Konvicted in Manila
On the same day that the probably soon-to-be convicted stormed the
Musically, there not much to dispute. Sought after for his songwriting and producing abilities, as much as for his singing and performing, Akon has already compiled a long and heady list of collaborations to chalk up beside his own two solo recordings, Trouble and Konvicted. Gwen Stefani, Wyclef Jean, Bone Thugs and Harmony, Nivea, Lil Wayne, the list goes on and on. Asked him which was the most exciting collaboration, and he spoke of the one he’s in the midst of with Michael Jackson (for release in 2008). “With Michael, with Wyclef, it’s really amazing for me that these are artist I grew up to and really loved and now, they request that I work with them on their own albums. You can’t imagine how that feels, because at one time it would have been enough that I even got to meet these guys!”
Hailing from
“The band I tour with, we‘ve been together for so many years now that we don‘t even rehearse. On the spur of the moment, I‘ll even add a new song into the list we‘ll play on a particular night and we‘ll just get into it and see where it takes us. It‘s that kind of spontaneity that characterizes our approach to music and sure, once again, there’s an element of jazz in that approach.”
The price of fame and success is now upmost in Akon‘s mind. He looks back on the year that was, and sees how bittersweet is all has been, a veritable roller-coaster. Heralded at the start of the year as a genuine R ‘n B star, it all came close to crashing on his head with the spate of bad media. He says he basically toughed it out, and the awards that came in the last quarter was sheer “sweetness.“ It is ironic how so often we build them up just to tear them down and the song Sorry, Blame It On Me just poured out of him when it was needed. In fact, he jokes about how people have pigeonholed him, even calling him a Hip-hop artist, when he can‘t even rap. “People will always make their choices about you when you‘re successful or famous. They‘ll presume stuff and no matter what you say or do, more often than not, you can‘t budge them from what they‘ll believe you‘re all about. I just had to stick to what I was doing and let the music do the talking.“ Don‘t look now, but there‘s a whole world listening to Akon.
- Latest
- Trending