Hip-hop in Africa has been very often a duplication of an American experience, but in a context that's totally alien to it.

The pirates are serving a purpose right now. They come from regions which have been completely ignored, and Westerners have tried to destroy these regions by their constant plundering of resources and by the illegal dumping of nuclear waste. The pirates really began in order to discourage these actions - initially. And then the business became lucrative.

Hip-hop in Africa has been very often a duplication of an American experience, but in a context that's totally alien to it.

Somalis really are very musically sophisticated, and they're about their own thing.

I wasn't making music consciously when I was younger. I was a musician, but that has its own stigmas. Anywhere on the planet, it's one of the more undervalued positions.

There's definitely anger, the demand of more from the world, a demand for justice. There's no other way I can perform the vocals than the way you hear them. It's not just the words, it's what is being felt.

To reach your goal authentically is probably, in the end, going to mean much more to you than having reached it in a false way.