A real con artist: Akon fabricated his criminal past
Well, well, well. The Smoking Gun exposes the marketing fraud known as Akon (the thug entertainer you’ve come to know and loathe well here – previous Akon blogging):
Akon’s ad nauseum claims about his criminal career and resulting prison time have been, to an overwhelming extent, exaggerated, embellished, or wholly fabricated, an investigation by The Smoking Gun has revealed. Police, court, and corrections records reveal that the entertainer has created a fictionalized backstory that serves as the narrative anchor for his recorded tales of isolation, violence, woe, and regret. Akon has overdubbed his biography with the kind of grit and menace that he apparently believes music consumers desire from their hip-hop stars.
While the performer’s rap sheet does include a half-dozen arrests, Akon has only been convicted of one felony, for gun possession. That 1998 New Jersey case ended with a guilty plea, for which the singer was sentenced to three years probation. Another 1998 bust, this one in suburban Atlanta, has been seized upon by Akon and transformed into the big case that purportedly sent him to prison (thanks to his snitching cohorts) for three fight-filled years. In reality, Akon was arrested for possession of a single stolen BMW and held in the DeKalb County jail for several months before prosecutors dropped all charges against him.
So there was no conviction. There was no prison term between 1999 and 2002. And he was never “facing 75 years,” as the singer claimed in one videotaped interview.
Akon’s invented tales appear to be part of a cynical marketing plan, but one that has met with remarkable success.
Read the entire report.
Will he be releasing “Sorry, Part II?”
See what others have said
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- Lesser Common Denominator « Countenance Blog
- The DaleyGator » Blog Archive » Heartache! Thug wannabe rapper only a fake thug!
- A Negative Reputation the Only Way to Get on the A-List? « PR in the Spotlight
- Michelle Malkin » Akon update: Thug singer admits throwing boy off stage
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Categories: Akon
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Does Alicia Keys know about this?
He needed to have ’street cred’ for the gangstas and sell his music.
Pathetic. It used to be that having a criminal record was seen as something humiliating but now we’ve rationalized bad behavior so much so that you can’t be popular if you haven’t done prison time for something.
Yeah but the guy played tag once.
“Akon’s invented tales appear to be part of a cynical marketing plan, but one that has met with remarkable success”
well then — that makes it not so cynical, huh?
/sigh
Garbage music for garbage minds, regardless.
and possible sold Skittles in the joint
Sounds like he did have a criminal past… his problem was he didn’t get caught enough for his cred!
Weird, weird, weird.
Shocker.
I demand a refund!
ROFLMBO
Thanks John.
I have nada nice to say about this
manperson. Let’s just leave it at that.Rumor has it he dodged sniper fire at burbank airport on his way to rob a 7/11.
You call that short little punk a thug!
HAHAHAHAHA
A muslim thug! What a frigging joke!!!
Oh lord. What’s next? Will we next find out that changed his name to “Akon” from Robert Van Winkle?
He had the gun because he was bitter over the high cost of Arugula.
Sorry Michelle, I haven’t a clue who this person is, but I think a car going down my back road must have his music on, the whole house shakes when they go by. I’m sure they all have hearing aids in the car.
L
Doesn’t matter, I’m still bitter.
He’s just another rapper punk who needs to grow up.
If he wants street cred,
the lad needs to get some fighting dogs. I think the Feds have a place in Virginia up on the auction block.
What a waste of processor space.
AKON Lied, Street Cred Died. It’s Bush’s fault.
Look at the links in the upper right of this page to read previous entries from this site. (If you actually want to read about this individual)
This is true. I hate that guy. I swear, he’s the cause of all that is wrong with this country …… by the way, look at the link in the upper left corner of this page of Gwen Stefani ….. Rarrrr!!!
Hmmmmmm, not your “typical black rapper” I’m shocked!
Inner-city role model. Oh, how they espire to be like him. Talk tough…blame “the man”…revisit your youthful indiscretions…explain how you’ve grown and overcome societal barriers!
What? Oh. I thought this was about Obama…my bad.
I have heard alot more relevant rappers who have said much worse, done much worse, and their stories were completely fabricated, yet shy away from the critiques. Was it the kid hurling that got him entwined in all of this?
1. “
Akon’sHillary/Barack’s invented tales appear to be part of a cynical marketing plan, but one that has met with remarkable success”#22, I do not listen to his kind of music and don’t want to read anything about him. I was just making a statement. I’m a southern TX gal and listen to western music, have a gun, and believe in God. Don’t chew though.
L
On the upside, he can help Hillary write her memoirs after her POTUS run is over. And if by some miracle she wins, he could be a White House Speech writer. /sarc
Boy, you think you know someone, and then…
I feel like taking a shower.
And I always thought he threw that kid off the stage like a girl.
What a wuss.
Maybe it’s the “bitter, gun loving, God fearing ignorance” in me but who is Akon and why would I care?
Steve.
The fact that anyone should have to exagerate their story to give them more street cred is just one more shinning example of how our society is completely breaking down and that civilization is coming to a screeching halt. Sad… just sad.
#24 rooster wrote:
He’s not a rapper, for starters. He’s a singer (and unfortunately, he’s ubiquitous these days), and most of his contributions to song consist of him shouting dumb phrases behind people like Gwen Stefani.
As for the “typical black” part of your post, I must say that for a group who — at least, based on comments that appear here each day — collectively seems to believe that blacks should stop “complaining,” “dwelling on the past” and “being victims,” it’s ironic that so many posters are stuck on repeat in reference to this perceived racial slight. So much for leading by example, I guess.
“You can fool some of the people, all the time, all the people, some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people, all the time.” That’s a quote this loser needs to understand.
I can tell you as a former LEO in the area, that’s not entirely implausible.
I’ll be dawg, another insightful lib mad that we make fun of the messiah, B Hussein Obama’s very words.
Pech fur dich arschloch!
I bet he enjoyed some arugula while in DeKalb county jail…
Akon and Vanilla Ice where in the same Gang.
Ummm, rooster was riffing on D’oh-bama’s use of the phrase “typical white person.”
The more you know…
#4 – John Ansell:
That, my friend, started him down the path of destruction….good thing that forward-thinking educators are putting a stop to that.
Texas Tiger,
You got some nerve!
A lib like nyk is all knowing and better than us bitter Americans clutching our guns and bibles.
He knows my real meaning in my typical phrase, just like he will translate every idiotic thing a democrat meant to say and not what they said.
Shame on you, the troll is new here.
rooster:
Please, don’t beat on me. I’m just doing community service for
mocking the dead and dyingriffing on ABSOLUT’s ad campaign.God, I hate this orange jumpsuit they make us wear.
#40 TexasTiger wrote:
I know — the joke (or “riff”) gets made about a dozen times every day in the comments here. It’s a “perceived racial slight” (hence the use of that phrase in my post) that seems to have really gotten under the skin of many posters here. I was just pointing out the irony of its frequent (re)use when there are so many calls on this site for people generally, and blacks specifically, to stop dredging up old, bygone instances of racism in this day and age. Just an observation.
Hope that clarifies.
A kon artist hehe
#42 rooster wrote:
That’s Ms. Troll to you.
Thanks.
Funny nyk, but thats exactly what I read in your post…blah, blah, blah.
Wow, Nuyk..
try to have a normal talk about Akon and you all but scream ‘RACIST’ on them..
a talk about issues and you go right into closed minded bigot mode..
I know — the joke (or “riff”) gets made about a dozen times every day in the comments here.
Well, that’s because it’s still fresh. If you don’t care for it, be patient. In time it will turn brown, wither and disappear–like a bowl of arugula left out in the Texas sun.
It’s a “perceived racial slight” (hence the use of that phrase in my post) that seems to have really gotten under the skin of many posters here.
Can’t say I see it as a slight. I believe most who post see it as a gaffe.
I was just pointing out the irony of its frequent (re)use
You got that right. The frequent re-use of the phrase is a bit of self-deprecating irony.
Hope that clarifies.
Not until I know what nyk stands for. If you tell me, I’ll tell you what Texas stands for.
#48 DaveC wrote:
Not “RACIST” — more like “HYPOCRITE.” I’m just suggesting that the recommendation to drop all the dwelling on race (which often appears here) hasn’t really been followed by the very posters who so often make the suggestion.
It has little to do with Akon himself, who doesn’t have the talent to merit discussion.
Too bad he made up this street cred story before Obama got to use it. Pretty amazing that moral decline is a hallmark of fame, but what do I know..I’m just a typical white person.
#49 TexasTiger wrote:
I have to say, I don’t mind a bit of mockery or poking fun (at me, even) if it’s clever. And that bit was very clever. (I’m one of the trolls with a sense of humor.)
For the record, this is more time than I ever want to dedicate to anything remotely related to Akon ever again.
On April 16th, 2008 at 6:46 pm, Amglo said: #51
Me too
nykAmglo.He’s almost good enough to run for office as a Democrat.
I just watched a rerun of “The Cosby Show” and realized that Bill’s never done time. Somehow, I just don’t find him entertaining anymore. Does that make me a racist?
/sarc (because nyk can’t always tell)
Sorry, rooster, I have to ignore what you say because nyk said so.
It was late…around 11:00 when he said this. He misspoke. Then he had to do three more misspeaks to cover the first mispeak.
Rap is dead….
I knew there was something about Bill Cosby that bothered me
nykConcerned Citizen, he got no street crede.I knew there was something about Bill Cosby that bothered me
nykConcerned Citizen, he got no street crede.nyk,
I have a feeling you are going to be interpreting to us bitter folks every stupid thing a democrat meant when they mis-spoke.
I just heard Hillary giving a speech about the time she was a GANGSTA RAP BEEEEYOTCH and did time for selling Crack.
Well, now she’s got the black vote!!
From here on out, he’ll have to call himself Akonman.
Goes to show you how phony the entertainment business is and the latent racism of the execs (typical white people for Obama, I’m sure) who think you’re not a legit young black man without the proper criminal record.
We care about Akon why?
Either:
A. His publicist needs to justify his existence
or
B. He’s responsible for 13% of the GDP of Senegal.
Not that I give a damn about rap music designed to dumb down our entire society with it’s thug culture, but I do believe we may have found the perfect running mate for either “she who must not be named” or the Obamination.
Websters Dictionary:
Akon = a kon, or embellishment of a persons gangsterism
His mother should be so proud? I mean….Er, ah…. Forget it.
No one’s forcing you to comment.
It was fake but accurate. It’s plausibly true after all.
Seeeriously, what’s the obsession with Akon on this site. I wish that he’d just ship some autograph t-shirts and CDs to MM and the mods, and get this over with. Wow. I see more Akon press here than on BET. Out of all the artists white and black……
This is kinda funny.
WHO CARES what Akon lies about regarding his criminal past. I didn’t care when Vanilla Ice did it either.
Akon who?
You’s white people dont be dissin on Akon. I dont talk smack about Brittney. Me n Akon goes way back to the hood, so anything he said we did, I was right there wit him. (Where’s my PR rep…. I needs cash flo )
Seebee40 beat me to it…
Ice, Ice baby…..
He didn’t say “typical black”, he said “typical black rapper“. That’s not the same thing, not by a long shot. To deny that that subculture idolizes sociopathy and criminal behavior is silly, and the fact that Akon felt the need to fabricate a criminal past in order to be successful goes a long way towards proving it.
what a LOSER.
TT, nyk went to public school and was unable to spell kkk.
Vanilla Ice-kon
Didn’t Vanilla Ice “Embellish” his street cred too.
Great company there..
Well like Ice said:
“Will it ever stop??,
Yo’ I don’t know…
Turn off the lights, and I glow”
Akon = A con…..job
FAker
All of these guys lie, and what’s worse, they lie about stupid stuff – violence, ignorance, consumerism, I wish they would all go far away and not come back.
Where is his “street cred” now? Will the “black” community reject him, or is it still lies as usual.