Akon speaks about signing Davido, Wizkid and PSquare

Akon is the Senegalese-American who was born in St. Louis, Missouri.

In 2004, he became one of the most sought-after American acts. He released his singles like ‘Lonely.’ ‘Ghetto,’ ‘Locked Up,’ ‘Belly Dancer’ and so forth under Universal/SRC.

A while after, he founded his own record company, Konvict Music and distribution companies, KonLive which became home to acts such as Lady Gaga, T-Pain, Young Jeezy, Kardinal Official and so forth.

After his success and upon the release of his third studio album, Freedom in 2008, he branched out into his African roots. First, he signed the Nigerian super-group, P Square which consists of twin acts, Peter and Paul Okoye, and then Wizkid and Davido.

On September 4, 2019, he appeared on Power 105.1 radio show, The Breakfast Club hosted by DJ Envy, Charlamagne Tha God and Angela Yee to talk about his new ventures like crypto currency, ‘Akoin.’ He also talked about his four new record labels which cater to Latin/Caribbean music, African music and so forth.

As conversation progressed, Akon who left Atlanta, Georgia, US to live in his native Senegal talked about signing Davido, Wizkid and P Square to his record label, Konvict Music.

He said, “I never left music When I first went into Africa, I was building the afrobeats scene. When I first went out there in 2008, I was doing everything, I signed Wizkid. Then, I was doing a lot of consulting for a lot of artists there.

“I signed Davido, you know, P Square…” When asked about whether he signed Davido, he said, “Davido, that’s’ my little brother. Davido is originally from Atlanta and he started his music career actually in Atlanta. He said 'you know what, there’s too much of a struggle here, let me just go back home.' He went home and just popped off like this (snaps finger)…

“He came with the US hustle and just brought it to Africa. He completely gets it.

When asked if Davido was still signed to Konvict, Akon said, “No, he’s doing it his own thing now… It’s not even a matter of let go because in Africa, contracts really don’t exist. You just shake hands, it’s all word. Especially Nigeria, ain’t no contracts being honored.

"Me and Davido never had a contract. “I was just like a big brother kind of deal… just walk him through some things, advising, and things like that. It is now I love about Davido is that he’s an independent artiste… he came with the US hustle and brought it ti Africa.”

Akon then spoke about his new direction. You can watch the full interview below;