Thursday, March 06, 2014
*Her famous photobombing brother Peter may have been her date for the Oscars, but Lupita Nyong’o is reportedly romantically involved with Somali rapper K’Naan, according to Radar Online.
Paps caught the pair Monday morning, with K’Naan holding her best supporting actress Oscar for “12 Years a Slave.”
Born Keinan Warsame in Somalia, K’Naan fled with his family to Canada in the 90s after seeing his young friends killed in the beginning of that country’s civil war, according to the website. But life in North America would only prove to be more dangerous. In a tough Toronto neighborhood, K’Naan fell in with a Somali gang.
“We Somalis weren’t treated well because we didn’t know how to dress cool,” he’s explained. “We didn’t have Nike trainers; instead, we had stuff from Walmart and kids would be laughing. There was always conflict there …”
Ultimately, he would be arrested more than a dozen times during his teen years, according to multiple reports, including at least once for violence involving a firearm.
“I learned to fire guns at the age of nine or so,” he’s revealed, “but luckily [I] was not out killing people. We zigzagged the streets to escape those trying to kill us.”
Now a successful rapper — and a devout Muslim who does not drink or smoke —K’Naan has drawn criticism in recent years for his stance on Somali pirates like those featured in “Captain Phillips”: He says they’re “serving a purpose.”
Citing illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic waste off the coast of Somalia, he’s said, “Our pirates were the only deterrent we had from an externally imposed environmental disaster. One man’s pirate is another man’s coast guard.”
