Last week, The Smoking Gun pulled back the curtain on the tall tales Akon has told the press, including VIBE in his 2007 cover story ("The Last Hit Maker" - April, 2007). The Vibe staff went back in the archives and dug up portions of his interview with writer Laura Checkoway.
The following excerpt was never published in the magazine, but VIBE.com is running it to let the readers decide, is Akon’s back story fact or a case of when keeping it real goes wrong?
VIBE: You grew up in a middle class area of St. Louis but gravitated towards the hood…
Akon: Yeah. I was in East St. Louis every day after four o'clock. Hanging out over there. East St. Louis happened to be the most violent area in St. Louis. Even now, when you go to that city, it's like a ghost town. I just bought a couple of buildings in downtown East St. Louis for $15 grand. I said, "I'm going to buy out the whole downtown East St. Louis and just hold on to it."
Are you renting spots out?
Renting? Nobody wants to be there. Vacant buildings.
They're just sitting?
I'm just sitting on it. Eventually they're going to have to rebuild that place. I got that whole block.
Growing up your parents both worked with dance legend Katherine Dunham, and you were very comfortable.
Yeah, my pop would give us more lunch money than we needed. I used mine for girls. (Laughs) Buy girls extra icicles.
You were already loving the ladies.
Yeah, bribing them with candy. (Laughter) Just for the conversation. At that age, you weren't thinking about sex. You wanted a friend.
You were always a ladies man, and always a troublemaker, huh? Whether in St. Louis or when you moved to Miami in late elementary school.
I always got into a lot of trouble. My pop used to always wonder, Why is he always fighting at school? It does not make sense. You can't solve every problem by fighting. But I was gaining the respect of a lot of kids there. always fighting. It's funny because the ghetto kids are the ones that attract to you. I used to take the train to the USA Food Market, hang out in Liberty City. Then we moved back to St. Louis for about a year.
Why did you move back?
My mom and my dad was having issues. My pops was traveling all over the world. They were the type of couple, you would never know there was a problem. They wouldn't really discuss issues with us. We just knew if something wasn't right because pops was always gone. And mom sold the house. Took the money, wiped it out. Come to find out they had separated.
Wait, she sold their house without your dad knowing?
Mom sold the house! She bought a brand new car. Used the car to drive to St. Louis. Anything we wanted, mom would give it to us. She got us bikes, clothes, the name brand stuff she never used to buy .
What was life like back in East St. Louis?
N.W.A had just came out. You had Eazy-E like, "Fuck Tha Police". I'm sitting here like, these records is crazy, cursing on the record, I never heard no shit like that.
Right. Nobody had.
Yeah, but in East St. Louis, N.W.A was the biggest shit ever. And I could still positively say to this day, N.W.A was the reason why St. Louis was so violent, I don't care what nobody tell me. N.W.A started it all. They really ignited that fire in St. Louis. Everybody had Jheri curls.
Did you?
I had dreads. I tried the Jheri curl thing, don't get me wrong, I tried it. (Laughter) I got teased out of them.
Were you ever afraid hanging out in rough areas?
No, to this day, I always felt like I was protected.
By a higher power?
By a higher power. I always felt like God protecting me every step. I felt like if I go, then it was my time to go, but if they pull it out, best be prepared to use it, because I'm going to attack you as if it's not going to kill me, because I don't feel like I'm going to die from a gun. I've got that intuition. I just don't believe I'm going to go out violently, from an attack. That's why I'd always be in the worst, most violent areas, and I'd walk through there comfortably. I'd be walking through it like it's all good.
When you moved to New Jersey for high school, you were selling test questions/answers, candy, guns, and weed out of your locker. The principal did a locker sweep and sent you to juvie, right?
Oh, they did all that. It's a crime.
And this was the first time that you were incarcerated?
Yes, that was my first time. I was scared to death because I had never been locked up before. I was petrified. Every chance I got I tried to run. They kept me cuffed at all times. I'm in the waiting room. Then I'm playing basketball, I'm playing ping pong. You got a group of kids watching TV. So I'm sitting there waiting for someone to take me to the dungeon. A day goes by, two days go by. Nobody picks me up.
So what happened?
The correction officer came in. I said, "When are they going to take me to jail?" He said, "You're in jail!" I looked around, and said, "Nah, you gotta be kidding! This is not jail?!" (Laughter) It was like a hotel! I had the biggest smile on my face. I was the happiest prisoner in there. I’m like, You mean to tell me, if I commit a crime, this is how I'm going to spend my time?
Just like when you would get suspended in school, it wasn’t so bad...
Every punishment just felt like a blessing in a way. I said, God gotta be protecting me. Gotta be something big, because he don't want me to suffer like that.
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