Akon the African

BY USMAN MAMA AND OUMAR SECK

He is an entertainer wrapped in superlatives. In a short career that dates back only to June 2004 when he rose to prominence with the release of “Locked Up,” the first single from his debut album “Trouble,” he has so far received 17 nominations (including Grammy Award nominations) of which he has won 6: Best selling R&B Male artist (2007); Best Selling African Artist (2007); Best Selling Internet Artist (2007); Billboard Music Artist Award of the Year (2007) and Best Selling African Artist (2008). He made the Top Artists of the Year Chart in 2009 and the Billboard 200 Albums of the Year Chart in 2009, 2007, 2005 and 2004, not to mention the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Year Chart in 2005 and 2004. A record breaker, Akon was the first solo artist to hold both the number one and number two spots simultaneously on the Billboard charts twice.

Want to know about another one of his records? On October 5, 2006, he broke a record on the Hot 100 by achieving the largest climb in the chart’s 48-year history with his single “Smack That” by jumping from number 95 to number 7.

Akon, who often sings hooks for other artists, is credited with more than 300 guest appearances. He has performed with the biggest names in the industry: Dr. Dre, R. Kelly, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Eminem, to name only a few. Several now-successful American entertainers own their chance at fame to him, such as Lady Gaga, to name just one.

But the unique and perhaps most striking thing about this African American music genius known and loved for his silky, West African vocals, is his genuine love for, and attachment to the cradle of humanity, Africa, the continent where his parents came from.

He says his full name is Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam, but let’s just say that the recording artist and song writer better known as Akon was born in St. Louis, Missouri, United States, on April 16, 1973 of an African father, Mor Thiam, a well-known percussionist and Jazz musician. While Akon spent most of his childhood in Dakar, Senegal, he often traveled to the United States until he settled permanently in Newark, New Jersey, when he was in high school.

Artists of African origin who live in the Diaspora quite often remember home, but Akon, who rose to fame in the United States and could have been happy with his huge success in the United States and other parts of the world, shows a unique bond with Africa. He not only performs frequently across Africa where he draws large, wild crowds, he has also devoted several of his hits to Africa. He seems little worried by the bashing, in the United States, of a continent where, to most Americans, every African is uneducated, starving, stricken with AIDS and ruled by a dictator.

Akon, who is proud of his African origin, sings in his hit “Senegal:”

Yo. In case you ain’t know, I go by the name of Akon…and I’m from (Africa! Africa!) Home of the Goree Islands – I’m from Senegal, West-side (Africa! Africa!) So I’ma share with you where I’m from and how I was comin’ up (Africa! Africa!)

His pride is deeply rooted in the vibrant culture of Senegal, the West African country that was the capital of French-speaking Africa under French colonization in the region. Despite its prominence and first-hand exposure to Western culture, Senegal is among the African countries that have best preserved their cultural heritage. The country’s first president, the late Léopold Sédar Senghor, was a renowned poet who enjoyed reciting his poems for foreign audiences during official visits abroad, including the United States. Senghor later rose to the illustrious circle of the French Academy – becoming the first and so far only African to earn that honor.

Goree Island, which Akon proudly sings about, is a highly historic place two miles away from Dakar, the capital. Now a place of pilgrimage for African Americans, Goree was a slave depot harboring the notorious Door-of-No-Return through which slaves walked, in chains, to be loaded like animals in the belly of slave ships heading to the New World.

Still in his hit “Senegal,” Akon wonders:

So what you know about Mr. Amadou Diallo, a Senegalese, cops shot down.

The artist is actually referring to a young African man from Guinea, West Africa, who received an avalanche of shots from New York police officers for doing nothing but running away, carrying a wallet, when the police patrolled his neighborhood.

Hear Akon, saying how proud he is to come from what he terms the ghetto of Senegal, and apparently sending a messages to African Americans:

Now see that’s just a little piece of how it is (Africa! Africa!) See, but we can come together and make it ‘lot better back home (Af-ree-caa! Africa!) So don’t complain about how they treating you here, take your millions of dollars there, back to (Africa! Africa!) We own that land, we own those diamonds, (Africa! Africa!) We kings man, we dont take orders, we give em. Think about it.

Yes, don’t count Akon among the Africans living in the Diaspora who complain about home. He sings in his hit “Oh Africa:”

I know that we have to take it to the goal ’cause everyone’s depending on we. See we ain’t got nowhere to go but up, it’s our destiny.

We’re choosing the way, we’ll do what it takes to get to the top of the highest mountain. We’ll do anything, we got to prove ourselves ’cause we know.