AKON Is BACK: First Album in 20 Years, No Filter & The Comeback Nobody Saw Coming

0:00Oh, you got it like that. Sorry. Next question. If you were in the 2000s, you already know where I'm going because I am fangirling over here. I am pleased, honored to have the GOAT himself.

0:19For a long time, when you're living it, you don't know it. Like you're just in it. Like you don't see anything outside of tunnel vision where you're headed. I went hard for six years straight from 2004 to 2010. No days off, no breaks. Things just went past me so fast that I didn't even realize that years were passing me by. It was around that time when I started to realize how much I actually had accomplished, because people would tell me that. If you could pick any artist that you want to work with that you haven't, who would it be? That's the thing. I've worked literally with everybody. There has to be one.

0:46Somebody new coming up. Big T-shirt. Billie Eilish.

0:56Welcome back to The Build Pod. where authenticity trumps authority. I am your host, Mara Dorn. Now, if you were in the 2000s, you know smack that ass. You know lowly. I mean, you already know where I'm going because I am fangirling over here. I am pleased, honored to have the goat himself, Akon. Woo! Nice. You already told me you're not going to sing. You told me I could sing. Yeah, I can hold the note. So you're not going to sing? You're not going to do one? I can. I don't know how to sing. You know what? I believe it. You've been fraud like, um, with Milli Vanilli. We got Milli Vanilli in the house.

1:31No, that's lip singing. Oh, but I know. I sing, I just don't sing. What do you mean I'm sing? Like, there's two types of singers. Okay. Okay? You got Akon type singers. Then you got Beyonce type singers. Okay. Now, Beyonce can sing. Yeah, she can definitely sing. Me, I can just hold the note. So you just sing. See, my kind of songs, everybody can sing them. Yes. Because I keep one note. I'm locked up. They won't let me out. It's like this. It's a little bit. Smack that. You know what I'm saying? smack that all on the floor same key i love it i love it i see you whining and grinding same key you see what i'm saying so that's the difference now listen i 20 plus years in the music industry i mean this isn't first of all you look exactly the same age so i think you really are a vampire what you said like i gotta be a vampire you have because i can't even listen i forget my age sometimes.

2:24I don't even know how old I am now. When they ask me, I'd be like, yeah, I'm 20 young. I think you are. No, I'm not joking. Seriously. I'm really not even like blowing smoke. Like you have not aged in 20 something years. And I'm assuming you probably don't do Botox or filler. I don't do drugs. Nothing. Don't smoke. Don't drink. Don't do no drugs. Nothing. That might be a big. Maybe. Yes. No drinking. I definitely don't do none of the Botox fillers and all that stuff. I keep. That actually makes you look older, believe it or not. Peptides. What about peptides? What's that? Oh, this is a new thing.

2:51The peptides. I don't want to know. I'm going to tell you after about it. Yeah, I'm going to tell you you're going to like it. Listen, the best vitamins you're going to have is just healthy food. Yeah, that's true. That is absolutely true. Trust me. All right. So I'm just going to dig in deep. Like I'm about to eat. I'm about to. You just look like you're a digger. I am going to dig and make you a little uncomfortable. No, I'm always comfortable just so you know. Yeah, I know. I can tell. You just have that good vibe. I know. I can see it. All right. So listen. who are like when you when you just think about akon like who is akon outside of what the world sees um well that's the thing i've akon's been akon to the world so is that and that's what actually makes it easy for me to navigate like i don't know how to i don't like i don't know how to defilter myself yeah if that's even a word but i don't know but it sounds good to me i was buying it like i can only be me because i don't want to have to reinvent myself every year like i don't want to have to be something else to stay relevant like it's just too much work do you ever look back and think wow i mean think about all the artists i can name i mean you've been with eminem you've had pink you've had lady gaga t-pain um i mean you have you've worked with the best of the best snoop dogg i mean they're just think about it and not only that what's really impressive is the different genres of music that you have been involved with so do you ever look back and think like holy shit like you've lived a lifetime man but i didn't even realize that till recently because for a long time when you're living it you don't know it like you just you're just in the like you just in it like so you don't even you don't see anything outside of tunnel vision where you're headed but it's just like recently when i really settled down and said okay you know what i'm kind of i'm kind of bored and i want to get back into the game like i really want to get activated into the music business again on an artist perspective level because before i was writing, producing songs for everybody else.

4:41Took a break, continued writing, producing. But now I want to get back in as an artist. It was around that time when I started to realize how much I actually had accomplished because people would tell me that. Yeah. And I'm assuming you're probably not stopping anytime soon because you're about to release an album. Yeah. Now we're about to go back super crazy, about to release another album. Me and Neil going on a collab tour that's going to be nuts for 60 dates. And then I'm going to go off and do my own tour. He's going to go off and do his own tour. And then we're going to be back in motion with more albums coming.

5:09So I think it's gonna be another marathon to be honest i think so i think you're legendary i mean i grew up listening to your music my kid what's even crazier and iconic is not only do i listen to your music but and i'm sure my daughter's here i'm pretty sure she's over there she listens to your music like we were pulling up all the songs yesterday right and she was like do you know this one i'm like yeah how do you know this one but that just goes to show like you didn't get played out or washed out no i was blessed to be honest you know and interesting enough when i was when i create in general, I always try to make timeless music, right?

5:39I don't look at it like, okay, this is what's happening right now. Let me write a record about now. Like I'm always going through something either personal or something fun or something that inspires me to write songs that I know that if I'm going through it, most likely somebody out there is going through the same thing. That's, I mean, that's in itself is amazing. So none of your songs are made up. It's all something personal, which I did not know about you. I had no idea that your songs were really driven. I knew a few of them, but I didn't know that all of them were. Yeah. Including SmackDown.

6:05Smack that yeah I'd love that for you I love that for you I can get on that bandwagon I can produce some good I think I got some good I can definitely produce some songs I think so No you would You actually make a great artist Like you got the personality You got the confidence I'm just crazy that's all it is And you're crazy It's like insane You've never seen a white lady that's as crazy as me I'm crazy out of it I'm off control Like I have no filter anymore You get to a point in your life Right And I think you know as we get seasoned I don't like older seasoned. You come to a point because you, there's a lot of controversy.

6:40It's going to come with age. But I think, do you ever get to a point like when you first started and you're reading the tabloids and they're saying some kind of shit about you and at first I'm imagining you probably got a little offended, but now do you like really give a shit what people have to say? No, well, interesting enough, I never got offended. Never? No, because one thing I do is that, okay, at that time I was very like naive. Oh, they just doing their job. They don't really know. Let me just tell them what's happening. No, you didn't like try to fight back and be like, oh, hell no. No, I honestly believe that they were just doing a job.

7:07Like, I didn't think that they were trying to destroy me or anything like that. Right. Because they don't really know me to do that. Right. So but what I did know is that did have a lot of misinformation. Now, the question was whether or not I want to go in and defend myself with the truth or do I just let it wear itself down? And I notice it's better to just let it wear itself down because the moment you go and try to defend yourself, You start looking even not only more guilty, but they start taking more information from what you got and what they got. And they start creating information. And it creates a pool that you can never control.

7:41And here's the thing. Nobody gives a shit. And then they won't until they're entertained by it. Then it's a wrap. Then you're over. But here's the real deal. Like no one gives a shit like a few days later. No one cares. Today. Yeah. No one. It's today. It's fun. But I promise you like tomorrow. Oh, yeah. Nobody gives a shit. I forgot because something else came more exciting than that. Nobody gives a shit. What do you think is the biggest misconception that people think about you? That's the thing. What is the biggest misconception? What do you think people think about me? I mean, I'll tell you what I thought.

8:13Then I can tell you if it's a misconception or not. I'll tell you what I thought. I thought, like, I really thought you were going to roll in here, like, with a huge entourage. You were going to be super bougie. Like, I'm not into it. That's a very misconception. That's what I thought I was walking into. But that's not what I walked into. Totally different. I walked into a super humble guy that was like, hey, what's up? And I'm always, like, I keep my circle. like you can count around to people like this. What's the importance of keeping a closed circle? It's first of all, you're more focused.

8:38Yeah. And you can see your surroundings. Yeah. With a big entourage, you're distracted and you can't see nothing that's going on. So something is always wrong. Yes. But you will never know it. Yeah. And I learned that from having a big entourage when I realized, listen, my major controversies came when there was entourage. That's exactly it's the closest one. From the moment I got rid of the entourage, everything was controlled and it was like easy peasy. But the moment that entourage come. There's so much drama to be the person closest to you that is letting all the drama and all the nonsense come out.

9:08Or starting it, but then you'll be the one taking the blame for it. Yes. Amen. I really hope y 'all heard. It's the circle that you surround yourself with. The smaller the circle, yeah, maybe it's not as fun, you know, whatever. But at least you know who your real friends are. That's how you know. Same thing. When I first started doing really well in business, I would have a ton of people around me all the time. little did i know you know people want something from you of course that's what they really want i mean you gotta think this human nature we all have agendas right so depending on what your agenda is will determine the severity of it like everyone wants something from someone we're all using each other yeah the question is who can integrally use you in a way to where me using you helps you yeah i don't mind i'm gonna use you no i'm going to just be just be up front about it just be just You have to be real about it.

9:58I'm using you now. Yeah, that's okay. I'm using you right now. Me too. I'm using you. I'm using you too. I mean, we're using each other. Exactly. But just say what it is. You know what I'm saying? There's no reason to sugarcoat what it is. And so many times we get caught up in people. And then they pull the wool over your eyes. But just say what it is. Oh, then it's a wrap. Yeah, that's when it goes crazy. I'm using you too. Working with all these artists, though, I mean, you've had a whole eclectic crew of people. Who would you say? I wouldn't say your best, but what was your most fun like artist that you worked with?

10:30To be honest, I would definitely say the funnest one was probably Gaga. I bet. I definitely don't doubt that. Because she's such a fun person. Yeah. And see, the thing is, I was able to catch her before everything. So I got the true like I got her. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yes. So you I know the person like before she was before we had she had a small little little cane with a little ball in and she wanted everyone to know that she was creative. She was a little bit different because she thought outside the box, but she just was a fun person. Like we would go into clubs to do after parties.

11:14She's like, bro, what are we doing? I'm like, we're going to sleep. We got to work tomorrow. She'd be like, can we do something like that? That's so funny. She looks like it. Yeah, she like, and then like, cause she, the thing is she, she, she had this, this, this, this, it was like, um, it's just like this, this thirst to just like be with her fans. Like just, she just want to party with them all the time. Yeah. But that's, I mean, it's good. You know what I mean? Yes. Like she just had this real, this energy, she just loves her fans so much. So when we was doing those earlier runs and the promo runs, she always wanted to find out where they was at.

11:49Well, like let's party, like let's, let's hang out. Like she was one, it's like, she was, she was chill. that's how you get the buy-in from your people yeah you gotta be with your people and she's genuine with them it's just you know that was the difference you know what would you say or was there ever a time that you were like fuck it i'm not doing this anymore i'm done like i'm over it i want to do something else where you were just done well there was a time but it wasn't like in that energy it was more so like okay i've been working non-stop for a hard well from damn actually six years. I went hard for six years straight from 2004 to 2010.

12:26No days off, no breaks, just going crazy musically. Right. And then I said, you know what? Let me just take a side break, regroup, go to Africa, do some good and come on back. Yeah. I went to go host the World Cup in South Africa, 2010, because I was producing the music at the time. And from that moment, I just, time flew past me as if it was just wind. Because once I got started into my philanthropy stuff and, you know, Akon lighting and all this other craziness, things just went past me so fast that I didn't even realize that years were passing me by. That's so crazy. Well, I saw an interview where you just felt, I know you were born in St.

13:15Louis, And then during like at one point you go back to Senegal and I watched an interview where you were like, you know what? It was just home there. Yeah. Like it was great. It was a great experience, a great time. I know you've done a lot of charitable things. In fact, when I saw you, I showed you that video. So crazy. I have to tell that. I literally see Akon in concert. Right. I go there and Akon, my husband's like, you have to get up there. He like literally positions me. Akon takes my phone. You take my phone. Has his face. I have to show this. It's so crazy. I actually took her phone and we did a live selfie first of all you did a great job but where I was going with this is you had kids on the stage and come to find out that was like one of the first time you took these kids they're from Africa they're called the hypers kids so I adopted them five years ago so they're all your children?

14:05don't you have a lot of children right now? now you got a whole team for real tribe you're like the chosen one I adopted 50 kids in Uganda. What you saw was only seven. There was, there looked like more kids on there. There was a lot of kids up there. They were so cute. It was seven of them. That was so cute. Now you do. They're amazing, by the way. They got over 10 million like followers on Instagram. Like if you watch their page, they're unbelievable. They are unbelievable. Like unbelievable. How old is the youngest one? The youngest one that you saw was five. So cute. This kid was this stinking cute kid.

14:38Killing it. He was such a cute kid. Now are they doing like, is that what they're doing? Like touring and dancing? So now they're going to be on a tour with me. They are? Yeah. So, you know, they're going to be on tour with me. But interestingly enough, when I grabbed them, they were like the more the dancing, like each one of them all have talents. Right. I have kids that's like unbelievable soccer players within that 50. Yeah. They're all making the pros. When I as as amazing as the kids got you when you saw them dancing, that's how they are when they're on the field. Wow. Like every last one of them have a super, they like super kid human, like, like abilities.

15:14Like they're all just unbelievable. But a lot of their parents had passed away in the wars. So they had no parents, but they just had all the talent in the world with nothing to cultivate it or even like just like mold it into something that can be something just useful to the earth, basically. I don't think a lot of people know that about you. I just happened to be at that concert. That's how I saw it. Wow. It was that really I looked up the page when I saw them. I just kept thinking I'm like it is 12 o 'clock at night. This kid is on stage because I'm a mom. So I'm like, oh, my God, this little but he was he was so cute.

15:47So not only are you really big in doing philanthropy, but I also read that you have pizza and wing businesses. Yeah. Goodfellas. Goodfellas. Yeah. In Atlanta. So I have three locations in Atlanta right now. One in Tallahassee and one in Jacksonville. Do you like pizza and wings? Is that why? I love pizza. Like pizza is like my favorite food. What kind of pizza do you like? What's your favorite? I mean, pizza. What's your favorite? Do you like cheese, Hawaiian, buffalo? Oh, yeah. I mean, well, yeah, of course, you know, you got all the good stuff in it. But me like cheese, meatball, and green pepper.

16:18Like that's my signature. That's your big thing. Is that like the signature dish there too? It's the acorn. And you're looking to franchise that all over the U.S. as well? Oh, yes. Yeah, that's eventually I'm going to franchise it everywhere. All right. So let's, I just had to ask about that. I just want to know, you know, are you doing any more food restaurants or no? Yeah, I am planning on doing another like really, really upscale like African cuisine type nobu. You know what I mean? Oh. But it's going to be called kobu. Kobu. I love it. That's the first two letters from me from Khan and the first two letters from my little brother, Bu.

16:54Oh, are you going to have like tagine? That's like a big restaurant. Do you like tagine? Yeah, but the thing about Senegal and a lot of people don't know is that they invented a lot of the high end dishes that you guys are spending thousands of dollars on plates for. I did not know. Like, if you love French cuisine, all of those are recipes from Senegal. I did not know that. I really did not know that. So you will be able to taste the difference when you come to our restaurant. That's crazy. I promise you. All right, I'm going to switch gears to your earlier years. So your earlier years, I know that, you know, quick money is usually, like when you make good money, it goes quick.

17:28It goes as quick as you make it. Yeah. And I saw a whole interview. You made a lot of money at first. Let's talk about what happened to that money. Oh, I just spent it. Just spent it? Oh, my first check? Oh, yeah. My first check was gone. Like, from the moment. I might have spent it before I even received it. You know? Yeah. So how'd you recover from it? Oh, no. I mean, I never fell. So you just kept going. See, I was blessed that the one thing that I didn't waste my money on was a studio. Yes. That was the one thing that I actually bought. That was your saving grace. Boom. Everything else, I couldn't tell you where it's at today.

18:05But that studio created an opportunity for me to make more money. Yeah, because if they took everything from you today, it wouldn't have mattered because you have your studio. It wouldn't have mattered because I got that studio to generate more. Yeah, which is smart. I mean, yeah, you live and learn. How old were you when you made your first million? I was under 20. Did anyone, did you ever, did you have a financial advisor then? No. Parents didn't advise you? Nope. My parents never even made that much money. So how do you go? How do you go advising? That is true. Now your dad also was in the music industry.

18:33Yeah, my dad was in the music industry. Is he the one that inspired you? Well, I wouldn't say inspired, but he's the reason why I'm doing it without a question. Because my pops and my moms really didn't want me doing music in the beginning. You know, hip hop wasn't like a genre that you saw to be something that would change the world. Like you never would have thought that, right? And then at the time, my dad was doing jazz. and jazz is not a high you know like income genre like you don't make a lot of money in jazz like you know you're doing you know pubs and you know stuff like that so they didn't really see a future in music so were they so they didn't encourage it they discouraged it?

19:12No no they definitely was like no you need to go to school and find a real job do something really. And now today what do they say? Thank God you didn't listen to us. Yeah right that's what they always say my mom too my mom was like my mom was like pushing she's from New York she's like you have to go to law school. You gotta Thank God I didn't go to law school. I would have never made any money. No way. No, I didn't go. No, so I did not end up going there. But today my mom is living her best life. Yeah, so I wouldn't say don't always listen to your parents, but just be selective. No, no, just follow your instinct.

19:39Your instinct is never going to lie to you because you got to think our parents and us, even advising our kids, we came up under a different time. Yeah. And I think the one thing that parents forget is that your advice may not apply to today. But it will later on. That's it. So don't push it. Like I think that's where like parents try to push their advice on you and assume they know what's good for you, which they do. But the timing of what you're telling me may not fit what's happening that where your advice may not be actually effective right now. Yeah, I'm gonna keep the advice because I'm gonna utilize it when I actually believe that it can help me.

20:14But at the time when you're telling me this, if I'm not listening is because I know if I use that, it's not going to work because I know what I know. Yeah, I would say be a sounding board. I have a pretty open relationship. I have a pretty open relationship with my kids. They tell me way too much. But I'd rather it. Look, I'd rather it be like that than the times we grew up where there was things that you knew were off. Yeah, you couldn't even talk to your parents about a lot of stuff. A lot of stuff you couldn't say. And then you start experiencing stuff on your own. Yeah, that's when you make mistakes.

20:37That's exactly. So I try to. I know you have a lot of children. So when you're, you know, the advice that I'm sure they look at you. Well, first of all, do they look at you and they're like, oh, my God, Dad, you're so cool. Yeah, I'm a superhero for sure. They think, yeah, my kids don't think I'm that cool. They say I'm that cool. they just call me cringe. That's so fucking rude. Yeah. You'll see my daughter out there. She'll tell you, she'll be like, oh, sometimes she'll be looking at me and be like, you're uh-uh. And like her friends will come in the house and she'll be like, don't even, don't say, no, they all like me.

21:03They think, they think I'm funny. That's so funny. Yeah, she think, yeah, she's like, you're bizarre. Sometimes she'll say like, no, and do not say anything weird because literally whatever comes in my head comes flowing out of my mouth. Just come out, right? Yeah, it's not good. But I think in the end, I do think in the end, because I'm so close with them, that they do try to take it. And I know that I try to take in consideration because today is a lot different than it was when you were growing up. Social media, the influence around us. Yes. It's such a different game. I got to ask you, what do you think about this music today?

21:33Actually, it's interesting. I don't like it. It's very interesting. I don't like it. I hate it. I don't like the rap. I don't like the R &B. And I love rapping R &B. Like that is my, that is, nope. It's an acquired taste. I don't like it. I don't think it makes any sense. Well, some of it don't. I can't even understand most of it. I don't know what they're talking about. Most of it you won't. So you have to look at it like art. That's what happened to me. I had to look at it like. That's really politically correct. Because I don't think you're going to say no. But that's how you have to look at it.

22:03That's how you have to look at it. Okay, I'm going to try. Okay, prime example. Have you ever went to an art gallery and then you saw a painting that was just beautiful to your taste? You're like, wow, this is unbelievable. and then you walk up two three steps and you see another painting where you knew that the artist all he did was dip the brush in the paint and you said yeah yeah and then you're like what the and then you're looking and wondering why is that painting a million dollars and the one that just took you away is like five grand yeah okay all right fine fair fair you know what i'm saying yeah but i still don't think i still think it's horrible i don't like it i'm not going to a new concert i only go to concerts for old school that's it that's right because that's that's just your taste now me i try to find something in it that i can like connect with and every once in a while i'll find one that i can but it's not it's not often yeah it's not like the music that we grew up with no no it's such a different vibe totally different they're talking about things you're like no you didn't experience like you don't know you didn't experience that like no no no i love watching this stuff on tiktok i don't know if you ever watch tiktok but they have like the millennial moms on there have you ever seen this and the millennial mom be like y 'all don't know what it's like to go clubbing.

23:10Y 'all have no idea what it's like. Y 'all go with your sneakers. Like, go to a club where there's sticky floors, high-heeled shoes, like then you had a night out. You know, these kids, they don't, they have no idea what it's like to really be out there. But you know what's so funny? Your parents used to do the same and say the same to you. No, no, they didn't. My mom wasn't as cool. I know mine did for sure. Man, this ain't real music. Y 'all ain't know nothing about this. I'm gonna show y 'all some real music. Like, they would always and I'd be sitting there and be like, but now I want to say that to my kids so bad but what stopped me from saying it, I remember how I felt when my parents told it.