Akon: 'America was never built for black people' | Talk to Al Jazeera

musician songwriter producer Senegalese American artist Akon has sold over 35 million records worldwide he's probably best known for hit songs like locked up don't matter and collaborations with some of the biggest names in music Michael Jackson David Guetta and Lady gaga to name just a few but Akon is also an activist a philanthropist he devotes a lot of time to promoting peace in conflict zones like the Democratic Republic and a lot of money on an ambitious project to improve the quality of life of 1 million Africans by bringing them electricity he's doing good but making money at the same time but there is also controversy about his lyrics and performance side we caught up with Akon in Dubai he talks music business and being an African in America Akon talks to our Jazeera Akon thank you so much for talking to Al Jazeera no absolutely now very few artists are able to take this celebrity and build it into a brand that goes far beyond the arts the music in your case now you seem to be succeeding in doing just this what's the secret well it's not really a secret I mean you got to be a businessman first you know this is the music business some people more relating to artists they exclude the business and they have other people that run it but ultimately when I create musically I figure out how is that music can be maximized in a way - so are you then are even a businessman first and then a musician so can you start off as a hustler so for the first businessman you've got quite a lot going on a clothing line nightclubs investments in Africa I add I'm in mind even I here in South Africa what is this is this like social capitalism I mean you are making money obviously what do you say to people who say oh this is all just you know a way for Akon to make money that's it's not really it is a way from your big money see it's clearly a business it's a business yeah do not get it twisted it's a real business it's just ultimately at the stage where I'm at now I only want to get into business gonna help people it's gonna change lives it's gonna make a difference because I can be an artist and just you know be on stage and do endorsements and just make money literally but I'm in a position where I'm gifted and in a place where I've been offered opportunities where I can make a difference and change lives so why not make money and change lives at the same time social capitalism basically yeah okay well let's talk a bit more about your Africa focused ventures I want to start off with a con lighting Africa what's been achieved we actually over achieved we're beyond a million households now we're actually in 14 countries we started with just creating a solar energy for rural areas in the and in-house homes and then now we're doing solar street lamps all through countries and also incorporating it within each country we're putting solar in all the villages and we're also creating a system to where we're actually employing all the locals to be able to maintain it and also you know keep everything pretty much in order but I mean you you have to acknowledge that it's a huge challenge to bring electricity to Africa I mean five million people don't have power and only 1% of private sector investments actually go to Africa and you know I wonder when you save you in 14 countries how many people have you actually reached like for instance Guinea Conakry for instance right where Guinea Conakry we have 30,000 street lamps there and it's all solar these are areas where you can even drive or even walk out at night so you wouldn't even have a clue where you going so all those areas and people in that path is actually affecting and then we also have over a hundred thousand home systems and selected villages in those areas and we're still expanding in those areas and that's just one country and I wonder how was the initiative received by by the different African governments in Guinea Senegal I mean because these are governments that are often criticized for not doing enough when it comes to electricity I mean President Macky Sall in Senegal was heavily criticised when he started did they welcomed your initiative I think every single country was a little specifically suspicious because they was like okay he's a music guy energy you know so it was always that but we came fully prepared for all you know answers to every question and we also came prepared to execute so we didn't come into these countries with an idea we already put together full team full infrastructure so from the moment we came in we came in creating pilots we didn't even ask the country for any money we put up all money in the beginning and allowed the president how much money he's talking what I depend on the pilot you know but we allowed them to choose to village that they wouldn't want metruff I'd first just to give him a scope of work how we work and so on and so forth but ultimately after that they were all in full belief and then we continued and did the whole country afterwards but how much money again did you invest in this particular project collectively I don't have all the accountant but per village it can range from 100,000 to 250,000 just for pilot there's a cone lighting Africa you've also joined the nonprofit organization peace one day with a huge concert in Goma in the east of the DRC earlier this year tell us about that experience what's the objective well a peace one day it's it's really a huge event that just promotes peace it's that one day in the year where you just ask yourself who do I want to make peace with you know we oftentimes are conflicted and no one's communicating like you can be mad at me for a whole year and a half and we haven't even spoke and sometimes a lot of time is just all miscommunication so peace one day is that moment that we try to create annually that can create that moment for people to communicate what was it like to perform at the airport in Goma no no listen like just putting that concert together I mean there was a whole year preparation and we couldn't find a venue big enough to do it and we reached out to the government and see if we can take the airport airport because I was the only place where we can create a concert that would allow some people there and it was just an experience I mean it was amazing very very well but you know pick on once the concert is over these people in Goma go back to their daily lives and the hardship of war because that's the reality for them that's what we've no the choice eat war isn't us so the thing is the thing is this right everyone has to go back to their daily lives but they won't go back to their daily lives with the same mind state they walked into it with I mean I was going to war I mean is it's not the people who came to see your concert they're the victims so who should your message really be realistic the thing is this a war can only happen if it's supported by the people I mean it's simple it's people that carry guns and shoot you a person like these are people that do it so they have to be the one to make that difference in that change and they have to say you know what I'm not doing this what difference do you think it's made for the people of koma me I mean if I look at if I could save one life in a year that was meant to not be here I think it's a difference made so when you take a whole day of no guns no firepower no bombs no nothing was just straight peace you know many lives were saved that day it was a lot it may not be no two people stand as as a difference made but to me one life you know God is a difference me it's been a very busy year for you in addition to peace one day there's also the silent campaign for Ebola which was launched by one of the one campaign right I mean we saw several artists Bono pew Ashley Kid Joe Femi Kuti just to name a few African artists take part in this silent campaign that's urging basically governments to do more in the fight against Ebola I'm almost tempted to say you know this is a cynical voice in me there you go again you know Africa needing help from foreigners absolutely I think it's a it's a issue that Africa has to face as well - and I think we play a huge role we just have to rebrand our content because when we look at prime example just the Ebola crisis in general you know a lot of it stemmed in certain parts of Africa you know and yes it has to be contained in so many ways but in a lot of ways I think it's been overly exaggerated so much to where it's gonna really affect Africa's economy in the future what has been over exaggerate the Ebola crisis I mean think about it malaria has killed more people than Ebola really you know but the way the media has portrayed this thing and when we look at it's um it's a billion in change of people in Africa this is a couple of thousand people has been affected which is less than 0.1% of anyone getting touched or affected but the fear of it is so strong that people wouldn't even want to travel to Africa because of that and that affects Africa's economy affects his future it affects the business what do you think of these Western charity songs as a response to African emergencies I mean honestly you want to applaud anyone that wants to do something great for NAPA for a cause and I'm sure everyone is doing it has nothing but great intentions towards it but the question is once it's done what is the action being taken afterwards because it's the same amount of people are still infected actually it's more now than the morning before all this money raised and it's only a few thousand people so why isn't what do you think is happening to the money that's raised use common sense where is it going I honestly if I knew that question I would definitely expose it but I don't know well you know the reason I asked about what what you thought about all these Western musicians and so on because there's a paternalistic view that still exists today and this is like decades after colonialism and so on that Africa still must be saved by the way well actually honestly believe it or not that's actually true but I don't think the word save is the right word for Africa because Africa to an extent has been the anchor to the rest of the world every natural resource that's keeping every country in the world operate his resource that's been pulled from Africa everyone benefits but Africa so Africa doesn't need to be saved Africa's the one doing the saving icon you've said if I could have my way Africa would be the United States of Africa with just one leader of course Marcus Garvey wrote a poem about this Bob Marley song about this moammar qaddafi the Libyan leader poured his wealth into this idea of a United States of Africa but really is it when you look at Africa today a continent of over a billion people over 2,000 different languages is it realistic well first of all I think it has to be our generation and the generation that come after us to achieve it I don't think this generation would ever be able to achieve it because there's too much history and it's too much built up into where it started today it has to be said from a generation as clear from the history clear from conflict and see it the world in a way that we see it the only way Africa can evolve in that way is that we have to be united there has to be a united Africa has to be one Africa it can't be so many countries with so many leaders so many opinions you know all those countries I think should be broken down into basically States and there should be one president and he or she should have be democratically elected by all Africans to do what's best but I mean in just one country already it's so difficult to have a democratic election how do you have a democratic election in an in a so-called United States of Africa how do you do that it's not hard I mean listen if China can do it and they don't even have a democratic election so maybe what so maybe what democracy's so no I mean it doesn't innovate in a form of there has to be elections if you want to keep Africa stable there has to be elections all we need is Africans to be able to govern themselves we're stopping Africa from governing themselves now and creating that one Africa is that they're still foreigners in certain areas that still control Africa you know promised a former colonial vertical francophone countries if the fresh just get out the way we can really be okay but a lot of the wars is set up from influences are you interested in getting into politics one day absolutely not hell no why is that I mean you have all these great ideas but that's not interests hopeful further be the guy standing next to the president I would never want to be a president take on you you considered a first generation American your parents are African you were born in the United States but spent your early childhood in in Senegal and then moved back to the United States what do you consider yourself a dare are you American are you African are you african-american what are you I'm an African raised in America yeah clearly so you're not American I wish I was but my mind is not African I mean American it's clearly African but you have the accent you have we know their school in America um well all my whole whole earlier childhood I was raised in Africa mm-hmm and I came to America every summer we would go back to Africa for vacation and then when I graduated high school was a choice where they want to go to Africa or stay in the US and just the opportunities in the u.s. was so much greater than that well you're certainly the perfect example of the American dream coming true thank you millions of Africans who make it to the States and who don't you know have the same success and the same luck as you have and you know what would be your advice to a young African who's immigrating to United States today well I think this advice will go to any person migrating into the States ultimately you can't change who you are and I think the biggest obstacle is that when people come to the US they kind of alienate their original personalities way of lives and they conform to what's there and when you do that first never get accepted but isn't that the best way to integrate absolutely not because first of all you don't you can't it's no way you can move forward and you're not you like one thing I do notice about America is that they respect all the cultures they actually admire other cultures very much so when they can see the difference in who you are their attitude towards completing as well too but if you're walking into me and I know you're a foreigner but you're acting like an American you just offer you seem fake it's not genuine so the respect level is completely different but if I walk up to you as an American and you're clearly an African or Asian that makes me more curious about who you are I ask more questions I'm now more and you know I'm more intuitive about what and what this is I get more motivated to want to learn more about it and then the respect level is different because now you're teaching you something so when you're in the States you're proud to see your Africa oh absolutely absolutely clearly you know you once told the Source magazine and I want to coat this black people in the u.s. can nag all they want how the system is against black people but if they saw how other people lived in Africa they would see how blessed they really are do you still believe this today when when you see unarmed black teenagers being killed by the police when you see protests in st. Louis in Missouri where you lived for a long time when you see people taking to the streets in Atlanta in New York to denounce police brutality against young african-american men do you think the system really is for these people well the system was never for them so what made you say this because when I said that I was talking about the environment and where they live and the rights that they actually have and the blessing that they do you know have actual access to in Africa the way I grew up let's just pick a project in New York for instance that's a 5-star Hotel compared to the environment I came up in like if they see how they live they actually get money from the government they actually are programs that helps the poverty and the poor and you get food stamps and I mean like they have it good compared to Africa and you follow that's a huge difference in how the government allocates funds towards poor and how the government allocates poor I mean fine stores pour in in Africa the environments have not even left to right if these guys were able to be taken from where the environment there and now to the same equal environment in Africa they would be crying to come back home to America but usually but you see now that the system against them when you talk about when you now let's get to a system yes talking my way of life right now as far as the system the system in America was never built for black people and it's never this is my personal opinion I'm speaking for myself I don't believe it was never built for black people because that system has never been changed those documents has never been altered these things were made back in a umpteen hundreds and these are the same exact literature that's down the day so mind you at the time it was made black people was never in the position where they were you know looked at as equal so if it's the same documents that they're applying today in 2014 it wasn't meant for them what was it like growing up as a black man in America well in America was a little different because I was a foreigner I was after getting I was very dark-skinned and at the time dark-skinned wasn't really in style so I was always getting picked on at school so my but you were in trouble a lot that's what got me in trouble it was in trouble yes you know the way I felt um I was stuck till I was being mistreated and unfairly judged because I was Africa I was always in fights you know you spent time in jail I've spent some time in jail collectively about three years but my longest bid was about six months what for stealing cars and hustling yeah so again what was it like then I mean when you when you see you know Ferguson Missouri today and you know you hear of Michael Brown and Eric garner and so on to sympathize do you see do you do you understand that experience that these people are denouncing I clearly understand the frustration what I don't understand is that how like if I'm in a position of where they are and I don't want to speak too much from them because I think I may have some knowledge that they may not quite right because I've been in a position where I've experienced Africa and I've experienced the United States always felt like Africa was for Africans so when I see African Americans in America dealing with all these issues my first question is why don't they just go back home we're back to Africa will there be treated fair well they'd actually be praised for who they are because of the fact that they're American they'll get way better treatment they can invest in but come on how do you how do you tell people who've lived for generations centuries and centuries and in one land to move back to a place well they don't know I mean you know but it's my point that I don't know it starts with a visit how many African Americans do you know actually consider Africa as a vacation spot not one that's very I mean when you look at the overall population of African Americans a very few percentage would decide to go to Africa for vacation would even just for knowledge just to know where they come from just to get an idea what that is it's so much very installed in tune there that they wouldn't even want to even go there to visit you mentioned Africa they start shaking huh I want to talk about women and your view of women I love women haha when you think about them they're called sexy chicks cinnamon this is a clean version of course then what I'll be in disrespect for this that's the only word I can use to describe but yes sexy chicks ah there's the infamous incident of course in Trinidad in 2007 way you know you were dancing very suggestively to say the least with a teenager yeah you know and I know this is not just you I mean in hip-hop in general women are called you know names but I wonder I wonder Akon you know can dehumanizing women be passed off as entertainment well I don't I wouldn't call it dehumanizing you know like the women themselves called each other bit more than we do as men like right Manny I promise you if I was to have if I was sitting listen to a female conversation it like Oh crazy girl but it's just a figure of speech I just think some people are just so uptight but they don't just embrace personality like this is just loosen up what do you respond to to people who say that your you don't respect women no I mean not honestly they clearly don't know me there's not a woman in my life that will sit here and tell you that I don't speak well but you've aged women also to consider polygamy you think a man should have several women well I mean that depends on the culture you follow you know I came from a different environment where you can marry more than one wife you know let's talk about music because your fans won't forgive me if we don't talk about it and the music and you know the next album it's been six years Akon what's happening are you too busy building other people's careers to make your own music now well I built my career off building other people's careers always loved the art of collaboration because I felt like we're collaboration you can always you know expand the art you know they teach me something I learn something I teach them something they learn something and then now all that but you create a synergy of music that people hadn't heard or a combination that people don't expect and I always thought that made music more interesting yeah all right but when's the next album again I mean it's been a while yeah it's been a minute it's been a minute so it's been a minute so 2:15 for sure this album is definitely coming out and what's it gonna sound like because you know some of your fans that have been speaking to say we miss the original ACORN the 2006 convict Akon with the hip hop sound I mean now it's all about dance it's all about you know canal music and so on what's happened is it is this an attempt do you know to be more commercial no I think um me as an artist I just grow I've been growing and I've been growing real fast and now that I've been travelling not even growing the more but one thing I did learn is exactly what you said there's a lot of friends that's all have their own favorite part of a con its growth so this new album is set up to where you give each audience their own focus point so that's why the album is broken up into four parts it's called Stadium and then you have the urban Stadium which will give you all the street records that you love for me in the earlier part and then you have the Afro Stadium which is all the African type music that my audience in the states have probably haven't have even heard you know then I have the Stadium which gives you more of the international global world music style and then I have the euro Stadium which is all the dance type of music and records so they're broken up into four parts there's gonna be six songs to in a seven bonus track on each one of them I mean you can purchase it all together as a package or you can pick just a genre that you desire when it comes to what I can't wait to hear it thank you so very much for speaking to us they come thank you for your good you

Channel: Al Jazeera English

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Keywords: akon, al Jazeera, talktoaljazeera, Africa poverty, talk to al jazeera, Africa, solar power, aljazeera, akon interview, akon 2015, akon al jazeera, akon interview 2015, akon africa, akon america was never built for black people, black america, Akon: 'America was never built for black people', akon on al jazeera, racism in america, white supremacy in america, discrimination against african americans, african americans, african american community, african american police crime

Id: KBxIhGqVl6E

Length: 25min 0sec (1500 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 24 2015