Aliaune Thiam was born October 14, 1981 in Saint Louis, Missouri, but grew up in Senegal. His family (including his father, jazz percussionist Mor Thiam) eventually settled in New Jersey, where Akon discovered the joys of hip hop and the penalties for breaking the law. He was eventually jailed, but he used the time to work on his musical ideas. Upon release, Akon songs found their way to SRC/Universal, which eventually released Trouble, Akon's debut LP, in June 2004. The album was an interesting combination of Akon's raps and silky, West African-styled vocals with
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East Coast- and Southern-styled beats. “
Locked Up” was a big success which led to the release of “Konvicted” in the fall of 2006. Soon enough, two of Akon’s songs, "
I Wanna Love You" and "
Smack That” hit the charts. If you’re into Akon, we’ve got the best free mp3 downloads for you here.