Akon: Rock in Rio 2024

A GRAMMY Salute To 50 Years Of Hip-Hop

Miracles Across 125th Street

The American King

History 101

Travis Scott: Look Mom I Can Fly

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Tooken

American Heist

I Am A Singer

Black November

Lady Gaga: One Sequin at a Time

Music Nuggets

We Are the World 25 For Haiti

Plies: Goon In the Trap

Mistarello Presents: Hard Body Blends Volume 4

Kiss and Tail: The Hollywood Jumpoff

YouTube Live

Ghostride the Whip: The Hyphy Movement

Black and Blue: Legends of the Hip-Hop Cop

SNL Digital Shorts

Punk'd

Star Academy

Victoria's Secret Fashion Show

MTV Europe Music Awards

MTV Video Music Awards

Ra.One

Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), known mononymously as Akon (), is a Senegalese-American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. An influential figure in world music, he rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of his single "Locked Up" (featuring Styles P). Styled in hip hop, it preceded the release of his debut studio album Trouble (2004), which became his commercial breakthrough and spawned the R&B-styled follow-up, "Lonely" the following year.
His second album, Konvicted (2006), was met with continued success and was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 50th Annual Grammy Awards, while its lead singles, "I Wanna Love You" (featuring Snoop Dogg) and "Smack That" (featuring Eminem), both received nominations for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. The songs simultaneously peaked at numbers one and two on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively, along with two of his singles released the following year: "Don't Matter" and his guest performance on Gwen Stefani's "The Sweet Escape"; this made Akon the first solo artist to concurrently hold the top two positions on the chart twice. His third album, Freedom (2008), was supported by the top ten single, "Right Now (Na Na Na)", as well as the top 40 singles "I'm So Paid" (featuring Lil Wayne and Jeezy) and "Beautiful" (featuring Colby O'Donis and Kardinal Offishall). His fourth album, El Negreeto (2019), explored reggaeton and Latin music, while his fifth album, Akonda (also 2019), explored Afrobeats; both of which failed to chart.
Along with his solo career, Akon has guest performed on 23 Billboard Hot 100 entries for other artists—such activity earned him two additional Grammy Award nominations. Akon founded the record labels Konvict Muzik in 2004 and KonLive Distribution in 2007, through which he has signed commercially successful acts including Lady Gaga, T-Pain, R. City, Kardinal Offishall, Jeffree Star and French Montana, among others. In addition, he holds a separate career in production and songwriting predominantly for artists on the labels, but also for other artists such as Michael Jackson, Snoop Dogg, Lionel Richie, Leona Lewis, Sean Paul, Whitney Houston, Mario, and Estelle, among others.
Akon has since been prolific in charitable and philanthropic endeavors. He launched the non-profit Akon Lighting Africa in 2014 and has begun development on his own city in Senegal, which is scheduled for completion in 2028. Forbes ranked Akon 80th (Power Rank) in the Forbes Celebrity 100 in 2010 and 5th in the 40 Most Powerful Celebrities in Africa list, in 2011. Billboard ranked Akon number 6 on the list of Top Digital Songs Artists of the decade. He was listed by Guinness World Records as the number-one selling artist for master ringtones in the world, with 11 million sold by December 2007.

Akon