Talk:Akon/Archive 1

His Birthdate

His birthday is March 7,2007 at 4:50 and he made all his songs when he was 1 day old.Akon you realy know his ungle

Please cite a website to state that his birth name is truly Aliaune Thiam. Kilo•T 20:51, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

• IMDB - "born Aliaune Thiam [...]"
• Whudat.com - "Aliaune Thiam"

You don't have to be snarky. There are a lot of Google results for it, such as [1], though most don't cite a specific source for the long name. Long names like that aren't uncommon in parts of Africa, Dikembe Mutumbo for example, and you didn't have a reason for your revert. Thus I kept it. --Awiseman 21:01, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

Here's an interview where he says it's his real name [2] --Awiseman 21:05, 20 October 2006 (UTC)

I was not being snarky. I'd rather have the article accurate than inaccurate. Kilo•T 10:55, 21 October 2006 (UTC)

There is only 5 results, Wikipedia is the first result, and the rest aren't what is considered WP:RS-- ¢² Connor K.   00:48, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

The last one I mentioned [3] is an interview him however. I'm going to put the full name back. --Awiseman 13:27, 23 October 2006 (UTC)

He must have had some cruel parents Johannes H.-Larsen 15:42, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

That is his birth name there are citations and he has mentioned it as stated by some, in a few radio interviews. It is mostly composed of middle names. He is however often referred to by the shorter variation of it, not unlike the case with dikembe mutumbo as simpy Aliaune Thiam.

Duhon 30 December 2006 (UTC)

I corrected the title of this section, from "Porely" to "Poorly".

He said on a interview on KIIS FM (a popular radio station in LA) that that was his name

Oh, that is REALLY helpful. Besides, start signing your comments! Chsf 08:15, 9 February 2007 (UTC)

That isn't his name u are lieing so much! 9:16 cc, 15 february 2007

Birth Place

He was born in St. Louis, but was raised in Senegal. http://www.vh1.com/artists/interview/1501105/05022005/akon.jhtml Check that interview, Akon says it.

In the song "Journey" he says"Born And Raised in Africa trying to make a scene." See. http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/akon/journey.html — Preceding unsigned comment added by R-HIT (talk • contribs)

That's a song, he can say whatever he wants in a song. But in interviews and biographies he says he was born in St. Louis and moved to Senegal at a young age --AW 17:45, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Herminshs 08:12, 29 December 2006 (UTC) According to his own website, he was born in Senegal and moved to St Louis when he was 7Herminshs 08:12, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

See here --AW 16:47, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

There is a city in senegal called St. Louis. Go look. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Superman983 (talk • contribs)

• Yes, but he implies Missouri, see the quote

“ "VH1: You actually grew up in Senegal?

Akon: I grew up there but I was born in St. Louis. My mom and pop made sure we were all born in the States, that way we wouldn't have any immigration problems. We came here to go to school. Then in the summer we would go back to Senegal. Eventually, after high school, I ended up staying.

”

--AW 17:31, 4 January 2007 (UTC)<-this is crap

Having a long name like that doesn't surprise me. My name is Usman Ige Adukbi Olanrewaju Ayomide Ademidun Opemipo Isola Agbe Kewuyemi ------- of course I'm going to leave out my last name. But it does only the first name is my first name. The fourth is my American middle name. [I don't know how to leave a snazzy signature.] 68.50.76.199 00:34, 31 January 2007 (UTC)Usman

He was born in St. Louis!!! Stop changing it!!!

No he was born in Senegal, go to akononline.com and you will see it says"The story of the Senegal-born soul singer".Just read people and get your stuff straight.

He can not be originally from 2 country. If he s born in senegal he s from senegal ,if he s born in st louis ,missourri he s from the united states

Look, in interviews he says he was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Stop changing it. I'm going to ask for this page to be locked if people keep changing it to Senegal. He wasn't born in Senegal, just raised there. Here's an interview at VH1 [4], an article about him [5], and a bio from Wal-Mart [6] --AW 15:13, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

Duhon you seem to have an obsession with akon, you must have a little school girl crush cause you think by threatening to report me will make a difference, i will still change the info and thats that.See threats get you no where you idiot, so stop trying to threaten me like im going to pisss my pants cause you will "report me"

AKON WOULD NOT BE LIVING HERE IF HE WAS ROM SENEGAL BECAUSE HE WOULD HAVE TO BE AN IMMIGRANT AND MOVE BACK TO SENEGAL!

If you were smart enuff, you would look at a map of sengal and see that Sanit Louis is the name of one of the provinces, OMG you are so dumb, he's from ,Saint Louis,Senegal!!!!!!!!!! Every1 knows he's from Senegal!!!!!!!!!! By the way, America is a country started by immigrants, buddy, you think white people were here before Columbus? A lot of America is immigrated, genious — Preceding unsigned comment added by 72.81.218.12 (talk • contribs)

yep, I've found 2 sources saying he was born in Senegal and then moved to the U.S. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.101.249.2 (talk • contribs)

Look, this is his interview with VH1:

“ VH1: You actually grew up in Senegal?

Akon: I grew up there but I was born in St. Louis. My mom and pop made sure we were all born in the States, that way we wouldn't have any immigration problems. We came here to go to school. Then in the summer we would go back to Senegal. Eventually, after high school, I ended up staying.

”

He's saying they were born in the States - the United States. --AW 18:52, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Fugees

he actually got his start with "the fugees", and appeared on a few songs on the album "The Score". Perhaps this should be mentioned.

Please note, Akon ws born in St. Louis, Senegal, not St. Louis Missouri. This seems to be wrong in the main article.

See here --AW 16:47, 29 December 2006 (UTC)

Main Article

The biography reads like (and probably is) an industry promo. This isn't really a reference article, but a cut and paste from some sort of Akon PR. Someone familiar with Akon's background should right a more objective biography.

I agree, this is not an article that would be in an encyclopedia we need to redo this article JTaylorCU

Yeah, it's awful. I know nothing about Akon, but maybe someone who even just liked one of his songs could rewrite that bit? --Dandelions 23:21, 21 April 2006 (UTC)

It seems it has been changed markedly from that "promo" state now.. - A-ixemy 12:41, 23 September 2006 (UTC)

i think its plagerized: [www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Akon-Biography/D46CE4CE0AD4176E48256EE2000AB000] --RA64 05:16, 4 May 2006 (UTC)

His upcoming album "Konvicted" wasn't leaked onto the internet someone must tried to put everything close to it though.

Bananza

Who is the other guy in it?--60.226.16.83 09:48, 4 September 2005 (UTC) Anyone?--60.226.31.92 23:19, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Who knows?--Sultn 10:24, 8 October 2005 (UTC)

infamous1: Kardinal Offishall is featured on the Bananza remix. you can hear kon at the beginning say "..akon and kardi"

Discography

Who keeps on deleting all the guest appearances? Sebastian Prospero 23:47, 15 September 2005 (UTC)

Why would Akon be considered as a "Guest Appearance" on "I Wanna Luv U" if it is also listed as his own single??? SleepyStud 19:39, 30 October 2006 (UTC)

new info... His trouble album went 2 times platinum in the US.

http://www.artistopia.com/akon

He had 2 singles that came out in 96 "Operations of Nature" and "Crack Rock". The video of Operation of Nature can still be found on Youtube. So year active can be changed and it would be cool to had that CD..It had several remixes of those songs

His name?

"Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam" OK that is JST NONESENSE YA'LL!! .. Im 100% Senegalise and trust me that is NOT a real name. As they said "Damala Bouga Time" does actually mean "I Wanna F*** You". He was probably jst translating it for the interviewer! Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu aint Wolof AT ALL!! They're jst makin all this up. Alioune Thiam is his real name. Akon is jst his name as an artist. Trust me, if any of ya'll go to Senegal and aks the ppl if that is a real name, they'll jst think its crazy!

Is his name really "Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam"? There's no source, and it seems a bit absurd. I thought "akon" was his performing name, derived from the fact that he's an ex-con. And "lu lu lu" seems made-up, but we can't be sure if there's no source. Coquigamer 00:33, 1 May 2006 (UTC)

There is a source, look at the last external link that says "Interview." Please dont alter it. On wikipedia we are supposed to add middle names. Even African Ones. By the way Akon is one of his middle names. Thank You! R-HIT

I'm still not positive if its his full name, but I found it at several sources: [7] [8] including a wikipedia senegal article [9] and the interview R-HIT mentions. R-HIT made it sound like some joke in the edit summeries, saying it was "insider info" one site said it was his rumored name.--RA64 18:09, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

I just heard an Akon interview on a radio station in Atlanta and he confirmed that this is his birth name.

First of all, "Dama la beugg time" means "I wanna f*ck you" in Wolof, so I'm almost sure that someone made that up, especially with his new song on the air. I've never heard of anyone having "lu lu lu" in their name either, but that's also Wolof (it doesn't really mean anything, it's kinda like a repeated conjunction). Also, I've mostly seen Alioune spelled the French way (with an 'o' not an 'a'), but his may be spelled differently. Most of all, Badara is a common Pulaar name that goes with Thiam, and Thiam is a griot name, the singers and oral history storytellers of Senegal, so that seems right. I think it's probably Alioune Badara Thiam, but who knows. I speak Wolof and have spent a lot of time in Senegal and with Senegalese people, and am extremely skeptical that anyone would have a name like that. Any way to get in touch with him? -anne penda / Annekoplinka 17:34, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

That may be true, but he's said the whole thing is his name in interviews. Do you have a source that his name is really only three words? We need to figure this out. --AW 17:44, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

If you can actually prove ""Damala Bouga Time"" means profanity in Wolof maybe you have an argument but none the less he has himself said that exact name in a few interviews already (i also doubt wiki has that many wolof speaking vandalizers). --Duhon

We have to have a source on this. He's said the whole thing is his name in interviews, as this article says. --AW 21:20, 23 January 2007 (UTC)

The 'truth' doesn't matter, it's sourced and should stay.21:50, 7 March 2007 (UTC)

I would like to add my contribution to the discussion about Akon's real first name by seconding the statement that his real name should be spelled "Alioune" and not "Aliaune". As an individual that grew up in Senegal as well, I have never heard of an "Aliaune", but "Alioune" is definitely right. It is indeed a Senegalese name. The name Aliaune does not exist to my knowledge. -Issa Dramé

I just found 2 sources - one lists his name as "Alioune Thiam" (as some have said it should be) and one that also provides his middle name "Badara" too (as Anne said it probably is above). [10][11]--Tfeng8 22:17, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Thanks. That first one seems less legitimate, it says he was born in Senegal, when he says himself he was born in the US. I'm going to cite the second one --AW 23:10, 6 February 2007 (UTC)

Even though there's the issue of whether or not his first name is Aliaune or Alioune, I think we can just leave it as Aliaune, since that's how it's being spelled by pretty much every source in the United States and I guess Akon is fine with that. But all the other parts like "Damala Bouga Time" should be excluded, in my opinion. There are never any Sengalese sources that have anything more than Alioune Badara Thiam. So I think we should just leave his name as Aliaune (Alioune) Badara Thiam and nothing more. Tfeng8 09:35, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

The name is obviously a joke from Akons side, it's the chorus of one of his most famous tracks "I wanna f*ck you" AND I can asure you that "Damala bouga time" means I want to fuck you since I am also from the partially wolof speaking country of Gambia.

And as someone said earlier said that "even African middle names" should be written, is the joke itself, Akon knows that most westerners have a view that many Africans do have names like that. I hope we can be allowed to change this article without anymore, arguements about this joke. His name is most probably Alioune Badara "Akon" Thiam. Please trust us who do speak the language. We wouldn't doubt your knowledge in your mother tongues THANK YOU(Kuini86 05:01, 27 March 2007 (UTC))

The issue isn't that anyone doubts your ability to speak the language, but that Akon has said in multiple interviews that that is his full name. And who knows, maybe he had interesting parents who decided to include profanity in his name. Or maybe they don't speak the language and asked a mean-spirited passerby who does for a name suggestion. I know a girl named Alison Wonderland Smith. If she wrote children's books, and said her name was Alison Wonderland Smith, should we doubt her because her name happens to be the name of a famous movie? Until we have a source showing that he's lying to the world, he's pretty much the foremost expert on his own name. 24.17.242.238 15:45, 27 March 2007 (UTC)

Biography section needs cleanup

Encyclopedia articles are supposed to be "just the facts", not people's opinions about them. This section needs a rewrite to better meet the standards of an encyclopedia. (I also suspect that it is actually copied from another web site or from a print source, but I haven't checked.) -- 201.78.233.162 12:32, 31 May 2006 (UTC)

Okay, we've got two issues going with the biography section:

(1) It's an "ad". It's somebody talking about how cool Akon is, and doing it in a way that that isn't appropriate for an encyclopedia article.

(2) It's copied from the artist's website. We really can't do this on the Wikipedia unless we specifically get permission to do it.

-- 201.78.233.162 06:28, 2 June 2006 (UTC)

He is a novelty, because he has no credibility!

Aliaune is fine I believe. I am senegalese and usually it is Alioune, but I know that with the English pronunciation you can play around with names just looking at Gambian's name. It is just a matter of English vs french writings. Well "Dama le bougou time" = "I wanna fuck you". I dont think any parents would name their child that..If you think so well u can then leave it like that.

Unsourced Statements

Can we stop referring to Akon as a novelty rapper? I've never heard him called that anywhere and it sounds like a POV statement. Also, can we have sources for Akon calling James Blunt a fag for knocking him off number one on a music channel and Akon saying Keane are his favourite band? --Tyron1 13:00, 22 August 2006 (UTC)

I Would Also Go On The Record By Saying His Record "Konvicted" Did Not Leak Onto The Internet But Perhaps Maybe A Few Tracks Did But It Wasn't The Whole LP

Protect From Unregistered Users

I would like to know if the Akon page could be protected from unregistered users because the majority of unsourced statements and spam comes from them. I'm not sure if I could do this, which is why I'm requesting it.

Thnx

His name is Alioune Badara Thiam, what you have right there is actually perverse and sexual Wolof content.

THANK YOU! It is extremely frustrating that someone put up "dama le beugg time" etc etc as his middle name ... at least someone knows what I'm talking about Annekoplinka 17:40, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

Trivia section

We don't need a trivia section. The useful pieces I integrated into the article, like his TV appearance and the Box chart, and the rest is not really useful. And see Wikipedia:Avoid trivia sections in articles --AW 14:47, 9 November 2006 (UTC)

Wolof and or French?

Do we have any sources saying what he speaks? --AW 22:58, 15 November 2006 (UTC)

"Smak That" - Does anyone care that he doesn't even say the Lamborghini Gallardo name correctly... it's Guy-yar-doe" not "Gal-lar-do"--- IT BUGS BIG TIME. Chk your references Akon.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH!!!! get on limewire or something and listen to the begining of a song called rebel musik. He sings it with monseiur r. At the begginning he is clearly heard speaking fluent french. And wolof is spoken more in the gambia. And french is the primary language for senegal. So he has to know french. And to add he is from dakar, a metropolitan city. from my understanding wolof is spoken in small villages in senegal!!!!!!!!!!!!!11 THIS NEEDS A PICTURE--R-Hit

Just because he speaks French on a CD doesn't mean he is fluent in it. We need a source that says he does. It does need a picture though. --AW 03:18, 20 November 2006 (UTC)

French is not the native language of Senegalese people. It is the language they speak in school, the language used for writing, and the language used on most television programs. However, it is not the language used in everyday conversation. Wolof, among other languages, is spoken in both cities and villages. "French is the official language but is used regularly only by the literate minority. All Senegalese speak an indigenous language, of which Wolof has the largest usage." (http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2862.htm) "Senegal is a small African country north of Mauritania, east of Mali and south of Guinea. Since Senegal was French colony the official spoken language is French, however the national/native language is Wolof." (http://www.nyu.edu/classes/blake.map2001/senegal.html) As sources cited in the Wikipedia article explain, Akon did not even attend school in Senegal. Assuming he does speak French, it is highly doubtful that he is as proficient as someone who attended school in Senegal. And even if he had attended school in Senegal, French would still not have been his native language. --KCGU 16:50, 30 November 2006 (UTC)KCGU

I just listed to the song "Rebel Musik" that he does with Monsieur R. It is Wolof, not French, that Akon speaks in this song. I do not have any source to prove this, but I myself am fluent in both French and Wolof. I have spent over two years in Senegal. There is a little bit of French mixed into Akon's Wolof, but that is because all Senegalese people add some French into their Wolof, regardless of whether or not they are capable of speaking pure French. Akon says "Il faut ma defat ko boy...Senegal Dakar laa joge...Yu bare gëmuñuko..." which means, "I need to do it again, man... I'm from Dakar, Senegal... Many don't believe it..." Therefore, I believe that Akon speaks at least a little Wolof. I do not know how much French he knows. I welcome anyone who can corroborate this with some citations. The only thing I can prove is that he speaks English like an American and that he is an American citizen (since he was born in the US). --KCGU 20:06, 30 November 2006 (UTC)KCGU

-> I agree, he speaks a little French and some Wolof, because he spoke to the crowd in Wolof when he came to Dakar to do a concert. However, his level of French and Wolof is really what I think people are wondering about Annekoplinka 17:43, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

GUYS I FOUND A SOURCE..HE SPEAKS FRENCH!!..He says it in this interview.. [12]- R-HIT

That's good, but it doesn't mean he doesn't speak Wolof too --AW 19:14, 4 December 2006 (UTC)

who the **censored** blocked it from edtiting

^^^ Inresponse to the above question, you need to register first. The message blocking unregistered users from editing says it all. Reyrefran 16:50, 12 December 2006 (UTC)

I was at his concert in Dakar too. His Wolof is very good actually. He introduced his parents to the crowed. I do believe he understand french, and speaks just a little a bit. his wolof is better than his french am sure.

WTF HAPPENED?

Whoa, this page needs to be locked by the looks of things. It seems that it is constantly being edited, and now someone has deleted the entire page and written:

Some lame-ass bastard

This is an ENCYCLOPEDIA where people go for INFORMATION!! NOT opinions, you **censored**wit!! —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 58.169.47.44 (talk) 05:07, 27 December 2006 (UTC).

Brother in FL

I met his older brother at a mosque in Orlando, Florida. His older brother lives in Orlando, but the others live some else where. He showed me proof. His name is Muhammad Chiam, not "Thiam", he said its pronounce and spelled "Chiam". He was about 6`3 ,skinny, dark, and looked like him. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 68.205.229.145 (talk • contribs).

Do you have a verifiable source for that? The sources linked from the article disagree with you. -- Jim Douglas ^(talk) _(contribs) 22:35, 27 December 2006 (UTC)

My mistake, his last name is spelled "Thiam" but it is pronounced "CHAM".

Comment

I'm from senegal and I have never heard of a name like that, Akon's real name is "Alioune Thiam", I do speak wolof and "Damala Bouga Time" means something really nasty in wolof "I want to F**** you", Wikipedia should not allow people to post thing without proof... follow the link from "billbooard.com" - + - *IMDB - "born Aliaune Thiam [...]" + (http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/bio/index.jsp?&cr=artist&or=ASCENDING&sf=length&pid=491541&kw=akon) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Xzalate (talk • contribs)

If that's true, that's pretty funny. However, he does say the name in interviews, which are sourced and linked in this article with footnotes. Maybe he's playing a joke, which is worth looking into, but he has said it a few times --AW 07:21, 2 January 2007 (UTC)

Well, I wouldn't bank on it being a joke, but it could be. We do need a true verifiable source before we make any sort of edit like that. We need some proof before we do anything. Tockeg 17:35, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

What happened to his personal life section?

What happened to the section that mentioned his Islamic faith and that he is a polygamist? someone needs to put it back. I will if no has reason for deleting it. Sartaj 05:48, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

Yeah, please do --AW 06:36, 3 January 2007 (UTC)

-Can somebody edit to capitalize Muslim? Thanks.

Disputed tag for his name

I added the disputed tag because of his name - people are saying that part of it is actually Wolof profanity, but he has said that the full thing is his name in a few interviews. I'm not sure what to do in that case. --AW 17:51, 8 January 2007 (UTC)

I heard you can put anything up here.

World tour

The article (and apparently sources) say his world tour this year will commence in Africa, but makes no mention of anything about Asia. This is a bit odd, seeing as Akon will be coming to my college in Malaysia tomorrow to perform... Johnleemk | Talk 11:23, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

18:36, 1 March 2007 (UTC)S.khan27== Ambiguous/misleading information ==

The page says "He is a Muslim, and cites his religion for his polygamist lifestyle; he has three wives".

Here's the problem. Islam doesn't order each and every muslim to take up polygamy. It merely tolerates polygamy. The vast, vast majority of muslims in the world have just one husband/wife. Change it to "He is a polygamist, which is permissable under the religion of Islam of which he is an adherent" or something along those lines.

Well he does cite his religion for his practice of polygamy, he has made it clear in a few interviews. as well this article is about akon not the islamic faith. --Duhon Jnauary 18th 2007

The gripe is that it gives off the impression that he is obliged as a muslim to be polygamous, which isnt actually the case. In Islam, you can be polygamous if you want to be. It isnt a requirement at all. Change the ambiguous wording

ok.. im not sure but i think the U.S.A only allows 1 wife.. all states except UTAH . And he does not live there. so i think the 3 wives thing is incorrect. but im quite sure he is a muslim — Preceding unsigned comment added by S.khan27 (talk • contribs) S.khan 21:30, 18 March 2007 (UTC) Search Polygamy and see the charts that show which countries ALLOW polygamy.S.khan 21:30, 18 March 2007 (UTC) Sabeel Khan

Any known album date

Does anyone have any idea if there is a known release date for the new album.

With respect to Konvicted, his article mentions a different copy that was released, perhaps a limited edition or something, but is unclear. When I downloaded a torrent that was titled Akon - Konvicted in about early November (that's a guess as to when-it was too long ago for me to remember) it had 19 tracks, all of which sound like they are done by Akon. It still features many of the same songs as the standard 12 track Akon album that I bought. Is there any known reason for this? I can provide a track listing if anyone wants. --User:Phatmatt12188

infamous1: That was an early leak not put out by kon, but put together by someone. it contained previously released material and features.

Edit needed

In the Career section under 2004-2005: Trouble - The first sentence - "Akon's solo debut album, Troublewas released on June 29, 2004." Needs a space added after Trouble. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Psmith811 (talk • contribs) 23:24, 26 January 2007 (UTC).

Pop genre

Who removed the pop rap genre? Akon belongs in the pop rap genre. Some of the songs on his albums are poppy. "Smack That" was a failure in the urban market and "Mr. Lonely". It caters more to mainstream. Charmed36 21:28, 1 February 2007 (UTC)

Too long?

This article seems very long, especially the part with all his rumored appearances. Is that really necessary? Many singers and rappers appear on many other rappers' songs, do we need to include them all? --AW 22:34, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

People come hear to read about him and know what music he is in. If it doesn't say a lot of the songs he's in with other rappers it wouldn't be that informative. matthew was here lol

Correct Information/Format

Everytime I try and correct the information in the article Ericorbit reverts it to the "correct format". That is fine with me but when I tried to use his format along with updating the information, he reverts to an outdated edit. Apparently I don't know how to edit so I would like someone to update the information as well as keep the correct format. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Taker 1192 (talk • contribs) 01:33, 8 February 2007 (UTC).

If I have removed some current info, I'm sorry for this. However, your edits are a complete reverting of huge sections of the article which were previously cleaned up for grammar, wikilink, punctuation and song/album title formatting, etc. If your edits showed that you, for example, were only updating a chart position there would be no reason to revert, but when I see this I can only assume you're changing everything back to a poorly-written version. - eo 01:43, 8 February 2007 (UTC)

Konvict (convict?)

Is Konvict (or is it Convict? I'm not sure which he means) considered one of Akon's nicknames? -Mike Payne 03:31, 25 February 2007 (UTC)

Recent news

hey i wrote a artical on Wikinews about his recent visit to Borderfest 2007 in which his security forces werent enough to stop the rush of people comming at him which led to him having his shoes socks and watch stolen. =) i was there. also it should come out on the news shortly. the only problem is i dont know where to put such info if it does come out. Maverick423 20:54, 5 March 2007 (UTC)

Clothing Line

Hey i was just wondering if his clothing line launched or not cuz if it didn't shouldn't it be taken out of the article that it launches in february as it is march 10... Cheese is good.....enough 20:37, 10 March 2007 (UTC)

Lead in

Seeing as the intro was rather messy, I firstly moved his birth place and where he was raised into the relevant 'Background' section. Secondly, I removed the line saying "Other sources have his name as "Alioune Badara Thiam". The only difference between that name & the one cited in the 1st sentence is one letter ('o' instead of 'a'), which isn't surprising since the source was a French site. And I changed the origin in the infobox to St. Louis. If you look at the Template:Infobox musical artist, 'origin' means which place he became notable as an artist. Spellcast 10:54, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

I'm going to add that back. There was a lot of debate about his name, some people claim the long version is not real, and that it's Wolof profanity. --AW 15:09, 14 March 2007 (UTC)

Religion

I have a source [[13]] stating that he's a Sunni Muslim, and not a convert. Should we add it to the article? Tockeg 17:50, 11 March 2007 (UTC)

That's not really that reliable a source. these famous___ websites are never that accurate.Duhon 06:22, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Alright, I'll see if I can find another source or two. Tockeg 21:54, 12 March 2007 (UTC)

Other name

There's been a lot of debate here about his name - Senegalese people are saying a lot of his name is profanity in Wolof, and that his name is probably Alioune Badara Thiam. I found a source that said that, [14] but people keep removing it. i think we need to keep it in so that people know there is some controversy about it. --AW 14:04, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

That source has his name as 'Alioune Badara Thiam' but that doesn't necessarily prove that's his full name. Are you sure that source isn't merely simplifying his full name for clarity? Spellcast 06:55, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

All I know is the source says that, and other people here say that's right. All we can say is what is in there now - "However, other sources say his name is Alioune Badara Thiam" --AW 15:50, 28 March 2007 (UTC)

Punk'd

Akon got Punk'd, it was about him saying something in Japanese/korean without actually knowing what it means, "I am a fool", "I'm embarressed", "I just got Punk'd". Anyone going to put that in? -HeckXX 23:18, 29 March 2007 (UTC)

Origin

Regarding the place of 'Origin' in the infobox, the Template:Infobox musical artist says it refers to:

The city from which the singer or group originated (that is, the city where the group was founded; or the city where individual performers started their career, should it not match the location of their birth).

He grew up in both the US & Senegal. But 'origin' here refers to the place where he became notable & it doesn't have to match the place where he grew up. And it was in the US where he became notable rather than Africa. Spellcast 14:24, 1 April 2007 (UTC)

moonshine? keep on calling?

nothing is mentioned of these two singles. they were recorded with new zealand artists before he cracked the us market. were both huge here in NZ anyone wanna add these?they may have even been on his first album here in NZ