Award-winning Somali-Canadian artist K'naan Warsame, creator of the chart-topping unofficial World Cup anthem Wavin' Flag, released Refugee in late June, saying he wants to flip the word's meaning "and make it something that people will wear proudly".
"I wanted to write a song that felt like a home for those of us made homeless by conflict," Mr. Warsame wrote on social media when launching the single, now on YouTube. The lyrics reflect his childhood experience escaping war in Somalia and those of others whose "every suitcase held their home".
More than 110 million people are now forcibly displaced around the world, including over 670,000 Somalis, according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR.
Having performed in nearly 100 countries, made Rolling Stone magazine's 200 Greatest Hip Hop Albums of All Time, and recently completed a fellowship at Harvard's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, Mr. Warsame is now developing a musical at the Public Theater in New York.
