as Coca-Cola's promotional anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

[7][8] K'naan also narrowly escaped death one day at his school, when he mistook a grenade that he found in the dirt for a potato and threw it away just before it detonated.

These incidents and the general escalation of violence prompted his mother to seek a visa so that the family could join his father in New York.

When he was 13, K'naan and his mother and two siblings, older brother Liban and younger sister Sagal, moved to the United States.

[citation needed] In his new environment, K'naan began learning English, partly by listening to hip hop albums by artists like Nas and Rakim.

[15] One of the audience members, Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour, was so impressed by the young MC's performance and courage that he invited him to contribute to his 2001 album Building Bridges, a project through which K'naan was able to tour the world.

[citation needed] This project led to his work at other UN events, as well as the Montreal Jazz Festival and the Halifax Pop Explosion.

The song "If Rap Gets Jealous", a re-recording of a track of the same name – with different verses – from The Dusty Foot Philosopher, features Metallica lead guitarist Kirk Hammett.

"My lyrics should change, my label's executives said; radio programmers avoid subjects too far from fun and self-absorption," recounts K'naan.

[27] K'Naan renounced this act by Somalia and indicated his support for the Islamic Courts Union, pushing back on the Western critiques of Muslim governing systems.

[citation needed] K'Naan's involvement in rap and hip hop in North America has expanded the discussion on both Somali and the Black Diaspora in the West.

Jim Welte has said K'naan has "a sound that fuses Bob Marley, conscious American hip-hop, and brilliant protest poetry.

"[10] His voice and style has been compared to Eminem,[9] but his subject matter is very different; according to K'naan, he makes "urgent music with a message", talking about the situation in his homeland of Somalia and calling for an end to violence and bloodshed.

One of the last performances of this band was on 16 March 2009, when K'naan rendered four songs from the newly launched album for CBC's program Q with Jian Ghomeshi, although Rayzak continued to join his subsequent shows and Kierscey Rand made occasional appearances, such as his World Cup Trophy Tour.

[citation needed] A remixed version of K'naan's single, "Wavin' Flag", was chosen as Coca-Cola's anthem for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

In order to appeal to different people around the world, K'naan also recorded the song with various local artists such as David Bisbal, Jacky Cheung, Jane Zhang, Nancy Ajram, and Tattoo Colour.

On 21 September 2010, K'naan was scheduled as the headlining act of a student organised concert for World Peace Day which was to benefit girls' education in rural Ghana.

"[45] On 8 May 2011, K'naan performed live at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park for Coca-Cola's employees in light of Coke's 125th anniversary.

[citation needed] On 15 October 2011, at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, K'naan was one of eight performers at the "Decade of Difference" concert.

Following the release of the music video for the song "Soobax", which was shot by K'naan and a film crew in Kenya, k-os released a track "B-Boy Stance" attacking K'naan: "They took cameras to Africa for pictures to rhyme / Over; Oh, yes, the great pretenders [...] Religious entertainers who want to be life savers."

Though the feud never became high-profile, with K'naan expressing confusion at the attack and respect for k-os, he nonetheless responded with the mixtape track "Revolutionary Avocado" which argued "You the all-knowing with a beer bottle / Wishing you was Plato and me Aristotle?

[54][55] Additionally, K'naan was also active in promoting the Canadian Bill C-393 to help increase medical assistance to countries in Africa.

[56] He teamed up with Stephen Lewis, James Orbinski, and Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, but the bill was not passed by the Senate.

[57][58] On September 26 2024, K'Naan was charged with sexual assault in a Quebec City court in relation to an incident that allegedly occurred between July 16 and 17 2010, pleading not guilty.