Akon



That’s my actual payment, the fact that I can actually make something that I actually enjoy and put on repeat, and it’s not related to anything else or anyone else’s thoughts and ideas, it all came from me; I just love that aspect of it.



I always try to give my own albums space in between so I have time to create a new sound and give time for people to miss me. You have to come out fresh and reinvent yourself.



I’m a polygamist. I can afford to have as many wives as I can afford to have. All Africans believe in it. My dad has four wives.



It’s always the music first for me. But if the music isn’t selling, there isn’t gonna be no business. So you gotta make sure music is always the first priority.



In Africa… age is not important over there. They don’t care.



I don’t want to know I’m getting older. Then I’ll start to think about getting checkups and insurance. I don’t want that.



What I remember the most really was just running wild there. Barefooted, swimming in dirty lakes, selling fruit, picking mango trees, hoping not to get caught because they don’t take kindly to thieves in Africa.



My ideas come when I least expect it, so I’ve always got to have a studio nearby or close by somewhere.



As long as you’re giving up quality records and you’re makin’ hit records, people are always gonna want to hear a hit, and they’ll always want to be attached to something that’s doin’ great.



Everything is a blessing to me.



I love to just go to the movies, watch movies, listen to the scores and all that ’cause that’s, like, the next step for me.



I just like music all the way around the board. I can’t stick to one thing – I’ve got to move around.