5/18/2008

in

Artist Akon finally comments to MTV News about the article published by The Smoking Gun a month ago, claiming he fabricated his past.

Hillary Frazier

Artist Akon has finally responded to MTV News about the article published over a month ago by The Smoking Gun, which claimed Akon had fabricated his criminal past. Akon had previously claimed, and still asserts, to be the ringleader of a car-theft ring, and getting caught left him with four and a half years in prison. According to The Smoking Gun, however, Akon had only spent a few months in prison for stealing a single car.  
  
The story made many doubt Akon and his past criminal life, as VH1 said ". . . about the stories Akon has been repeating in interviews for years about his background as a hard-hitting thug who once owned and operated four chop shops that catered to 'celebrities and drug dealers.'" MTV News was the first to get a comment from Akon, and he said, "It's an article. Everyone's entitled to their own opinions and views. At the end of the day, the Konvict movement is keeping me out of jail. It's nothing I want to glorify or go back to. Honestly, I'm glad something like that came out, because it opens the minds of other people who're thinking positive."  
  
Akon is staying positive, and continues to praise his past as a learning experience. He is still working on his next album, *Aquitted*, which is a follow-up to the 2006 album, *Konvicted*.