Biography

Aliaune Thiam -- aka Akon -- grew up in Senegal before he and his family including his father jazz percussionist Mor Thiam eventually settled in New Jersey There he discovered hip-hop for the first time as well as crime He was eventually jailed but he used the time to work on his musical ideas Upon release Akon began writing and recording tracks in a home studio The tapes found their way to SRCUniversal which eventually released Trouble Akons debut LP in June 2004 The album was an interesting hybrid of Akons raps and silky West African-styled vocals with East Coast- and Southern-styled beats The success of the song Locked Up raised Akons profile and he followed up in the fall of 2006 with Konvicted Soon enough two of the albums singles I Wanna Love You and Smack That had made their way to the upper regions of the Billboard charts Johnny Loftus All Music Guide