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Afroamerican
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Afroamerican
Post Number: 114
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: 
Votes: 1 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 10:09 pm: | 
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I thought I'd share this interview of him since he's someone everyone here can relate to! He's African and yet very American too: He says some of the same things Kola does!
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AKON – Artist Interview
By Marielle V. Turner, Virtual A&R, Slamjamz.com
Marielle: How did you choose your name?
AKON: It’s not a significant made-up name. AKON is actually a middle name of mine.
Marielle: Well what’s your whole name then?
AKON: Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam.
Marielle: Wow that’s a mouthful. Could you spell that?
AKON: I’ll write it down for you.
Marielle: Thank you.
My apologies to AKON if I didn’t read it correctly. He asked me to just write down Aliaune Akon Thiam for short – I just had to have y’all see the whole thing.
Marielle: I went to TowerRecords.com to listen to the snippets they have of your CD. I notice you quote Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message.” There’s also a song called “Lonely.” Who is the original song by?
AKON: That would be Bobby Vinton. You don’t know nothin’ about that huh?
AKON is completely adapted as an American as you can see from the way he speaks.
Marielle: I was just thinking, “This song sounds familiar.” This is some serious cross-over material though I know you ain’t tryin’ to do that.
If you look at most Black Americans, we don’t know where we’re from originally. Being from Africa – Senegal, what’s it like to know exactly where you’re from, then to move here to grow up with Black Americans?
AKON: I was blessed to see both sides. Here, you only see one side of life, until you take the time to go back home and see where you’re from.
Marielle: Well like Eddie Griffin said, “We can’t just show up and say, ‘Take me to Shamboogoo’s house.’” We’re not from there.
AKON: You can actually just show up. You really can. People don’t know what to expect when they get there. It’s the same distance from here to Senegal as it is from here to L.A.
I really wanted him to understand that we can’t just show up and find family in Senegal or any other place in Africa. I guess I gotta have the hook up through him somehow to get the home treatment -- hint, hint. Otherwise, it’s like going anywhere else to visit, I’m so sure.
Marielle: A lot of Black Americans think that Africans don’t like us. Like they’re mad at us for being allowed to grow up here. Well, we are descendants of the ones who happened to survive that long-ass boat ride. So growing up with Black Americans, what was your perspective? Tell me about your friendships, relationships with women, whatever.
AKON: I personally can’t speak for other Africans. I didn’t have that experience. As a kid, growin’ up, I can’t front, it was hard. I was just coming in from Africa. I was mad black. Dark skin wasn’t in style. My accent was crazy. I was getting teased and fighting, but you know, kids are gonna be kids anyway. But they didn’t give me the impression that I didn’t get along with them. I ended up making crazy friends once they got to know me. I just think it’s a lack of understanding. People stereotype you before they get to know you as a person. So, naturally, Black people think that Africans don’t like them, and it’s never been like that. If you’re American and you go to Africa, you get treated better than most Africans. I don’t know why or what their motivation is. Maybe they want your money. I don’t know. But they’ll treat you very well as an African-American. Once they make it to the states, that’s probably something different. They might treat you a certain way since they get treated a certain way. You never know what drives people to react and treat people the way they do. It could also have a lot to do with the fact that they don’t teach African history here.
Marielle: I know. Unless you studied African history on your own, you didn’t really know about how we got here from Africa until you saw Roots.
AKON: And if you use Roots as an example, that’s no good. Until you take the time to go research yourself, you won’t know anything and there’s always gonna be that gap and misunderstanding between Africans and African-Americans.
Marielle: What about your relationships with women here? Have you had any?
AKON: All of my relationships with women here have been great. I’ve had no problems. The only thing I’ve had to adjust with here–women don’t listen. Women got their own mind. They do what they want and when they want to. In Africa, it’s totally different. Women will listen to you and do what you say. Women compete against men here. That’s something I had to get used to.
Marielle: How old are you?
AKON: I just don’t advertise my age because in this industry you are as young as you sound. Other than that I’d be glad to tell you how old I am. Once you let people know your age in this business, that’s when the countdown begins. Matter of fact, they’ll put your deadline on blast for you. I don’t wanna be in that box so I don’t advertise it, period.
Marielle: A very strong Hip-Hop influence is evident in your style. Your bio says this was the case in your life as well. You collaborated with several Hip-Hop artists on this project. Tell me more.
AKON: Yeah, Daddy T. and Picklehead, a group called Grady Bakers (sorry if I got this wrong) out of West Atlanta, and Styles P from The Lox out of Yonkers. Grady Bakers are signed to my production company. They’re fresh out of prison as well. I have a company called Convict Music. We’re rehabilitating a lot of prisoners who are trying to come out and change for the better. When you come out of prison and they find out you’re a convicted felon you can’t get a decent job. A lot of times people want to change but they can’t cause society won’t let them do it. What they end up doing is what got them into prison in the first place in order to survive. So we started Convict Music for a lot of kids that come out. I saw a lot of talented brothers when I was in there, and thought they would be huge if they came out and got on. So we’re not dealing with knuckleheads, we’re dealing with cats who want to come out and change. As far as Styles P, when we were getting ready to put out “Locked Up” it was ironic that he was locked up and just getting out of jail. This record came out of my real life experience and is personal to me. I wasn’t trying to just put a big name on it so it would sell. All of the songs are written in diary form because I made them for my own personal listening. So I heard that he liked the record and wanted to be on it. I thought that it would be good to look at the situation from a Hip-Hop standpoint as well as an R&B standpoint. Had he not gotten locked up, he probably would not have been on this record.
Marielle: I hear a serious Reggae influence on your sound, and was reminded of Bob Marley a lot because your voice sounds a lot like his. Is there any Reggae influence in your opinion?
AKON: There’s as much Reggae influence as Hip-Hop. I wanted to have the whole record sound like something I wanted to hear. So there’s different types of music on there.
Marielle: So do you consider this Street R&B?
AKON: You can call it Street R&B if you want to. It’s really all reality music. This is stuff I actually grew up dealing with. I don’t like to do songs all about relationships and love. That’s for other people to do. I pretty much like to sing about things I see. I think music has more substance when you talk about the truth
AKON – Artist Interview
By Marielle V. Turner, Virtual A&R, Slamjamz.com
Marielle: How did you choose your name?
AKON: It’s not a significant made-up name. AKON is actually a middle name of mine.
Marielle: Well what’s your whole name then?
AKON: Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam.
Marielle: Wow that’s a mouthful. Could you spell that?
AKON: I’ll write it down for you.
Marielle: Thank you.
My apologies to AKON if I didn’t read it correctly. He asked me to just write down Aliaune Akon Thiam for short – I just had to have y’all see the whole thing.
Marielle: I went to TowerRecords.com to listen to the snippets they have of your CD. I notice you quote Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message.” There’s also a song called “Lonely.” Who is the original song by?
AKON: That would be Bobby Vinton. You don’t know nothin’ about that huh?
AKON is completely adapted as an American as you can see from the way he speaks.
Marielle: I was just thinking, “This song sounds familiar.” This is some serious cross-over material though I know you ain’t tryin’ to do that.
If you look at most Black Americans, we don’t know where we’re from originally. Being from Africa – Senegal, what’s it like to know exactly where you’re from, then to move here to grow up with Black Americans?
AKON: I was blessed to see both sides. Here, you only see one side of life, until you take the time to go back home and see where you’re from.
Marielle: Well like Eddie Griffin said, “We can’t just show up and say, ‘Take me to Shamboogoo’s house.’” We’re not from there.
AKON: You can actually just show up. You really can. People don’t know what to expect when they get there. It’s the same distance from here to Senegal as it is from here to L.A.
I really wanted him to understand that we can’t just show up and find family in Senegal or any other place in Africa. I guess I gotta have the hook up through him somehow to get the home treatment -- hint, hint. Otherwise, it’s like going anywhere else to visit, I’m so sure.
Marielle: A lot of Black Americans think that Africans don’t like us. Like they’re mad at us for being allowed to grow up here. Well, we are descendants of the ones who happened to survive that long-ass boat ride. So growing up with Black Americans, what was your perspective? Tell me about your friendships, relationships with women, whatever.
AKON: I personally can’t speak for other Africans. I didn’t have that experience. As a kid, growin’ up, I can’t front, it was hard. I was just coming in from Africa. I was mad black. Dark skin wasn’t in style. My accent was crazy. I was getting teased and fighting, but you know, kids are gonna be kids anyway. But they didn’t give me the impression that I didn’t get along with them. I ended up making crazy friends once they got to know me. I just think it’s a lack of understanding. People stereotype you before they get to know you as a person. So, naturally, Black people think that Africans don’t like them, and it’s never been like that. If you’re American and you go to Africa, you get treated better than most Africans. I don’t know why or what their motivation is. Maybe they want your money. I don’t know. But they’ll treat you very well as an African-American. Once they make it to the states, that’s probably something different. They might treat you a certain way since they get treated a certain way. You never know what drives people to react and treat people the way they do. It could also have a lot to do with the fact that they don’t teach African history here.
Marielle: I know. Unless you studied African history on your own, you didn’t really know about how we got here from Africa until you saw Roots.
AKON: And if you use Roots as an example, that’s no good. Until you take the time to go research yourself, you won’t know anything and there’s always gonna be that gap and misunderstanding between Africans and African-Americans.
Marielle: What about your relationships with women here? Have you had any?
AKON: All of my relationships with women here have been great. I’ve had no problems. The only thing I’ve had to adjust with here–women don’t listen. Women got their own mind. They do what they want and when they want to. In Africa, it’s totally different. Women will listen to you and do what you say. Women compete against men here. That’s something I had to get used to.
Marielle: How old are you?
AKON: I just don’t advertise my age because in this industry you are as young as you sound. Other than that I’d be glad to tell you how old I am. Once you let people know your age in this business, that’s when the countdown begins. Matter of fact, they’ll put your deadline on blast for you. I don’t wanna be in that box so I don’t advertise it, period.
Marielle: A very strong Hip-Hop influence is evident in your style. Your bio says this was the case in your life as well. You collaborated with several Hip-Hop artists on this project. Tell me more.
AKON: Yeah, Daddy T. and Picklehead, a group called Grady Bakers (sorry if I got this wrong) out of West Atlanta, and Styles P from The Lox out of Yonkers. Grady Bakers are signed to my production company. They’re fresh out of prison as well. I have a company called Convict Music. We’re rehabilitating a lot of prisoners who are trying to come out and change for the better. When you come out of prison and they find out you’re a convicted felon you can’t get a decent job. A lot of times people want to change but they can’t cause society won’t let them do it. What they end up doing is what got them into prison in the first place in order to survive. So we started Convict Music for a lot of kids that come out. I saw a lot of talented brothers when I was in there, and thought they would be huge if they came out and got on. So we’re not dealing with knuckleheads, we’re dealing with cats who want to come out and change. As far as Styles P, when we were getting ready to put out “Locked Up” it was ironic that he was locked up and just getting out of jail. This record came out of my real life experience and is personal to me. I wasn’t trying to just put a big name on it so it would sell. All of the songs are written in diary form because I made them for my own personal listening. So I heard that he liked the record and wanted to be on it. I thought that it would be good to look at the situation from a Hip-Hop standpoint as well as an R&B standpoint. Had he not gotten locked up, he probably would not have been on this record.
Marielle: I hear a serious Reggae influence on your sound, and was reminded of Bob Marley a lot because your voice sounds a lot like his. Is there any Reggae influence in your opinion?
AKON: There’s as much Reggae influence as Hip-Hop. I wanted to have the whole record sound like something I wanted to hear. So there’s different types of music on there.
Marielle: So do you consider this Street R&B?
AKON: You can call it Street R&B if you want to. It’s really all reality music. This is stuff I actually grew up dealing with. I don’t like to do songs all about relationships and love. That’s for other people to do. I pretty much like to sing about things I see. I think music has more substance when you talk about the truth
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Afroamerican
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Afroamerican
Post Number: 115
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 10:10 pm: |
|
opps!
I pasted the interview twice! Sorry! |
Afroamerican
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Afroamerican
Post Number: 116
Registered: 08-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 10:19 pm: |
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Here's some pictures of him for anyone who's unfimilar with his music!
http://www.mtv.com/shared/media/images/artist/a/akon/az_official/376x180.jpg |
Libralind2
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 283
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 11:00 pm: |
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AKON: All of my relationships with women here have been great. I’ve had no problems. The only thing I’ve had to adjust with here–women don’t listen. Women got their own mind. They do what they want and when they want to. In Africa, it’s totally different. Women will listen to you and do what you say. Women compete against men here. That’s something I had to get used to.
LiLi....not listening to what Akon says |
Kola
Moderator
Username: Kola
Post Number: 2337
Registered: 02-2005
Rating:
Votes: 2 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, November 21, 2005 - 11:10 pm: |
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Boy, he's sexy. 
Thanks for posting this, AfroAmerican.
I enjoyed reading him.
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