| Career Summary
Akon burst onto the music scene in 2004 with his debut album; "Trouble," spawning hits such as "Locked Up," "Ghetto," "Lonely," "Belly Dancer (Bananza)," and "Pot of Gold." In 2006, with the release of his sophomore album; Konvicted, he proved that he was here to stay with smash hits "Smack That," featuring Eminem, and "I Wanna Love You," featuring Snoop Dogg. Though he is an R&B singer, he is often credited as a hip-hop artist, because his lyrical content is that of which hip-hop artists rap about. His music is a blend of R&B, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Reggae, and African roots, due to living in Senegal as a child, before he moved to New Jersey. His high-tenor voice within the mix gave him as uniqueness that was undeniable, and one of a kind.
Akon's musical journey began when he was six; being
thought to play drums by his father. Dance legend;
Katherine Dunham, brought Akon's father; Mor Thiam,
to the U.S. in the 1960's; he was a renowned jazz
percussionist, in which Akon credited to helping
him to mastering the art of drum playing. With this
background, he was able to make the transition tothe
type of music he does. "Hip-hop is drum rhythms.
I was attracted to that kind of music" (Remix Magazine),
which was a strong influence, and due to a past
life of crime; his lyrics were driven by real life
hardships that audiences could connect to. .
Akon's first single from Trouble; "Locked Up," became a street anthem as the lyrics described being locked up in prison; based on his real life jail time due to his involvement in a car-theft ring. "Locked up," reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "Ghetto" followed, continuing the conscious messages in his music, as the song was based on the struggles of living in the ghetto. While the song didn't reach the same heights as "Locked up," (The song peaked at number 92, on Billboard's Hot 100), his single "Lonely," put him on the map permanently. Lonely reached number 4 on Billboard's Hot 100, no. 9 on the UK Official Singles Chart, and no.1 in Australia. The singles "Belly Dancer (Bananza)," produced by Timbaland and "Pot of Gold" followed.
Between albums, Akon was hard at work building up
his own record label; Konvict Muzik. This was evident
with the release of T-Pain, with an album titled;
Rappa Ternt Sanga, released on November 6, 2005.
Akon was still in the spotlight though, with the
song "Soul Survivor" by Young Jeezy, in which he
was featured in. More success came with his second
album.
His sophomore album; Konvicted, debuted and number 2 on the Top 200 album chart selling 285,000 copies, and landed him two smash hits that charted at the same time. Akon's "Smack That," featuring Eminem broke records by jumping from #95 to #7 on Billboard's Hot 100, and "I Wanna Love You," featuring Snoop Dogg hit number 1 on the Hot 100, while Smack That was at number 2. Having massive radio play and enormous digital downloads at the same time.
During this time, Akon not only gained recognition as an artist, but as a sort after producer. Among songs he produced were Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape, India Arie's "I am not my hair," and much more. Among his achievements was signing former TLC member; Rozonda 'Chilli' Thomas to his Konvict Muzik labels as his flagship artist, in a 2007 solo album debut.
Akon continued his success from the album Konvicted, with his 3rd single "Don't Matter," performing "Shake Down," on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and signing as the opening act for Gwen Stefani's The Sweet Escape Tour. "Don't Matter," went on to become the number 1 played song on the radio charts causing it to spend 2 weeks at number 1 on Billboard's Hot 100 (Billboard's April 7, 2007 - April 14, 2007, charts), while "The Sweet Escape" held the number 2 position. With the success Akon performed on two occasions on American Idol, on March 28Th, 2007 performing "The Sweet Escape," with Gwen Stefani and the following week performing "Don't Matter."
Soon after came the Trinidad controversy in which Akon was portrayed negatively in the media. Akon was videotaped simulating sex with a girl invited onstage as part of his act during an April 12 concert in Port-of-Spain Trinidad at Club Zen. It turns out the girl was 14 year old Danah Alleyne, daughter of a pastor, in was circulated the Internet. Akon responded with "It was never my intention to embarrass or take advantage of my fans in any way, especially those under the age of 18. That is why we tried to make sure that the club did not admit anyone under 18 in the audience. Somehow, that standard was not met." The controversy caused Verizon Wireless to drop Akon from a sponsorship deal who were also sponsoring Akon & Gwen's Sweet Escapee tour. All absurd for the so called "simulating sex," is actually accepted dancing in the culture in the Caribbean, in which Akon has no idea that Danah Alleyne was underage seeing as the club was 18 and over.
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