Nathan Morris

A&E Editor

Statistics are backing Nas’ anthem that hip-hop is dead, punk music has burned its death certificate from 1994 and hip-hop music seems to be running through a field full of graves.
Consequently, hip-hop and R&B artists may be bustin’ their you-know-what’s and beggin’ for a second wind just to get the numbers up.
Who knows, some may start sampling Joni Mitchell’s lyrics “You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”
Fortunately for hip-hop, Atlanta’s fancy favorite Senegalese singer-songwriter, label owner and producer, Akon, may possibly bring back more than Nas sang about.
Akon has been all around the world, picked up a few controversial beliefs, found himself in jail and teamed up with some of hi- hop’s biggest artists.
He has lead a team with his master producing skills, a packed studio in Atlanta and his brand new label.
Akon broke the ice in 2004 with “Trouble” and spit out a couple of singles and live sessions while climbing to the top with his sophomore album, “Konvicted.”
A bit more mature and featuring some heavy artists, “Konvicted” provides 12 street-beatin’ tracks that never get old and are bound to grow on people who ‘like everything but rap.’
From his melodic reggae-esque track, “Don’t Matter,” to his hard-hitting hit “Smack That” featuring Eminem, Akon supplies the antidote to negativity towards hip-hop’s musical path.
While cities throughout the U.S. are still preparing for the Akon and Gwen Stefani tour, Troplitan had the chance to sit down with Akon.
Tropolitan: What surprises do you have for all your fans on this tour?
Akon: It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you, now would it? T: Are you planning on working on a new album or anything else?
A: We are doing a lot of production work, but the main focus pretty much before the tour and a little during the tour is getting the artists off the label. (On) KLD, my new situation, I got over at Geffin. We are actually putting artists out, we got Brick and Lace, our first act is a female duo, then we got (Earl) Ray, shortly after Ray we got Gypsy Stokes and outside production we got 50 Cent, Whitney Houston, Madonna, Usher, a lot of big names coming for us as far as production stuff.
T: Is it true that you will be working with Elton John?
A: Oh yeah, that is in the works as well.
T: Are most of your songs like an autobiography?
A: Pretty much all of them are autobiographic in some way. Most of them are all influenced by something in the event that was going on in my life.
T: What was it like working with all the artists that are featured on “Konvicted”?
A: I mean, it was definitely a blessing to work with all those people. Especially growing up, getting to a point where you were actually listening to those type of records and those type of artists when you were growing up. To have an opportunity to do records with them and be on the same stage and have your name mentioned in the same sentence is a great situation.
T: If you could say one thing to the kids that see you as a role model, what would you say?
A: I would tell them to use their mind, man. Most artists, most people and most kids don’t use their own opinions, and that’s what gets them in trouble. They always work off of someone else’s opinions, and nobody really takes the time to only just listen to themselves, because a lot of times your instincts will never lie to you. I would just tell them to definitly more pay attention to their own instincts.
T: Do you think hip-hop is dead?
A: It depends on what context you use it. If you are looking more at the old school hip-hop and be-bop, yeah it’s definitely dead. But, If you are looking more so at the growth of hip-hop, it couldn’t be more alive than today.