AVIDIGI

After his debut album--The Dusty Foot Philosopher--took Canada by storm and collected a 2006 Juno Award for Rap Recording of the Year, the pressure was on for K’Naan’s major label follow-up. Troubadour, in a word, delivers. Lyrically, the Somali ex-pat out-rhymes the majority of his native English-speaking counterparts with a mix of violent personal history and charismatic uplift, the occasional melodic chorus, and a voice that’s fairly compared to Eminem’s but more accurately recalls the upper-register nasality of Pharcyde’s Booty Brown. Pop-leaning cuts like “Dreamers” and “15 Minutes Away” duck in and out of instrumentals that borrow from Afrobeat (“Fire in Freetown”), a world/soul sound that hits its apex in the gorgeous “Wavin’ Flag,” and hip-hop’s best use yet of a Bob Marley sample (opener “T.I.A.”). Recorded at Marley’s legendary Tuff Gong studio in Jamaica, the album gets a heavy dose of collaborative energy from such diverse contributors as Mos Def, Chubb Rock, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine (“Bang Bang”), and Metallica’s Kirk Hammett (“If Rap Gets Jealous”). In a year that has already seen an early girth of really strong rap releases that eschew the superficial violence, misogyny, and inanity of most radio fare, Troubadour stands as a front-runner for Hip-Hop Album of the Year. --Jason Kirk

Tracklist:

1. "T.I.A." – 3:39
2. "ABCs" (featuring Chubb Rock) – 3:10
3. "Dreamer" – 4:32
4. "I Come Prepared" (featuring Damian Marley) – 4:09
5. "Bang Bang" (featuring Adam Levine of Maroon 5) – 3:07
6. "If Rap Gets Jealous” (featuring Kirk Hammett of Metallica) – 3:40
7. "Wavin' Flag" – 3:41
8. "Somalia" – 3:34
9. "America" (featuring Mos Def and Chali 2na) – 4:46
10. "Fatima" – 5:02
11. "Fire in Freetown" – 4:37
12. "Take a Minute" – 4:07
13. "15 Minutes Away" – 4:56
14. "People Like Me" – 6:17