Photo Credit: Power 106

AKON! The OG has dominated the music scene but it is his work outside of entertainment that is really putting the multi-faceted artist in his own lane. The St.Louis native discussed plans for his own city that is currently under construction and tells Nick Cannon that it will feature an airport and utilize renewable energy. The rapper also talks about having his hand in politics, wanting to run for office, assisting behind the scenes with artist development, and even points out why those who are melanated are good to travel to Africa without unnecessary vaccinations.

Akon has an album dropping on November 22nd, ‘Konnect,’ and just came out with an all Spanish album last month, ‘El Negreeto,’ that had top of the line features with Pitbull and Becky G.

Before coming out with his latest hits, Akon took a break from his career in music to start a revolutionary movement called ‘Akon Lighting Africa’. The, venture focused on providing electricity to rural areas in Africa. Sunlight was the only source of light for certain areas of the continent until he teamed up with Samba Bathily to introduce solar energy.

Knowing of Akon’s activism, Nick mentioned the need to get a variety of shots to protect people from illness while traveling. In response to Nick’s concerns, Akon said, “…white people do have to take shots…’cause their bodies, the way it’s set up, it doesn’t fight the way ours fights. Our bodies are just naturally physically stronger than theirs…Black people, Latin people, when they go to Africa they don’t have no problems. When you start taking the shots, you’re actually injecting disease in you.”                         

The two laughed in agreement until the interview took a tense turn into Connect Four. They made a deal that if Nick won, Akon would name a street in his city after him. If Akon won, Nick’s next child would be “Akon Jr.”. Looks like we can look forward to cruising down Cannon Street.

Watch the full Close Conversation with Akon and Nick Cannon Mornings below!