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raphip hopg-funkwest coast hip hop

Akon

32 tracks across 15 playlists

Senegalese-American hitmaker whose nasal hooks were anchored on roughly half of the Top-40 radio you heard between 2004 and 2010. 'Locked Up' announced him; 'Smack That' (with Eminem) and 'I Wanna Love You' (with Snoop) took him supernova; the hook on a hundred guest features did the rest. He founded KonLive and signed Lady Gaga before anyone knew her name. The post-music second act has been wild — solar-electrification projects across Africa via Akon Lighting Africa, and the still-not-quite-built Akon City in Senegal. Pop-music receipts and infrastructure ambitions, mixed at maximum volume.