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Thursday, April 17, 2008 | 9:57am
Akon Whole Past About Being A Convict? A Lie!
I’m not surprised. He may not have spent years in prison but he’s certainly still a clown.
Yo, I hate Akon. Anyone who has read HN for some time probably knows that. At one point I even banned mention of him from the site altogether. Something about a singer who belts out cheerful happy music yet tries to come across as a hardcore thug just created a hate in me unlike I’ve ever known. So naturally my heart was filled with glee when I read this morning that the whole convict gimmick that Akon has based his career on is a lie.
The Smoking Gun has just released a piece where they say they have taken the time to look through Akon’s criminal past via public records and guess what they found? Very Little. Akon did not do a few years in prison, he did a few months and the entire story he tells in every interview about how he stole a BMW, is completely fabricated.
Besides feeling vindicated in the rest of the world discovering that Akon is the douche bag that I always knew he was, I can’t help but feel like its ashame that the marketing people at Akon’s label thought it was a good idea to fabricate such a negative image for their artist. Even going as far as to name him “Akon” (a convict). The world of urban music is always ragged on for glorifying the bad in our world and the artists and labels have always fallen back on “We are just keeping it real”. So now what’s the excuse?
If it makes any Akon fans out there feel better, though he has been proven to not be the hardened criminal we thought he was, he is still a child abuser and a statutory rapist.
FILED IN Music
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Hate is such a strong word. I don’t even think he deserves that much energy from you.
I realize the glorification of criminal activities is a way of selling records but to be an R&B dude trying to pull it off is laughable.
I never cared for Akon. I’m glad someone blew the lid on this one. But if your music is anything of value do you actually need a gimmick?
“hate” is stong. how bout “loathe”? But yeh it is funny for an R&B/Pop singer to have such a gimmick
I can appreciate loathe. Not that I should tell you how to feel.
Thx for putting him on blast.
HAHA…
WHEN KEEPIN’ IT REAL GOES WRONG.
I think more people should do their research. There are a lot of Artists out there that don’t do 1/2 the shit they claim.
I’ve always wondered to myself - How can One be this hard thug, murderin and what not, and they SING? ha ha
Musics good, people suck
Jenny
Great Quote…Quote of the year: “Musics good, people suck”
akon contributed some hits 4 hip-hop
Take it from Megahighbeast who did years… Prison is not something to parade about and laugh about. It sucked. No, really sucked.
Finally someone who sees Akon for something: NOTHING!!! I never liked him either. Not just because his music plain out sucks (the reason r&b and hip-hop declined) but fact is he JUST CAN’T SING!!! Hope his career goes up in smoke, like any other fraud would (ala Vanilla Ice, Milli Vanilli).
Little harsh no? Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli? He’s still got a little talent. he might not have done time but that doesn’t diminish that. I’m not defending him cause I’m not a fan but that’s gotta count for something no?
Technically, Vanilla Ice had talent too. He could dance, and put out a passable rap recording, but at the end of the day his talent was marginal at best, and he was a fraud, which lead to the end of his brief and unfortunate (for him) career. The guys on Milli Vanilli could actually sing, but were used for image purposes. Akon falls in he Vanilla Ice crowd, his success coming more from the Pop market for being “real” and from the African market for being “African” (he was born in St. Louis). Either Ice and Vanilli could have claimed talent, but at the end of the day, all three are wastes of space.
So I guess a good backstory and a great publicist is really truly all you need to succeed in the industry for at least a few years?
Well i already knew them apples but…
Akon is a funny guy for that though…
All I can say is that its better than the Africans gettin schemed cuz I sees it alot…
So Akon was avenging other africans I suppose by rapin the Americans for their money
The one thing I can give that KRS-Crackhead lookin ass nigga is that I seen Mexicans who speakee no English singing along to his songs…
So lonely…
LMAO @ “So Akon was avenging other africans I suppose by rapin the Americans for their money”
You’re very right. Keys to success.
1)Good Setting (backstory)
2)Great Publicist
3)Good Lawyer
4)Good Accountant.
Talent is optional.
This American Akon could at least go out gracefully and donate most of his earnings to Africa. Then he won’t become as big a punchline as he will in the future, if people cared about him as much, people actually found other fakes important enough to warrant their attention, Akon still hadn’t reached superstar status (U.S. wise).