By Kiko Michaels
The views expressed in this Sound-Off are not the views expressed by AllHipHop.com. So I’m back again to sound off on another topic because like ugly people who try to holla at attractive people, I ain’t never scared!
This past week, the huge buzz everywhere was about the revelation that Akon perhaps overstated his involvement in criminal activity prior to making the big time.
Akon has stated that he was incarcerated for a total of four-and-a-half years, when it seems he may have only spent several months in the slammer. Furthermore, it was revealed that his statements which alleged “king-pin status” in an auto theft ring were fabrications that reached far beyond the naked truth.
After reading the many different articles that were written about this, I couldn’t help but think, Really Akon?
My first thought after hearing this shocking story was, “Oh my, I need to go and rent the movie
Gone In Sixty Seconds” mostly because it’s just a great movie. Secondly, because it would seem that the actors in this movie now have something in common with Akon – they all just pretended to steal cars.
My second thought was did he and his marketing team think that his fans (I’m not one of them) only love him because of his supposed criminal past and time in prison? I’m willing to bet, they loved him in spite of that.
Yes, they loved him in spite of the fact that he ran off at the mouth about a tough past and fighting people in prison everyday, yet he made songs like “Smack That” (which very well could have been autobiographical about his supposed time in prison). My point is the fabrication was completely unnecessary! What does it matter how involved in crime you were, or how much time you spent in prison when at the end of the day you make songs like “The Sweet Escape” with Gwen Stefani?
Ok…I can already hear the angry shouts. Yes, he also made songs like “I’ll Still Kill” with 50 Cent and his first hit “Locked Up.” But he didn’t need to be locked up for four years to make those songs. Take me for example, I haven’t done any major jail time, but I have been arrested countless times for DUI’s so instead of “Locked up, they won’t let me out” it could be “Locked up, they won’t let me drink.” See! Equally as catchy, and I didn’t have to lie!
This all comes on the tail end of an interesting 2007 for Akon. After all, this is the same guy who dry humped on-stage with an underage girl and threw some other kid off a stage. I’m not judging though! Sometimes you just need to dry hump a teenage girl, and I get so angry sometimes that I throw children off things too! But at the end of the day is it such a far leap from dry humping toddlers and throwing people off stage to lying about your past? I think not…
P.S. I see that they settled on an age for Akon! 35, yo! Good for him!