Akon

On Tour

393,449 listeners (6,333,349 plays)

hip-hop, rap, rnb, hip hop, pop… see all

Akon (born Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam on April 30, 1973), is a R&B singer. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States but grew up in Dakar, Senegal and at the age of seven he moved to the USA, settling in Jersey City, New Jersey. He is the son of jazz percussionist Mor Thiam and is fluent in his native language of Wolof as well as English.

Akon grew up in Senegal as a Muslim, eventually settled in New Jersey. There he discovered hip hop for the first time, as well as crime. His first song was entitled “Operations Of Nature,” sung when he was fifteen years old. He was jailed for armed robbery and possible drug charges, but he used this time to work on his music. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in his home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which released Akon’s debut LP Trouble June 2004. The album is an interesting hybrid of Akon’s silky, West African-styled vocals mixed with East Coast and Southern beats.

His debut album included the singles “Locked Up”, “Lonely”, “Bonanza (Belly Dancer)”, “Pot Of Gold” and “Ghetto”. “Locked Up” reached the top 10 in the U.S. and the top 5 in the UK, and was written after Akon served time in jail for grand theft auto. His manager Robert Montanez was gunned to death following a dispute in New Jersey in December 2005. “Ghetto” became a radio hit when it was remixed to include verses from legendary rappers 2Pac and Notorious B.I.G. In 2005, he released the single “Lonely” (which samples Bobby Vinton’s “Mr. Lonely”). The song reached the top 10 on the U.S. charts, and was #1 in Australia, the UK and Germany.

1	Don't Matter	1,856
2	Lonely full track	1,738
3	Smack That full track	920
4	Sorry, Blame It On Me	857
5	Locked Up full track	831
6	Smack That Ft. Eminem	654
7	Mama Africa	408
8	Sorry, Blame It On Me - main	385
9	I Can't Wait	374
10	Ghetto	357
11	Shake Down	355
12	The Rain	351
13	Gangsta Bop	337
14	Never Took The Time	328
15	Pot of Gold full track	310

Top Albums

Konvicted
Akon
Buy
- Amazon
- eBay
Download
- iTunes
- 7digital
Trouble
Akon
Buy
- Amazon
- eBay
Download
Touble
Akon
Buy
- Amazon
- eBay
Download
- iTunes
- 7digital
Smack That (NBA)
Akon
Buy
- Amazon
- eBay
Download
- iTunes
- 7digital

Shoutbox

Leave a comment. Log in to Last.fm or sign up (it’s free).

GENG1MIN wrote:
3 hours ago

LONELY

View Profile | Leave GENG1MIN a shout
sazzle68 wrote:
yesterday afternoon

left right up and down let me see you touch the ground <3

View Profile | Leave sazzle68 a shout
chuckiegao wrote:
Wednesday morning

Dangerous is very nice. and "shes so fine" i like.......

View Profile | Leave chuckiegao a shout
1Mike1 wrote:
7 days ago

Dangerous is simply perfect!

View Profile | Leave 1Mike1 a shout
darkstarx wrote:
8 days ago

That's what i call shit!

View Profile | Leave darkstarx a shout
tape_tv wrote:
9 days ago

Noch mehr Videos von Akon gibts auf tape.tv http://www.tape.tv/artist/akon Viel Spaß beim Angucken!

View Profile | Leave tape_tv a shout
bLq wrote:
10 days ago

http://www.last.fm/group/Universal

View Profile | Leave bLq a shout
bLq wrote:
11 days ago

http://www.last.fm/group/Kardinal+Offishall

View Profile | Leave bLq a shout
iheartprincey wrote:
11 days ago

hold my hand <333

View Profile | Leave iheartprincey a shout
Z1ckZ4ckM4nn wrote:
11 days ago

chillmusic

View Profile | Leave Z1ckZ4ckM4nn a shout
leex82 wrote:
13 days ago

good

View Profile | Leave leex82 a shout
bungjulio wrote:
13 days ago

I don't understand the popularity of the song "Lonely". It is lyrically retarded, and the chorus consists of a computer generated high pitch voice talking. Could Akon put less effort into his song making?

View Profile | Leave bungjulio a shout
AlishaJoJoFan01 wrote:
19 days ago

Good Artist. Track Are Awesome! :)

View Profile | Leave AlishaJoJoFan01 a shout
tinktale wrote:
20 days ago

hi

View Profile | Leave tinktale a shout
_tsk_ wrote:
23 days ago

Join Screw 50 Cent Haters Group!

View Profile | Leave _tsk_ a shout
FormigaSjC wrote:
25 days ago

Akon owna! xD

View Profile | Leave FormigaSjC a shout
nightmare_emre_ wrote:
27 days ago

very good

View Profile | Leave nightmare_emre_ a shout
IgorSzuter wrote:
last month

New is with UGK is some good shit

View Profile | Leave IgorSzuter a shout
yoobin927 wrote:
last month

good one ~~ cool ~~

View Profile | Leave yoobin927 a shout
alaska_mike wrote:
last month

sorrow

View Profile | Leave alaska_mike a shout

12…24 Next

Listeners

JormaZz
Listening now
to Against The Grain
KAWSquared
Listening now
to We Takin' Over (ft. DJ…
implode
Listening now
to Dangerous (Feat.…
phik7ion
Top Listener
nipon
Top Listener
vinjah
Top Listener

Events

Sep 6 Akon Halle Tony Garnier, Lyon, France
Add shout | 1 attendee
Nov 10 MOSCOW R&B FEST СК Олимпийский, Moscow, Russian Federation
3 shouts | 11 attendees

Add event | See more

Recent Activity

yuki1108, crunkbbay, xavier909 and 2 other people added Akon to their libraries. 2 hours ago
GENG1MIN updated the Chinese wiki page for Akon. (diff) 3 hours ago
letsgosox1785, pabloianyale, tinuviel7 and 6 other people added Akon to their libraries. 4 hours ago
black_dockers tagged Akon with ‘hip-hop’. 7 hours ago
black_dockers, specop112, LedahRoswelli and 11 other people added Akon to their libraries. 7 hours ago
fares_91 updated the French wiki page for Akon. (diff) yesterday afternoon
kammounmohamed, surfincolorado, fares_91 and 9 other people added Akon to their libraries. yesterday afternoon
Fr3ncho tagged Akon with ‘pop’ and ‘rnb’. yesterday morning
latifbdr, janice87, marcusmckampson and 5 other people added Akon to their libraries. yesterday morning
spaulelad tagged Akon with ‘4 letter artists’. 20 days ago