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A five-time Grammy-nominee, Akon is a household name and an icon for people who grew up in the 2000s. He propelled himself into the music industry with other mainstream sensations, cementing a nostalgic footprint that has left fans and new listeners humming to this day.
The Missouri-born rapper has sold over 35 million records, all charted on Billboard. He has worked with talented artists like Rick Ross, Snoop Dogg, and Eminem.
However, this career path wasn't always the chosen one for him.
Akon revealed that he bumped into the music industry almost accidentally. Owing to his jazz musician father and dancer mother, he grew up with music around him. Entertainment always surrounded him growing up, and he knew he wanted to be rich by any means necessary.
"When it came to music, it [music] wasn't something I grew up wanting to be. I bumped into music more like an accident."
In an exclusive interview with SK POP, Akon openly spoke about his inspirations, experience in the music industry, and future musical endeavors.
"Being different was a challenge": Akon
His inspirations and challenges
The singer spoke calmly and eloquently of the people who inspired him and how they affected his career, which included Drake. He said:
“I loved Bob Marley. Bob Marley was influential to me as far as the philanthropic side of his life, how he brought his people together and made leaders in Africa that were conflicting come together for peace. Things like that. When I came to the U.S., I got into more Hip-Hop and RnB. I’m probably a huge fan of Drake at this point because I love where he’s going with the music thing, and I think he took it to a whole other level.”
He went on to say that after working with Eminem on the song Smack That, the rapper was on Akon’s Top 5 list of greatest rappers. The song earned both artists a Grammy nomination in 2007 and went 2x platinum in the United States.
Challenges and Career-Upswing
When asked what the biggest challenge was he had to overcome in the music industry, Akon spoke prolifically of his struggles and how he remained unique by stating:
“Being différent was a challenge in and of itself because the music industry has this ill pattern of just constantly supporting something that’s worked in the past, and very seldom do they try to break or invest in something new that they feel is going to be a risk, and the biggest challenge for me was the fact that I was completely different from a whole different background, culture and musically, I was on a different level. So, I focused a lot on my writing and production before I thought about being an artist.”
The Grammy-nominated singer also critiqued how music is accessed by saying that anybody with some tools and software can be an artist nowadays. This, he said, has convoluted the business to such an extent that real talent often remains “unheard or unseen.”
“The one thing that I would probably change in the music industry is actually the accessibility of it. I think right now, too many people have access to too many tools to be an artist and to be a star. So, it takes away from the superstar aspect of it. Today, anybody can be an artist. Anybody can shoot a video. Anybody can release a record, and it makes the business so convoluted and so crowded to the point where the things that you would like to discover and the artists that have real, real talent are often unheard or unseen.”
Akon further stated that because of this scenario, there are not many artists people can look up to anymore.
“Back in the day, there was a regulation as to who became an artist and when because they regulated the stuff, and you had to be really talented to be noticed, recognized, or be signed by a major label because they would literally have A&R’s that travel the world looking for the best talent in your area. Today that doesn’t exist anymore, and it makes the music business really hard to manage, and it doesn’t give you many people to look up to anymore because nobody out there that you could consider a major superstar that you want to be like.”
He explained that the next big artist could be someone’s next-door neighbor who knows how to use ProTools. As a result, he could easily put out a record from the comfort of his own home.
During the interview, Akon also revealed what his next project was going to be:
“We have two of them that we’re putting out. One is actually currently on all DSPs, Itunes, Pandora, Apple Music, Google Play. It’s an EP (Extended Play), Afrobeats-based. It’s called ‘Konvict Culture Presents,’ and within it, I’m presenting a new artist named T-Manny that we signed out of Nigeria. It’s four songs on there as a mini-EP so people can get an idea of who he is and what it is. I’m currently featured on all songs, as well. My album itself is due to be released in the next few months. I do have a single that we just released last week called Enjoy That."
Akon has worked tirelessly in this industry, and his albums have charted in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the U.K. He has toured with some of the biggest names in the music industry like T-Pain, Rihanna, Gwen Stefani, and Usher.
