Akon used to lie about being an African Prince because he was ‘bored as hell’

‘I used the excuse that I was a survivor because it made me feel better about it,’ Akon said

Akon has revealed that he once lied about being an African prince.

The rapper, 50, was born in St Louis, Missouri, to Senegalese parents, who later relocated to New Jersey. Akon, real name Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, spent much of his childhood in Senegal, which he has described as his hometown.

During an appearance on the Drink Champs podcast, the “Smack That” musician explained why he used to tell people he was a member of African royalty, opening up about how his choices “came from just wanting to be accepted”.

“I kind of used the excuse that I was a survivor because it made me feel better about it,” Akon explained.

“But there was nothing for me to survive. Because my parents was actually really wealthy. I was living in [New] Jersey. We lived in a three-story house, just me and my older brother. We had the whole house to ourselves! Now when I think about it, we were just bored as hell looking for something to do.”

As Akon was growing up, the future chart-topper saw friends around him selling drugs, but never understood why they would put in so much labour for such little financial incentive.

“I think a lot of my choices came from just wanting to be accepted, you know, amongst the crowd,” Akon said.

“So that’s how I got caught into all the things that I got caught into, including cars. Because cars made me feel special. I was young, I can drive with the most elite vehicles, and I ran with the scenario that I was an African prince.”

Akon said that the inspiration to call himself the African prince came after he watched the 1988 Eddie Murphy comedy Coming to America.

(AP)

“After Coming to America, I was like, ‘S***!’ That’s what motivated it!” Akon recalled.

“Literally like every other month I would come to school in a different car... I’m like, ‘Yeah, I’m an African prince.’ And they believed it because of the whip that I was driving in!”

In 2020, Akon, said he is pushing ahead with his $6bn (£4.5bn) plan to create a futuristic pan-African city in Senegal.

At the time, the rapper described the project as a “real-life Wakanda”, a reference to the fictional African state from Marvel’s Black Panther.

In a statement, Akon said he hopes the city would create jobs in Senegal, and serve as a “home back home” for African-Americans and other people facing racial discrimination.