Rainard Jalen

Born Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam (according to wikipedia) and son to the renowned Jazz percussionist Mor Thiam, Akon's rise to fame in recent times has been unprecedented. People wonder why, well I'm here to shed some light on the matter. Akon is in possession of a voice of such range and diversity that he has been able to craft, with unrivalled skill and dexterity and indeed passion and ambition, instant modern classics bound to enter the dizzy heights of the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame one day in the near future. Songs of such beauty that even the hardest of hip-hop fans cannot help but be entranced and drawn in by their uncanny enigma, such as Mama Africa, I Wanna Love You, Gangsta and Senegal. Those impressed by his other-worldly vocal talents and ability to craft insanely-catchy hook after insanely-catchy hook haven't even stumbled across the half of it, because in Akon lies a man of such verbal dexterity that he has created lyrical collages possessing such depth and dimension that they stand as virtual time capsules of the era in which they were written...Smack That, Pot Of Gold, Ghetto, Gangsta Bop, Belly Dancer...songs of legend, songs that do for modern contemporary music what Mozart did for Classical, what Beethoven did for Romance, what Bach did for Baroque.

Those looking to discover the musical richness, the creativity, the phenomenon that IS Akon, would be well advised to begin with his most creative and well thought-out endeavour yet, 2006's Konvicted, a sprawling 63-minute masterpiece that, while heralded as the stuff legends are made of upon its release, even then won't be fully understood for years to come.

Standout Tracks: Shake Down, Smack That, I Wanna Love You, Mama Africa, Don't Matter