K'naan, Wavin' Flag: Mitt Romney's Offensive Use of Refugee Rap Anthem

February 1st 2012 3:30PM

By Joshua Ostroff

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Mitt Romney, the current frontrunner in the Republican's endless -- and endlessly nasty -- presidential primary, has spent the past few months throwing red meat at the party base. One of America's richest men, he's been arguing for lower corporate taxes and more military spending while stoking anti-immigrant jingoism.

So it makes sense, then, that in his Florida primary victory, Romney's people would blast the patriotic song 'Wavin' Flag.' Except, of course, the patriot in question is Somali-Canadian rapper K'Naan.

After a Huffington Post reporter tweeted the song selection, the Toronto-based MC responded on Twitter: "Yo @mittromney I am K'naan Warsame and I do not endorse this message."

But this musical gaffe goes much deeper than that.

It was the second musical miscue for the Republicans this week, after the '80s rock band Survivor announced they are suing Romney's rival Newt Gingrich over his campaign use of their 'Rocky III' theme 'Eye of Tiger.'

But while Survivor may not agree with Newt's politics, the song at least made political sense being a pro-violence anthem associated with a Cold War-era bruiser who beat a black man (Mr. T) to win the title fight.

But K'Naan's song promotes the polar opposite of Romney's policies. Set in war-torn Mogadishu, the rapper recounts his youth in a "violent prone, poor people zone/But it's my home, all I have known."

As he talks of his past personal suffering -- "we struggling, fighting to eat and we wondering when we'll be free" -- the callousness of its use as a victory song by a natural-born billionaire who was just quoted saying "I'm

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