How Akon actively misrepresents any kind of “Real Africa” in accordance with Kleim’s theory from Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and Inventions of the American Mind
Kleim suggests in his prolific work, Mistaking Africa (2009) that a variety of factors, including the media and educational systems, confound American understanding of African culture and that we create stereotypes of Africans easily with little knowledge or hesitation. He proposes that “Real Africa” cannot separate into tribes or any preconceived boxes of primitive culture. Kleim states in the opening pages of the work that mentioning Africa to most Americans bring up thoughts of safaris, wild beasts, tribesman, and dense jungles (2009). He calls to take the first step of questioning this (mis)perceptionists and in this essay critically evaluates Akon, a 21st century American-Senegalian celebrity as a positive or negative influence on people’s perceptions of what is Africa.
Born on April 16, 1973 in St. Louis, Missouri Akon or Aliaune Damala Bouga Time Bongo Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Nadara Akon Thiam claims status as a first generation American with his parents hailing from the West African country, Senegal. He reportedly spent much of his childhood in Senegal and calls the country his home although he spent most of his youth in Newark, New Jersey. As a Muslim, he claims to have never drink alcohol or smoked. Akon considers himself a “diaspora child” or African living outside of Africa; however, I question whether he truly understands Africa or his own culture given the disrespectful and incriminating direction he chose for his public image and actions.
He, along with Keri Hilson, produced the 2010 hit “Oh Africa”, which features the Soweto Gospel Choir as well as additional young singers from many African countries. Despite its title, the song “Oh Africa” has a strong football undertone as it was an official World Cup Theme Song in 2010. The music video became very popular because eight international football stars including Kaká, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, and Fernando Torres, make cameo appearances in the video. Gil Green directed the music video and Baked FX created the VFX for “Of Africa”.
The music video begins with a colorful room displaying a map of Africa. Four translucent drum-playing musicians, with the same colored and patterned body paint as the wall, enter the screen and start playing to the African beats with colorful dust flying from their drums. Akon begins singing with the drumming musicians in view and Keri sings shortly after with colorful paint decorating the screen in front of her. Keri flaunts a animal-print outfit, heavy makeup, and blue contacts; obviously not her natural eye color. Next, the music video shows a choir of mixed races singers with a sunset background behind them. Other, miscellaneous people of a variety of ethnicities flash onto the screen as well. The next scene highlights people from multiple countries with their faces painted representing their country. In the room with moving paint, Akon dances with Keri in between scenes of the music video. Keri’s singing along with the choir is highlighted intermittently through the song. About halfway through the song, the eight international football stars are shown playing with water balloons as though they are footballs. Images of themselves and other scenes, such as the African choir, appear as well. Late in the song, Keri lies on a Zebra-patterned backdrop. The music video ends with cheers and shouts by the footballers.
I have mixed impressions of this music video. Because I have no background in traditional African music, I can’t make judgments as to the authenticity of the beats. I think the video does a good job highlight a mix of ethnicities and nationalities and does not favor white skin over darker colored skin. My issues with the video are largely due to Keri’s outfit and the other animal or wild patterns in the video that demonstrate Klein’s point of how easily we exoticize Africa.
In terms of Akon, specifically, he represents and misrepresents African in a myriad of ways. First and foremost, his involvement in sketchy enterprises including a diamond mine in South Africa and having participating in auto-theft ring do not render him as a positive figure for the continent. His record company name, Konvict, further aggrandizes a negative image of crime, violence, and trouble. Furthermore, his voice neither sounds African or authentic as Auto-Tuning heavily affects his sound. This separation from the real sound of his voices misleads listeners to linking sensual, smooth sounds to male, African voices.
Generally, the lyrics to Akon’s music puts down and disrespects women, which does not positively reflect his African origins. His lyrics centralizes on the two ideas that some women with certain physical characteristics are beautiful and that he can have sex with them whenever and however he wants. In his song, Sexy Bitch, the lyrics reflect these attitudes:
“She’s nothing like you ever seen before /
Nothing you can compare to your neighborhood ho /
I’m trying to find the words to describe this girl /
Without being disrespectful.”
In general, Akon does not positively reflect any aspect of Africa nor would he for any other nation. Describing his music as sacrilegious puts it lightly. Other hit singles that illustrate this point include I’m So Paid, Beautiful, Dangerous, I Wanna Love You, Sorry, Blame It On Me, and the biggest offender, Smack That.
The only redeeming element to Akon’s representation of Africa correlates to his philanthropic tendencies. On the one hand, Akon leverages support and resources from his famed status to donate to charities. His actions self-perpetuate an image of “an African helping Africans”. His charity “Konfidence”, which provides underprivileged youth in Africa with funding for their education, exemplifies this phenomena. His website http://www.konfidence.org/aboutus.html, best explains the impact he aims to make. the woman to In a more recent campaign, he launched “Akon lighting Africa” which aims to electrify one million households in the continent by the end of this year. He claims that more than four fifths of those living in Sub-Saharan Africa lack access to electricity and that this initiative will provide more than two thirds of the population with this service. Targeted countries include Senegal, Mali, Guinea Conakry, Burkina Faso, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. The method for electrifying these homes involves installing solar equipment and pushes the sustainability message. However, I still question the campaign and authenticity of Akon’s philanthropy. Even the website, https://www.akonlightingafrica.com/, does not load when googled.
The fact that Akon boasts five Grammy nominations but actual titles reflects the fact that consumers do not buy into his Americanized or falsified image of an African musician. Overall, I believe that Akon’s misrepresentations of Africa outweigh his philanthropic contributions. Akon’s influence on society exhibits the point that we must question our notions of cultures different based on influences from media and not quickly believe all that celebrity icons such as Akon present to us.
Bibliography
Keim, Curtis A. Mistaking Africa Curiosities and Inventions of the American Mind. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2009. Print.
Ourke, Harmony, S., and Curtis Kleim. “Mistaking Africa: Curiosities and Inventions of the American Mind.” Journal of African History 50.3 (2009): 460-1. ProQuest. Web. 22 Oct. 2014.
