K'naan himself recently went back to New York City where his father usually lives. They stayed in New York for half a year where K'naan's father settled before relocating to Toronto, Ontario, Canada, his family still resides there. When he was 13, K'naan and his mother and two siblings, older brother Liban and younger sister Sagal, moved to the United States. These incidents and the general escalation in violence prompted his mother to seek a visa so that the family could join his father in New York. 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. This changed following the start of the civil war, when at the age of 12, three of his friends were shot by an older adolescent gunman. K'naan's early years were idyllic and enveloped in poetry and song, with his aunt Magool often singing to him.
His father, Abdi, left earlier when he was still a boy to work as a taxi driver in New York City. His name, Keynaan ( / ˈ k eɪ n ɑː n/), means 'traveller' in the Somali language. His grandfather was a famous poet, and his aunt Magool was a renowned singer.
K'naan's family was from an artistic background. K'naan was born 16 April 1978 in Mogadishu, situated in the southeastern Banaadir province of Somalia to a Habargidir Hawiye family.
