Akon takes the Zoom call from his house in Atlanta. The place looks suitably spacious for a man who has sold 35m records yet I'm primarily distracted by what appears to be some species of winged creature over his shoulder. Look, this is someone who once owned a diamond mine, founded a cryptocurrency (it's called Akoin), and is currently attempting to build his own city in Senegal. I expected his home to have some cool shit but even for Akon, a flying horse is a little out there.
My bad: it isn't a flying horse. It's a palm tree. A white palm tree. What I mistook for feathered wings are actually branches. My flat is lacking in palm trees, white or otherwise, but I do own quite a nice potted one. "There you go!" grins Akon when I turn the laptop to show him. (Akon is a middle name. His full one is Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam. A magnificent moniker although you can see why he abbreviated.)
The Akon crib notes are quite something. He was raised in a Senegalese village until the age of seven, when his family relocated to America so the children could get a better education. He was mentored by Wyclef Jean of the Fugees while still in high school but crime became his main vocation and he was imprisoned for carjacking. While in jail, he decided to pursue music and achieved global success with his 2004 debut album Trouble. Second album Konvicted went multi-platinum, although after the 2008 release of his third album, Freedom, he didn't release another for more than a decade.
He was hardly idle. He was running KonLive, his record label that launched the career of Lady Gaga. He had numerous business ventures around the world - as well as those mentioned above, he launched Akon Lighting Africa in 2014, an ongoing project that brings electricity by solar energy to villages across the African continent. He has four wives, allegedly; Akon is a polygamist but has always stayed a little vague on the exact number of spouses. And now he has a new single, 'Akon's Beautiful Day', and an album coming in February called Not Guilty. As you can imagine, we had much to discuss...
Square Mile: I really enjoyed 'Akon's Beautiful Day'. What was the inspiration behind that song?
Akon: The idea was to create an anthem, a positive anthem for the music business. I felt like the vibration of music has been really low these days, and I haven't found a record that gave me this really good, happy feeling for a long time. There aren't too many artists creating nostalgic records that give you those memories that you can go back to years from now. So I wanted to bring more substance back into the music and bring back music that feels good.
SM: Obvious question but what's your definition of a beautiful day?
Akon: Oh my goodness! Just waking up, man! Breathing and realising that there's so much in this world that I could be caught up in. Oftentimes we're always worried about what we want, what we should have, we don't take the time to appreciate the blessings that we have right in front of us.
So I look at the simplest things, like being able to walk up to my sink and pour clean, filtered drinking water - versus when I was young, going down the village to get well water to drink. It was different. And being able to hit one little switch and get clean electricity. It'd be the simplest little things that I didn't have as a kid that I can enjoy now without thinking twice. You don't realise how much you actually have until it's not around no more.
SM: Your mum is a dancer, and your dad is a percussionist. Did you have a very creative upbringing as a kid?
Akon: Around my dad, I would always go to all his concerts and shows, studio sessions and things like that. So I was surrounded by music. I didn't know if it would be a career path at that time because for me, it was always a hobby. But I was always surrounded by constant entertainment.
SM: When did you decide to pursue music as a career?
Akon: In the most odd place in the world - when I was locked up! That's when I was like, 'I want to get rich and famous but crime ain't going to do it. When I get out, I should pursue music because that's something I love to do and I'm actually good at.'
SM: How was growing up in Senegal?
Akon: Growing up in Senegal was amazing, man. It was a blessing. I was surrounded by all my family - every tier all the way down to my sixth-tier cousins type thing. You know how you raise children through a whole village? We literally had a village! A village filled with family. It was the simplest life but the happiest time of my life.
When I came to the US, everything got a little more complicated but a lot more modern. I started to realise how much more life had to offer, but at the same time, I realised how much harder I would have to work to gain access to all of that luxury. It was a complete culture shock. But my life in Senegal at that time, no responsibilities, surrounded by family? Just amazing.
SM: What age did you move to the USA?
Akon: I came back to the States starting from St Louis, and then New Jersey - this was around the time when I was finishing middle school. When I came to the States, I was about seven or eight.
SM: Why did your family move?
Akon: Well, they felt like I could get a better education in the US so they made sure all of us came for education. Every summer we would go back home for vacation. After I graduated high school, I decided to stay.
SM: It must have been a crazy culture shock for a seven year old, coming from Senegal to America.
Akon: Man, it was amazing! But to see the difference from village to big city was like, 'Whoa!' It was a lot to take in in one day.
SM: Is it true that at the airport, you thought the airplane was a bird?
Akon: Yeah! I thought the airplane was a bird. I was crying my eyes out! It was the weirdest thing because I never even knew... [Thinks for a moment.] It's hard to describe. So hard to describe.
SM: And you started working with the Fugees in high school?
Akon: Yeah, so I was part of the Refugee Camp back when I was in high school. Wyclef Jean was one of my mentors. He kept me focused on channelling all my talents. He said, 'Listen, if you can put all your focus on this music, you'll be surprised.' That was the start of me saying, 'OK, maybe music can be a career. Maybe music is something worth pursuing.'
SM: How did they find you?
Akon: We were introduced. It was a barbershop owner named Gene, he was also a correction officer, and he would come into the barbershop to get a haircut. I had a part-time job in the shop, I used to cut his hair. One day he connected me with Clef and said, 'Listen, I know you do music. One of my good friends has a recording studio here in Jersey. They have a record deal with Sony, and they're about to come out soon. You guys should connect. Maybe there's some synergies there.'
SM: How did you fall into carjacking? Were you making music then?
Akon: No, it was the other way around. I was carjacking and then I found music. Music was pretty much the fun part. The carjacking had all the risks, but it had the adrenaline and the rush and some great, great money being made in the process.
But music was that solace, that space, that freedom. That environment with no fear of watching and having to look behind my back and things of that nature. But it was one of those things where the street side created the content for the music to be created. Know what I mean? Both sides worked hand in hand, without me realising what it was shaping up to become.
SM: Is that synergy why you called your first single 'Locked Up'?
Akon: My first official single that actually got successful was 'Locked Up'. Before 'Locked Up', we had released a record called 'Bananza (Belly Dancer)'. That was actually the first single. It didn't work the way everyone expected and 'Locked Up' became the record that became globally recognised. But 20 years later when TikTok came, it reintroduced 'Bananza' again.
SM: Why do you think it didn't take off?
Akon: That's the thing I could never understand! Because the video was amazing, the song was amazing. It's just time. I think God has His own plan for what He needed from me, because I was more of a reality artist anyway. I like to speak about my experiences and things of that nature. All my other records in that vein were the records that actually worked - from 'Smack That' to 'Ghetto' to 'Lonely'. All those records were real life experiences.
SM: 'Lonely' was everywhere when it came out. The lyrics are remarkably vulnerable, you're struggling with loneliness after a breakup. It's quite atypical for an R&B song - was that deliberate?
Akon: Yeah. It was just the most honest thing. I think what made my music at that time stand out was, like you said, no-one never really speaks about being lonely.
Everyone creates this perception that they're playboys on these records, that they have a thousand models and everything else. Whereas I was just being human, being a person who was dealing with real life situations, who had a situation that didn't work out and ended up alone because of actions I took, actions that could have been avoided.
For the most part, it was about being true to who I was on a music level because that was my way of venting. I would go through these studio sessions according to how I was feeling that day or what I was going through in my life. That became what I wrote about.
SM: Was there a specific breakup that inspired the song?
Akon: Yeah, it was definitely a real breakup that inspired it.
SM: How old were you at that point?
Akon: Man, you know what? I don't even know my ages when I was making these songs, I barely keep up my age today! I always felt like age is a distraction. I was in high school. I was coming out of high school at the time when it happened.
SM: I like how the song includes the lyrics "I have nobody of my own", sung by a man who allegedly has four wives... It struck me as quite funny.
Akon: Allegedly! That's too funny.
SM: And another of your songs, 'Don't Matter', became an LGBT anthem in Jamaica?
Akon: Yeah, yeah. In the Caribbean Islands it was circulated through the LGBTQ+ community, and I hadn't known until I went to the Caribbean and realised this song was something that represented a whole community, which was amazing.
Oftentimes you don't know how songs affect people. You don't know how it relates to other people's lifestyles and what they're dealing with at that moment in time. That was a big eye opener for me on how my music affected people.
SM: Have other songs taken on a life of their own that you didn't anticipate?
Akon: Yeah. 'Locked Up' was one of those, because I didn't know how many people in the world felt incarcerated. Whether you are physically there or you mentally there – sometimes you're just going through situations that you're not able to break out of. It became more of a metaphorical meaning with 'Locked Up'.
SM: I read you deliberately released 'Locked Up' before 'Lonely' because you wanted to establish yourself as a street person first and then do pop. Is that right?
Akon: You can't do it the other way around. There's no way you can do pop and all of a sudden convince everybody that you're street. Impossible! You've got to come from the street and then go pop. Because you can see people breaking out of those kind of environments into better situations quicker than you can see somebody with a silver spoon in their mouth and all of a sudden they want to go to the hood and become a gangster. It doesn't make sense.
SM: Do you still hold the world record for the most ringtones sold?
Akon: Yeah, I'm still the top guy ever. Ringtones were popular for a certain time, and then it stopped. It never really picked up again. So I'm still the top record holder for the most ringtone sold ever. 'Lonely' contributed a lot to that.
SM: Were you crafting your songs to ensure they were ringtone friendly?
Akon: At that time? At that time, my focus was selling ringtones. I utilise music as an opportunity and a bridge to get to the business. I noticed that an average single was $1.99 but you could sell a ringtone that was only 15 seconds for $4.99. Do the math!
The dope part about the ringtone, it was a digital asset, you didn't have to physically go pick it up. You could just download it! So you make a lot more money for less amount of the song, and it is less hassle. You can make that kind of money in your sleep. So it made all the sense in the world.
SM: It's a little similar to TikTok now...
Akon: For sure. You're judged by how many creates that your song populates and things of that nature. With 'Akon's Beautiful Day', we're close to two million creates. Those are people that grabbed the song and created their own content to it.
SM: You were working with Michael Jackson before he died. Could you tell us a little bit about that experience?
Akon: Man, I've been just contemplating on that amazing opportunity to work with the king of pop, Michael Jackson. That was the last record that he recorded before he passed away. It was almost a deja vu moment because Quincy Jones just passed away, and the last record he released was a record that I also wrote and produced, a remix of one of his old records, 'Strawberry Letter'. Whitney Houston, I was the last person that she worked with before she passed as well. God has given me the opportunity to work with all these legends, right before they said their goodbyes to this earth. Isn't it crazy?
SM: That's mad! Did you spend much time with Quincy over the years?
Akon: Yeah, me and Quincy got to know each other very, very well. He was one of my mentors. He lived an amazing life.
SM: So have you.
Akon: Oh yeah. I'm so happy with the life I've lived. If I left tomorrow, I'd be happy.
SM: When did you achieve that peace?
Akon: That's something that just happens naturally. Judging from the environment that I came from, I never thought I would even make it this far. So every day for me is a blessing. Every day that I wake up, I'm happy. And I thank God that I was able to experience another day successfully.
SM: That's interesting because lots of successful artists had a plan from the beginning. And it sounds like you didn't?
Akon: Nah. Music wasn't even my plan! It was just a hobby at the time. I didn't know where I was going to be or how I was going to end up. I know I want to be rich and famous, I just don't know how I'm going to be it – so it's by any means necessary. It's a very ignorant state of mind, I can tell you. But it all worked out in the end.
SM: If not music, what would you have done with your life?
Akon: I'd probably be a criminal. A criminal but a rich one. One of those white collar type of guys that outsmarted everybody.
SM: Not carjacking?
Akon: Nah, nah, because that wasn't by choice. It was a survival thing, and it was the quickest thing that I could see that I had the skill set. That's the only reason why I did it. For the most part, the idea of committing crimes where someone else was affected was something I never wanted to be a part of. It wasn't me. If I were to commit crimes, I would want to commit a crime that people wouldn't physically be involved in. Something that would be covered by insurance.
SM: Like the Wolf of Wall Street, maybe.
Akon: Yeah, exactly. Something like that. My heart just won't be able to take it. I always believed that I was put on this earth to help people, not terrorise them.
SM: You've launched numerous careers with your label, Lady Gaga being the most notable example. Did you always know she was going to be a star?
Akon: Well, I always wished that she would be a star because I felt like she was very deserving of it. Super hard worker, beautiful girl, amazing heart. She loved people. I always dreamed that she would one day fulfil the dreams she always wanted for herself. She was very genuine and so sweet, and super, super, super talented.
Oftentimes you can't really predict what's going to happen. All you can do is work hard and pray that it happens. But I was very happy that it happened for her in the way it did.
SM: Were you meant to be on her first single 'Just Dance'?
Akon: Originally, yes, I was supposed to be on 'Just Dance'. I had already laid my vocals and everything but unfortunately Universal wouldn't clear me for it, which was the most astounding thing. I couldn't understand it, I guess at that time, I was competing with them. Which is so, so crazy. But it didn't matter because I had a rising superstar at the time named Colby O'Donis, who I ended up putting on my verse. And they couldn't stop me from being a writer or being in the music video so I involved myself in every way that I could.
SM: Are you and Lady Gaga still in touch?
Akon: Yeah, we're still in touch. She's a beacon of success, for sure. She's a great example of what success should be like.
SM: Who are the most impressive artists you've worked with?
Akon: I don't think it gets more impressive than Michael Jackson. I can see why he was as big as he was because he had no ego whatsoever. He was the simplest and the easiest artist to work with. He gave me no issues in the studio. He did any and everything that I asked him to do. He would try it, whether he liked it or not. Just super humble. I wish artists were more like him, it would be a big difference in the game today.
SM: Did he give you any advice?
Akon: Of course. We used to have conversations about the business in the music industry. He would always say, 'Just make sure you take care of the business, Akon. Find out what the business is first before you commit to anything because the devil is always in the details.' He was so right with that.
SM: What advice would you give to a young artist?
Akon: Oh, that would be what I tell 'em. Learn the business first before really committing to it. We get into the business with all this passion. We love the music part. We want to be famous. Everybody wants to be rich but they don't realise what the business aspect looks like. That can destroy your whole dream if it's not properly set up. A lot of artists come in with one expectation and leave with something totally different. They all end up going crazy. They end up getting strung out on drugs and all that because of the pressure that comes with it.
Because once you become famous, everybody just assumes that you're super rich. Everywhere you go, you're being overcharged. Everywhere that you go, you have a certain standard that you have to uphold - which actually costs a lot. You can't stay in the average hotels now. You have to get suites. If you fly on a plane, you have to be in first class. It looks crazy, a superstar in coach!
So many things have to be upgraded in your life that you may not be able to afford to do. And if you're not handling any business, you won't even be able to keep it up. And if you can't keep it up, it's embarrassing. You're out there looking crazy, and it starts to affect you mentally before you know it.
The only way out of that environment for yourself mentally is to do drugs or find some kind of solace, something that takes you away from that world. And before you know it, you're strung out on something crazy. Making decisions that can affect not only just your business, your family, friends, but your life. It is a tough thing, man. It's not an easy industry to manage.
SM: I imagine social media now makes it even harder...
Akon: Oh, yeah. Adds fuel to the fire. Now you're not assuming that people are talking about you - they're physically doing it, and you're reading every comment, and there are millions of them!
SM: Are you grateful you didn't come up in the age of social media?
Akon: Well, it didn't really matter to me. I was always a very focused person. Driven. I'm really tunnel vision when I'm focused on something. Even now, I don't be on social media at all. Maybe once or twice a week, I check on some things and I got a team that helps me post certain things so that way I can stay focused on the music. I curate everything that's posted so I'm happy with it and it's genuine. But for the most part, I try not to let social media be something that affects me personally.
SM: How do you feel about AI coming into music? Can it potentially be a force for good if used responsibly?
Akon: I love AI! I know a lot of people are fearful of it because they don't quite understand AI. But computers only can do what someone programmes them to do. So it's not the AI you should be fearful of; it is the person programming it.
SM: How did you come to own a diamond mine?
Akon: That was just an amazing opportunity that was presented to me at the highest peak of my career. As you become really successful at certain things, you're going to find huge entrepreneurs, huge opportunities come to you that they may want you to endorse or be a part of or even invest in. I just happened to have a friend in the mining sector. They were like, 'Listen, man, we have a brand new mine that's wide open. Would you like to be a part of it? We're all going in on it, what do you think?' And I was like, hell yeah! Let's do it.
SM: And you were supplying people in Hollywood with diamonds?
Akon: Yeah. At that time, hip hop was growing really fast. People were coming up with those big old up-front advances and spending all their money on jewellery.
SM: Is it fair to say you see your legacy as being bigger than yourself?
Akon: I'd definitely say my legacy is going to be bigger than myself. That was the goal. I never wanted to ever make it about me. I wanted to be able to leave something behind that people could remember. My actions were something that actually gave some real impact in the world. Being in the position that I am, there's a lot that I do need to give back. I feel like God gave me a second chance.
SM: And the Akon Lighting Africa project is part of that legacy?
Akon: Absolutely. The Akon Lighting Africa project started off as a philanthropic initiative and then became a for-profit initiative. We're currently in 16 countries.
SM: How many homes have you lit?
Akon: Oh, man. The impact is in the millions. It's hard to quantify. It's almost like your song on social media or any DSP - every day, somebody's listening. You can never calculate how many people are listening in a day, a minute, an hour or a week. The impact is instant. It's constant. It's always something and someone being impacted by the work that we've done.
SM: Can I check on Akon City? [The planned community in the M'bour Department of Senegal]
Akon: We're in construction at the moment. There was a lot of politics that I had to go in and out of dealing with. There was so much about what you call development that I never knew anything about. I was learning as I went in. Knowing what I know now, I would've definitely waited until I got further in before promoting it. I didn't realise how many people were expecting to get on a plane and go to Akon City the moment I said something. We were just in the process of starting the project at that time.
SM: Do you have a date for completion?
Akon: Well, the whole project was a ten-year build. So it's going to be some time. But when we finish up the phase where we can start hosting people then I'll be back out in the media starting to open up the doors for people to work their way back to Akon City.
SM: I know you don't focus on age - but what would you like to have accomplished, say, forty years from now?
Akon: That's a tough one. It's a pretty broad question. Forty years from now, I would like to be retired and living in Akon City, hosting all the fans that come to see me.
SM: Lovely answer! Thank you for your time, I really appreciate it.
Akon: I appreciate you too, man. Look out for the new album Not Guilty in February.
'Akon's Beautiful Day' is out now.
