He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of “Locked Up”, the first single from his debut album Trouble. A fourth album, Stadium - originally planned for a 2010 release - was delayed until early 2013.About Akon: Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), professionally known as simply Akon, is a Senegalese American R&B and hip hop recording artist, songwriter, record producer and businessman. Akon slowed his own output but subsequently collaborated with dozens of artists, including David Guetta (the world-wide smash “Sexy Bitch,” 2009), Artists for Haiti (“We Are the World 25 for Haiti,” 2010), parodists the Lonely Island (“I Just Had Sex,” 2010), and close friend Michael Jackson (“Hold My Hand,” 2010). Despite the bold change, the album repeated Konvicted’s chart success by peaking within the Top Ten of the Billboard 200 “Right Now (Na Na Na),” its most successful single, reached the Top Ten of the Hot 100. The December 2008 release avoided the rugged hip-hop/R&B hybrid of his earlier work and courted a broader audience with a dance-oriented Euro-pop sound. Soon enough, two of the album’s singles, “I Wanna Love You” and “Smack That,” made their way to the upper regions of the Billboard charts.įreedom A significant stylistic shift occurred with Freedom, his third album. Konvicted, his second album, was released in November 2006. After appearing on Young Jeezy’s “Soul Survivor,” his number of guest appearances seemed to multiply each month. The success of the song “Locked Up,” a Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 hit, made Akon a star and desired collaborator. The album was an interesting hybrid of Akon’s silky vocals with East Coast- and Southern-styled beats. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which eventually released Trouble, Akon’s debut LP, in June 2004. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in a home studio. He was eventually jailed but he used the time - a total of three years, he claimed - to work on his musical ideas. There he discovered hip-hop for the first time, as well as crime. Hip-hop and R&B are all but scrapped entirely. Louis, Missouri, singer, songwriter, and producer Aliaune Thiam - aka Akon - grew up in Senegal before he and his family (including his father, jazz percussionist Mor Thiam) returned to the United States and settled in New Jersey when he was seven. Akon spun off two number one pop hits and one number two from Konvicted, so he couldn't be blamed for working the same tricks on his third album, yet Freedom is a major change of pace - the kind of drastic switch-up that normally happens after reaching a creative and commercial dead-end.

Akon right now na na na release date