Akon Answers "The Questions" For Okayafrica TV
In the time I've been checking for Akon, he's graduated from young-gun chart phenom to label impresario to global superstar. So it really should come as so no surprise if his ambitions these days span whole regions and continents; less the type of things to be on the agenda at the MTV Music Video Awards and more the type of things to be on the agenda at the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit. True story. Okayafrica TV's cameras caught up with the versatile hustler of culture while he was in D.C. for that very summit and peppered him with "The Questions" on pretty much everything you'd ever want Akon's expert opinion on, ranging from: "please explain your Akon Lighting Africa solar energy initiative?" all the way to: "what was it like working with King of Pop Michael Jackson?" (not surprisingly: "A-1.") Get more below via Okayafrica and then scroll down to watch the full Q&A:
When we found out Akon would be in DC during the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit we knew we’d have plenty to discuss. The son of Senegalese drummer legend Mor Thiam and raised for part of his childhood in the “home of Gorée Island,” Akon is undoubtedly a key player in the West African pop music market as both an industry head honcho (his Konvict Muzik imprint represents Naija pop stars P-Square, Wizkid, and 2face Idibia) and a featured artist on some of the biggest Lagos club remixes in recent years, including “Chop My Money” and “Dami Duro.” More recently he’s launched the Akon Lighting Africa Project with the goal of bringing electricity to one million homes in Africa by the end of 2014.In addition to meeting with leaders in Senegal, Mali, Guinea Conakry, Gambia, Burkina Faso, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Congo Brazzaville and Côte d’Ivoire this year, Akon brought his solar-powered initiative to DC for the White House’s first ever African leaders summit...