posted on Jun 26, 2009
Akon talks about his admiration for Whitney Houston and working with Michael Jackson in the Summer 2009 issue of "Rap-Up." On the Whitney, he expressed his admiration, "That's my girl right there, she's straight 'hood, but at the same time she can switch it up," he says. "I love Whitney, man. She's really down-to-earth. That I can say. She hasn't lost her roots," he adds. Both of them have recorded two songs, one of those songs, "Like I Never Felt," leaked to the Internet last year then pulled back.
In an about hung up with Michael Jackson, Akon reveals in an interview below:
A few years ago, Rolling Stone magazine called you hip-hop's top R&B singer. What do you think?
I think the people will always be the judge. I always measure my success by how long they allow me to keep putting records out. If I put out a record and it bombs, then I know, OK, they tired of listening to me.
You've sung the hook on 100-some tracks by other artists, including some really big hits. What do you think people are expecting when they call you in to sing a hook?
I think they're probably lookin' for the same results that the last artist got (laughs). But it really depends on the artist themselves. They need to have a basic concept. I don't think I make a record. The artist should already have some kind of identity and then just add me as a bonus.
How did you hook up with Michael Jackson for that new version of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' "?
An attorney friend of mine named Peter Lopez, he called out to me with Michael on a three-way because Mike wanted to reach out to me and work on some new records. So when Peter called me with him on the phone, I thought it was a prank. I actually hung up on him, 'cause he's a guy that jokes around like that sometimes, and I thought he was kidding. Then he called me back, and I couldn't believe it.
What was Michael like to work with?
Mad cool, man. Real funny. He's a stand-up dude, a really hard worker. He takes the music very seriously but at the same time has a lot of fun with it. And that's a side of him a lot of people never really get a chance to see. Recording with him was a fun process. It wasn't like work. Out of every artist I've worked with, he's probably the easiest I've ever worked with. He tries different things. If I'm like, "Change this, change that," he won't even question. He just does it. And that made it so much easier, to work with an artist like that, that's willing to try different things and just do it.
What happened to that other track you did together, "Hold My Hand."
It got leaked. It was originally for his album. If it was for my album, I would have put it out anyway. But Mike, he's more of an exclusive type of guy. So when that record leaked, it kind of killed the whole idea of what he was trying to do.
You told MTV last summer that you had the follow-up to "Freedom" mapped out.
I'm actually about four songs away from finishing the album now. I'm trying to create a December release.
So what's it like?
This one is really a collage of all of the albums. The "Trouble" album was more of a street record, more underground. Then you had "Konvicted," which was street and pop at the same time, where I had one half geared towards urban and the other half more pop. "Freedom" was more straight pop, Euro. And this album is gonna be pretty much all hits, literally a mixture of everything from every genre.
I know you grew up in a musical family. Did something in particular inspire you to launch your own career in music?
Yeah, actually, when I got locked up. That became the only thing that I could do that I was great at that I could actually make a living at and enjoy at the same time, 'cause you know, once you get locked up, all your opportunities and everything is cut off. It's not like I could have gone out and found a great Fortune 500 position or anything.
Did you expect the song "Locked Up" to be as big a breakthrough as it was?
Absolutely not. That song was an experience I sang about and put out just to pay some bills. And it just turned into my whole career.
What do you think it was about that song that people were responding to?
I think it was the subject matter. You would be surprised how many people can relate to that. A lot of them may not have gotten locked up but they knew someone who did. I just wanted to express the experience, what I had to go through and kind of describe it for people that never been there, more so they can think about what needs to be done so they don't have to be in that same position. And the people that was locked up at the time the record came out, it was something for them to reflect on, which was great, because I got a lot of support from the jail community on that record. That's one of the reasons why it was so big.
Do you feel like you've moved beyond drawing on that time in your life.
Oh yeah, definitely. I'm on a whole 'nother level now. I think those were all just stages I had to go through to become who I am today.
- source
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