Who says musicians lack ambition these days? Akon is building a real-life Wakanda

The rapper already owns a diamond mine. Now he plans to build a futuristic city in Senegal trading solely in the cryptocurrency ‘Akoin’

Akon, the top-selling ringtone artist of all time, is building a futuristic city in Senegal that will trade exclusively in Akoin: a cryptocurrency named after himself. If you have been away from the news for a while, yes, this is what things are like now. I should mention that the city will be based on Wakanda, the fictional setting of Marvel’s Black Panther movie.

Musos often claim that artists lack ambition these days. It is a charge that is hard to make stick with Akon, although it is true that he never put it in his songs. But it’s the notes he’s not playing, man! Akon once claimed blood diamonds do not exist, and he would know, because he owns a diamond mine in South Africa. He owns a diamond mine. He also stated his ambition to run for president with Mark Zuckerberg as his running mate. And he claimed to be developing a reality TV show called My Brother’s Keeper, in which Akon’s two brothers would wander around Atlanta pretending to be him, picking up girls and free dinners. You snort, but if it were on at Tate Modern, you would call it genius.

I am not sure how much follow-through he has. My Brother’s Keeper has been kept on ice for years. The rapper’s frequent claim to have served three years for car theft was reported to be inaccurate (hip-hop being a backwards world where you get outed for not going to jail). He has now admitted that blood diamonds do exist. But Akon Crypto City could be the one that sticks. It is already in development, the Senegalese president having gifted the rapper 2,000 acres (akres?) of land five minutes from the international airport.

No word yet on the quantity of vibranium deposits there, but I suppose there wouldn’t be. Keep your claws crossed. From little Akons, great trees grow.

Contributor

Rhik Samadder

The GuardianTramp

Related Content

Article image
Is the ‘JRR Token’ a real cryptocurrency or a joke? Either way, I’m not buying it | Arwa Mahdawi
From property to shares to NFTs, our financial system revolves around scams and speculation. It’s time to kick the Hobbit, writes the Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi

Arwa Mahdawi

10, Aug, 2021 @3:12 PM

Article image
From bust to boom: how 50 Cent became an accidental bitcoin millionaire
The rapper let fans pay for a 2014 album in the cryptocurrency. Now, its value has soared – and the once bankrupt musician has made almost $8m

24, Jan, 2018 @5:46 PM

Article image
Why were so many smart people so dumb about FTX? Did they seriously just like Sam Bankman-Fried’s ‘vibe’?
The collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange will cost investors billions. But why would anyone give money to a man who plays video games in important meetings?

Arwa Mahdawi

15, Nov, 2022 @5:27 PM

Article image
What’s the true value of crypto? It lays bare the lies of libertarians | Zoe Williams
The downfall of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange proves how much markets need rules, writes Zoe Williams

Zoe Williams

17, Jan, 2023 @7:00 AM

Article image
Digital gold: why hackers love Bitcoin
The ransomware attackers demanded payment in the cryptocurrency. But its use in the ‘clean’ economy is growing, too, and could revolutionise how we use money

Simon Usborne

15, May, 2017 @6:10 PM

Article image
NFTs and me: meet the people trying to sell their memes for millions
Once, people who owned viral photos made little money from them. Now, the ‘original’ can potentially sell for an enormous sum. But are buyers savvy investors – or unwitting dupes?

Sirin Kale

23, Jun, 2021 @5:00 AM

Article image
Missed the bitcoin boom? Five more baffling cryptocurrencies to blow your savings on
Regretting not spending a few hundred quid on bitcoin five years ago? Get ahead of the speculators by spending thousands of dollars on a imaginary cat or the Paris Hilton-backed LydianCoin

Alex Hern

11, Dec, 2017 @3:25 PM

Article image
How Iceland became the bitcoin miners’ paradise
The island nation is the first to use more electricity on mining cryptocurriencies than on its households – thanks in part to its magma-fuelled power plants

Alex Hern

13, Feb, 2018 @3:26 PM

Article image
‘They couldn’t even scream any more. They were just sobbing’: the amateur investors ruined by the crypto crash
Fuelled by hype and hysteria, the market in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies went from an obscure niche to a $3tn industry. Then the house of cards collapsed

Sirin Kale

12, Jul, 2022 @5:00 AM

Article image
Gold diggers defeated: Kanye West wins legal battle against digital currency Coinye
Kanye wasn't too pleased to find his face plastered on a cryptocurrency and got his lawyers to ask its inventors to desist

27, Jul, 2014 @5:15 PM