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Uganda: How Trouble Follows Akon
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New Vision (Kampala)
OPINION
10 May 2008
Posted to the web 12 May 2008
Adrian Musisi
Kampala
HE named his first album Trouble and, as concert-goers around the world have come to find, the name is more than apt. The stress caused last week, when he missed his highly-advertised concert, gave Ugandans a taste of Akon trouble, but those who have been following the R&B singer's career know it was not too far out of character.
He has been known to be trouble at concerts. Famously, for example, in the case of the preacher's daughter.
During a show in Trinidad and Tobago, the 34-year-old singer called audience members up on stage to dance with him. One of them engaged in a particularly raunchy sex-dance with him. It emerged later that the dancer was the 15-year-old daughter of a local pastor who had sneaked out of her father's house to attend the concert.
The furore over that event had barely subsided, and the videos of the dance were still racing around the Internet, and Akon was still insisting that he had no way of knowing the girl was underage when more trouble came his way.
At another concert, in Fishkill, New York this time, a fan tossed a piece of food onto the stage while Akon sang. Akon had the fan brought up on stage to him. The singer then lifted the boy, who turned out to be 15 years old, over his shoulders and then hurled him out into the audience.
The boy was not injured and didn't want to press charges, (though one concert-goer did file suit, claiming the boy landed on her) but investigations of criminal conduct ensued. Which led to more trouble.
When the singer appeared before court, he was released without bail after a check turned up no outstanding warrants or prior criminal history.
This was strange, considering that since his breakout song, Locked Up, in 2004, Akon has been telling fans and media about a long and adventurous past as a notorious criminal kingpin, leader of an infamous car-jacking ring.
In several interviews, with Vibe Magazine, Rolling Stone, MTV, VH-1 and others, Akon has painted an elaborate picture of underworld dealings, saying he was at the peak of a lucrative career dealing stolen Porches and Mercedes Benzes to celebrities and fellow criminals when he was betrayed by underlings. It was their treachery that lead to his final capture and arrest.
He claims he faced up to 75 years in prison for his felonious deeds, but only served four and a half. While in jail, he saw the error of his ways and turned to music, learning to write songs and composing, for example, his first hit, Locked Up, while in the pen.
He spoke often of vicious and cold-hearted carjackings, akin to those in the films Gone in 60 Seconds and New Jersey Drive and several high-speed chases with the police. He also spoke of hard times in jail and frequent fights.
However, after the Fishkill case failed to locate a carjack kingpin, The Smoking Gun, an investigative website, did more digging and found exactly where Akon's criminal record was.
Akon was pulled over in 1998 when a patrolling police officer noted that the licence plate of the BMW he was driving looked like it had been tampered with. A background check revealed that the vehicle was stolen and the papers Akon produced forged.
As a result of this, Akon was sent to county jail, where he served five months before charges were dropped and he was allowed to go free.
Contrary to his claims of being a notorious criminal who evaded the law for ages before being captured and locked up for four years, Akon was a kid in a stolen car, who spent five months in jail.
FBI Agent Peter McFarlane who worked with auto theft cases in Georgia, and was consulted when Akon was picked up "laughed out loud" when The Smoking Gun presented him with Akon's claims of being an auto theft kingpin. "Ah, this is bull," he toldThe Smoking Gun. "This guy is so phony. I don't think he had any role besides (wanting) to drive a high-dollar vehicle. And I say this because we didn't link him to any other cars."
Why the lies? Perhaps it was a cynical marketing strategy, to sell a hardcore thug persona to the public. If that is the case, then it was a waste of energy. Because, after all, since when did an R&B singer need to be a thug?
Especially given that he has done a lot with his fortune and fame that is the opposite of gangsterism. His charity organisation, the Konfidence Foundation, was set up to help make the lives of underprivileged African children better (though born in Missouri, Akon reportedly spent part of his childhood in his ancestral homeland, Senegal) and has performed at various charity concerts and other events to raise awareness about social problems.
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Whatever the truth about Akon's past ultimately, it comes down to the music. After all, he did not come here to steal cars, he came to sing.
Art is at times a magnification of the truth. Akon captures and translates the truth as many people live it. His contribution to the R&B genre is significant.
b1202w
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