Akon

Although he was born in St. Louis, [|Aliaune Thiam] -- aka  [|Akon] - - grew up in     Senegal before he and his family (including his father, jazz percussionist [|MOR Thiam] ) returned to the United States and settled in New Jersey when he was seven. There he discovered hip-hop for the first time, as well as crime. He was eventually jailed, but he used the time to work on his musical ideas. Upon release, [|Akon] began writing and recording tracks in a home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which eventually released [|Trouble], [|Akon] ' s debut LP, in June 2004. The album was an interesting hybrid of [|Akon] ' s raps and silky, West African-styled vocals with East Coast- and Southern-styled beats. The success of the song "Locked Up" raised [|Akon] ' s profile, and he followed up in the fall of 2006 with Konvicted. Soon enough, two of the album's singles, "I Wanna Love You" and "Smack that," had made their way to the upper regions of the Billboard charts. ~ Johnny Loftus, All Music Guide
 * //__ akon __//**