K’Naan, the Somali-Canadian rapper whose ‘Wavin’ Flag’ was recently re-recorded by 50 of Canada’s best musicians for a Haiti fundraiser, was honoured once again by the Canadian music industry — taking home Artist of the Year at Saturday’s Juno Awards gala — and beating out Michael Buble, Diana Krall, Jann Arden and Johnny Reid.

“It’s really so much easier not to win these things,” K’Naan said from the podium, perhaps referencing his current album ‘Troubadour’s loss to F—ed Up at last fall’s Polaris Prize. “You can just sit there and your friend say, ‘you should have won.’”

But if he worried about having to make a speech, he wasn’t at a loss for words.

“I came here to Canada when I was 15-years-old from Somalia and I didn’t know what I was going to do to deal with my emotions and my past and my life. Writing songs was just what I did to try and survive my own internal issues.”

He thanked Canada for “[giving] me a home” and his mother, “because when I was depressed and supposed to sleep she would let me stay up til 5am and write songs.”

K’Naan is still up for best songwriter and rap recording of the year on the Sunday televised ceremony, the latter of which would mark his second best rap Juno. “My brother keeps these in his room, he likes them.”

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