Born in The United States to Senegalese Parents in 1973 as Aliaune Damala Badara Thiam, and popularly called Akon grew up in the West African Country from his childhood days till when he was age 8.
Akon who recalled his days in the Jungle of Senegal in his own words...''What I remember the most really was running wild there, barefooted, swimming in dirty lakes, selling fruits, picking mango trees, hoping not to get caught because they don't take kindly to thieves in Africa.''
Finally he landed in the jungles of New Jersey and the transition was so challenging.
Akon said...''Making friends was the hardest part'', ''I didn't speak any English,it was a different culture, dressing different, I would get teased a lot--not playing the bully card--but I found myself trying to find to find was to fitting in. I was always fighting''.
These let to his joining a lot of bad boys and criminal groups at age 14 which were involved in alot of criminal activities including stealing of cars. This led to his six months jail term. Akon count himself lucky to have left that kind of lifestyle.
In 2004, He released His first single, ''Locked up'', to great success.Two years later,his second album, ''Konvicted'' reached triple platinum with three million copies sold in the United States and more than five million worldwide by the end of 2007. He has also done alot of collabos with big names such as Lady Gaga, Snoop Dog, Micheal Jackson and lots more.
Akon said he believe Africa expects more from him and he is supposed to be a good Ambassador of Africa
He therefore said, his goal is now to give back to Africa more and more. This is the reason why he set up Konfidence, a foundation that is set up to build dchools and hospitals in Senegal. In his words,...I am going to keep advancing, doing as much as I can, but I really want to make the biggest impact in Africa.
To all theses, we can only say...congrats and Weldon..hoping you will reach other parts of Africa with your Foundation.
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