1996–2005: Discovery and Trouble When still in high school, he became part of the Refugee Camp, the extended musical family of
the Fugees. In 1996, he recorded a single, "Operations of Nature", that earned him a deal with
Elektra Records—but when the song failed to catch on in the United States, the record deal went by the wayside as well. "That was the turning point for my music, especially the music career. That's when I lost all hope, and I was like, 'It's not really for me.' That's when I became a misfit." Music mogul Devyne Stephens, the president of Upfront Megatainment, first heard about Akon when rapper
Lil Zane brought him along to Stephens' rehearsal hall, a place that at the time saw talents such as
Usher and
TLC being developed. The relationship between Stephens and Akon began as a friendship and
mentorship, with the young artist regularly stopping by to ask for advice, with Stephens eventually signing him to his production company and began grooming him professionally. The songs Akon recorded with Stephens were brought to the attention of
Universal's imprint
SRC Records. In 2005, he released the single "Lonely" (which samples
Bobby Vinton's "
Mr. Lonely"). The song reached the top five on the
Billboard Hot 100, and topped the charts in Australia, the UK and Germany. His album also climbed to number one in the UK in April 2005. When music channel
The Box had a top ten weekly chart, which was calculated by the number of video requests, Akon's "Lonely" became the longest-running single on the top of the chart, spanning over fifteen weeks. Akon was then featured on two other singles,
P-Money's "Keep on Callin'" off the album
Magic City, and the other with New Zealand rapper
Savage with the single "
Moonshine", which had become a success in both New Zealand and Australia, reaching number one on the New Zealand charts. A year later in 2005, he made his first critically acclaimed guest appearance on
Young Jeezy's debut album ''
Let's Get It: Thug Motivation 101'', with the song "
Soul Survivor". In December the same year, his manager Robert Montanez was killed in a shooting after a dispute in
New Jersey. In 2006, Akon and Young Jeezy suggested plans for a collaborative album.
2006–2008: Konvicted in
Charlotte, 2007 Akon started his new record label
KonLive Distribution under
Interscope Records. His second album,
Konvicted, was released in November 2006 and debuted at number two on the
Billboard 200, selling 286,000 copies in its first week. After only six weeks,
Konvicted sold more than one million records in the US. The album was certified platinum after seven weeks, and after sixteen weeks it was certified double platinum. It stayed in the top twenty of the
Billboard 200 for 28 consecutive weeks and peaked at number two on four occasions. On November 20, 2007, the RIAA certified the album 'triple platinum' with 3 million units sold in the US. The album included collaborations with
Eminem,
Snoop Dogg, and
Styles P. The first single "
Smack That" (featuring Eminem) was released in August 2006 and peaked at number two on the
Billboard Hot 100 for five consecutive weeks. On October 5, 2006, Akon broke a record on the Hot 100, as he achieved the largest climb in the chart's 48-year-history with "Smack That" jumping from number 95 to 7. The leap was fueled by its number six debut on
Hot Digital Songs with 67,000 downloads. The record has since been broken several times. "Smack That" was nominated for
Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the
49th Annual Grammy Awards, but lost to
Justin Timberlake and
T.I.'s "
My Love". "
I Wanna Love You", featuring
Snoop Dogg, was the second single released in September, it would go on to earn Akon his first number-one single on the
Billboard Hot 100, and Snoop's second. "I Wanna Love You" topped the US charts for two consecutive weeks. In January 2007, a third single "
Don't Matter" which earned him his first solo number one and second consecutive Hot 100 chart-topper was released. "
Mama Africa" was released as a European single in July 2007, making it the fourth overall single from the album. To coincide with the release of the deluxe edition of the album "
Sorry, Blame It on Me" debuted in August 2007 on the Hot 100 at number seven. In February 2007, Akon launched his clothing line
Konvict Clothing. It features urban streetwear including denim jeans, hoodies, T-shirts and hats.
Aliaune is the upscale version, or high-end line, for males and females, which includes blazers, denim jeans and other items. In April 2007, Akon drew criticism for an onstage act that included simulated sex with Danah Alleyne – a 15-year-old girl at the time who is the daughter of a pastor and sister of
Crime Watch host Ian Alleyne – at the Zen Nightclub in
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, as part of a fake contest, despite the club's statement to have a 21-years-and-over age requirement. The incident was filmed by Akon's crew and later uploaded to the Internet. On April 20, 2007, local media, channel
CCN TV6, aired the video clip publicly. Amid criticism,
Verizon Wireless removed ringtones featuring Akon's songs and Verizon decided not to sponsor
The Sweet Escape Tour where Akon was to be the opening act for
Gwen Stefani. Right wing political commentators
Michelle Malkin,
Laura Ingraham, and
Bill O'Reilly criticized Akon for "degrading women". He produced and featured on Gwen Stefani's "
The Sweet Escape" which has reached No. 2 on the
Billboard Hot 100. Akon performed at the
American leg of
Live Earth. He later recorded a remix of "
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" by
Michael Jackson for the
25th-anniversary rerelease of Jackson's
Thriller. He also worked with bachata group
Aventura and
Reggaeton duo
Wisin & Yandel on
All Up 2 You. The song received two nominations at the Premios Lo Nuestro 2010 for "Urban Song of the Year" and "Video Collaboration of the Year". He signed Jayko, a Hispanic R&B and
Reggaeton artist, to his label. On June 3, 2007, at
WSPK's KFEST concert at the
Dutchess Stadium in
Fishkill, New York, a concert attendee threw an object towards Akon on stage. Akon asked the crowd to identify who threw the object and that he be brought on stage. Security staff grabbed the teen and took him up to the stage. Akon then pulled him up from the crowd and hoisted him across his shoulders. The singer then tossed the attendee back into the crowd from his shoulders. Video of the incident was reviewed by Fishkill police. Akon has said that the incident was staged and that he in fact used the act to set up for the next record. Charges of endangering the welfare of a minor, a misdemeanor, and second-degree harassment, a violation, were filed, according to police Chief Donald F. Williams, and Akon was arraigned on the two charges on December 3, 2007, in the town of Fishkill Court. In 2008, Akon pleaded guilty to harassment. He served no jail time, provided he performed "65 hours of community service and paid a $250 fine."
2008–2009: Freedom Akon released his third album
Freedom on December 2, 2008, which spawned four singles: "
Right Now (Na Na Na)", "
I'm So Paid" (featuring
Lil Wayne and
Young Jeezy), "
Beautiful" (featuring
Colby O'Donis and
Kardinal Offishall) and "
We Don't Care".
Freedom was certified platinum in the US. Rap singer Nelly suggested that Akon,
Pharrell, and
T-Pain had talked about forming a rap supergroup in 2009. Akon and
Konvict Muzik produced hip-hop/rock group
Flipsyde's 2009 release,
State of Survival, released via
KonLive Distribution and
Cherrytree Records. He was also the executive producer of Kardinal Offishall's fourth solo album
Not 4 Sale. The first single "
Dangerous", which featured Akon peaked at No. 5 on the
Billboard Hot 100. He co-wrote
Lady Gaga's hit "
Just Dance", and which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Dance Recording at the
51st Annual Grammy Awards. After the unexpected death of
Michael Jackson, who Akon was working with, Akon released a tribute song called "Cry Out of Joy". Akon said he was close friends with Jackson near the end of Jackson's life in an interview with UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning 'Blues & Soul' in October 2008. In July 2008, a song called "
Hold My Hand", an R&B duet/collaboration between Michael Jackson and Akon, circulated the internet. It was not included in the tracklist for
Freedom as Akon previously stated. During an interview with
Tavis Smiley, Akon said that Jackson had planned on a high-profile release including a music video until the track had leaked. This is Jackson's last known song before he died on June 25, 2009. Akon finished work on the song for Jackson's posthumous album,
Michael, and it was released as a single in November 2010. Akon co-wrote and recorded "Put It on My Tab" with
New Kids on the Block for their 2008 reunion album
The Block. He also co-wrote and produced
Leona Lewis' single "
Forgive Me" and worked with
X Factor 2008 winner
Alexandra Burke on her debut album. He later worked with
Whitney Houston for her 2009 comeback album
I Look to You, appearing on the track "Like I Never Left". Akon collaborated with
Pitbull on the single "
Shut It Down" from the album "
Rebelution" and worked with
Matisyahu to remix his single "
One Day" on his album
Light. He also co-produced singer
Natalia Kills' debut single, "
Mirrors", from her debut album,
Perfectionist. IsThereSomethingICanDo.com, launched On March 25, 2009, the social action collaboration project between the artists
Peter Buffett and Akon has partnered with DoSomething.org, to coincide with the release of "Blood Into Gold". The song focused on
human trafficking and featured both artists.
David Guetta collaborated with Akon in "
Sexy Bitch", the first
house track by Akon. The song reached number 1 in more than six countries and charted at 5 on the
Billboard Hot 100. He produced and recorded "
Oh Africa" for the 2010 World Cup with Pepsi. According to
Forbes, Akon grossed $13 million in 2011, $21 million in 2010, $20 million in 2009 and $12 million in 2008.
2010–2018: Unreleased Stadium album and hiatus A single, "
Angel", produced by Guetta, was released in September 2010, which peaked at number 56 on the US
Billboard charts, significantly lower than his previous outings. Akon performed the song during the 2010
Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Akon travelled to Jamaica to work with
Damian,
Julian and
Stephen Marley. Around the same time, Akon collaborated with
Dr. Dre and
Snoop Dogg on "
Kush", charting on number 36 on the
Billboard charts. The single was first intended to from Dr. Dre's forthcoming album
Detox; however, it was removed from the final album track list, with the album eventually being unreleased. He also contributed "
We Are the World 25 for Haiti", a
charity single in aid of the
2010 Haiti earthquake. After an almost three-year hiatus from solo work, Akon released the promotional single "Dirty Work", featuring
Wiz Khalifa, which was released in February 2013, peaking at number 31 on the
Rhythmic Billboard charts. In 2010, Buddhist groups in Sri Lanka vehemently protested a planned concert by Akon, saying his music video with Guetta for "
Sexy Chick" insulted
Buddhism because of the Buddha statue that can be seen several times in the background. Considering the allegations against Akon, the
Sri Lankan Government decided not to issue him a
visa to enter
Sri Lanka. Later that year, on November 11, 2013, Akon released a standalone single titled "So Blue". On January 1, 2015, Akon released five singles from
Stadium. He also announced that the album would be a quintuple album, broken up into five genres (Euro, Pop, Urban, Island & World). All singles failed to chart. In November 2015, Akon announced via his official website that he was planning to release his fourth album
Stadium in four versions:
Stadium-Island,
Stadium-Urban,
Stadium-World and
Stadium-House. These editions of the album will be available exclusively via the
Stadium mobile app which is supported by ads but allows fans to stream the albums. The album was indefinitely postponed. In late 2015 and early 2016, Akon released the singles "Want Some", "Hypnotized" and "Good Girls Lie", upon striking a new record deal with
Atlantic Records. In April 2016, Akon appeared in the Chinese reality TV show
I Am a Singer along with the Taiwanese singer
Jeff Chang. Later that year, he was featured on the remix of
Joey Montana's single "
Picky" and featured alongside
Chris Brown on
Gucci Mane's Michael Jackson tribute single "Moonwalk". In late 2017, he released a collaborative mixtape with Konvict signees entitled
Konvict Kartel Vol. 2. In 2018, he collaborated with reggaeton singer
Ozuna on the bilingual single "
Coméntale", the first time that Akon sang in Spanish in a Latin song. At the time, he stated he had adopted the nickname "El Negreeto" and would be pursuing collaborations with other Spanish-language artists.
2019–2026: Return to music, Akonik Label Group, El Negreeto, and Akonda Akon has announced his new record label Akonik Label Group and will release four studio albums in different genres. In May 2019, Akon released his first Latin single "Get Money", featuring
Puerto Rican rapper
Anuel AA. It was intended to be the lead single for his fourth album
El Negreeto but didn't appear on the final version of the album. The album was expected to be released on August 30, 2019, but was pushed back and released on October 4, 2019. On September 6, 2019, Akon released "
Cómo No" featuring Mexican-American singer
Becky G, as the lead single from
El Negreeto. He released the album
Akonda on October 25, 2019.
Konnect was announced as his sixth album, scheduled for December of the same year, but was never released. A remix of "Locked Up" (originally by Akon) by
Steve Aoki and Trinix was released in August 2023. In 2025, Akon joined Canadian
country music artist
Josh Ross on the song "
Drunk Right Now (Na Na Na)", a reimagined take on Akon's song "
Right Now (Na Na Na)". In August 2025, Akon performed in
Russia, but his concert in
Sochi was nearly disrupted by a
drone attack.
2026–present: Beautiful Day ==Philanthropy==