WHO IS AKON

Akon, thankfully shortened from his birth name Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, was born on April 16th, 1973 in St. Louis. Akon spent most of his childhood in his parents homeland of Senegal. He would later settle with his brother in New Jersey, which is where his musical journey would begin.

Through rapper Lil Zane he would meet music mogul Devyne Stephens. After signing to his production company, Akon’s music, most notably ‘Lonely’ caught the attention of SRC Records and the rest is history. ‘Lonely’, the second single from his debut album ‘Trouble’ reached the top 10 of the Billboard's Hot 100 and went certified platinum along with the album itself.

His second album ‘Konvicted’, released by his own music label ‘Konvict’, is his biggest success to date reaching triple platinum and hosted features from legendary rappers Snoop Dogg and Eminem.

He is also known for producing and featuring in Gwen Stefani’s “Sweet Escape”. Nowadays he has taken a step back from music to focus on charity work in Africa, and in collaboration with the Seneglaise government are creating the first ever cryptocurrency (Akoin) city named after the artist himself, Akon City.

Nevertheless, with a host of award wins and 5 Grammy nominations, Akon remains one of the most successful and influential recording artists of all time. He has also recently been featured in Pitbull’s fundraising music video, “I

Believe That We Will Win (World Anthem)”. All proceeds accumulated by the song go to those greatly affected by this year’s pandemic. People should really give him more credit for the things he does.