“I Can’t Believe I’m a Human Being”

How many other siblings do you have?
A lot. My father married 12 wives. So we have many brothers and sisters.

What do you think is going to happen in Sudan? There was a peace deal [between the mostly Muslim north and the animist and Christian south] in 2005, but now people are saying it's going to fall apart.
I don't trust the government of Sudan. They are putting a lot of pressure on now [to encourage] the SPLA to start the fire, so the government can say, "Look, they are the ones who started it." The world is not focusing. And if there is no peace in south Sudan, there will be no peace in Darfur.

You made your last album with a singer from the north, a Muslim, so you're obviously trying to reach across that divide. How did that work?
It was difficult. We had to overcome differences.

Have you read the book "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah, a former child soldier in Sierra Leone?
I'm actually reading it, and a lot of things he's talking about are similar to what I was going through.

When he starts the book, he and some friends are sitting around watching some rap musicians [on a television], trying to imitate the musicians.
He was 14 [when he became a child soldier]. I began when I was young--seven, eight. I fired the first bullet when I was nine or 10.

How did you handle the recoil on an AK-47? I'd think that would knock you down.
Actually, the AK-47 is better than [other guns] that will throw you down. You put the strap over your shoulder and hold it down … Chuk-chuk-chuk.