Akon says that he used to pretend to be an "African prince" and was inspired by the 1988 film, Coming to America. He recalled the ruse during a recent appearance on Drink Champs.
“I used the excuse that I was a survivor, because it made me feel better about it,” he said. “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. So when I think about it, we were just bored as hell.”
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He continued: “I think a lot of my choices came from wanting to be accepted, you know? 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 could drive with the most elite vehicles, and I ran with the scenario that I was an African prince.”
From there, he joked: “After Coming to America, I was like, ‘Shiiiit!' That’s what motivated it!” The film was released in 1988 and stars Eddie Murphy as the prince of a wealthy African country who travels to the U.S. to find a wife. Check out Akon's full interview on Drink Champs below. Elsewhere in the discussion, he speaks about producing hits for other major artists, philanthropy, his thoughts on technology, his career, and more.
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Earlier this year, Akon made headlines for arguing that Africa could be the "strongest nation in the world" if African Americans were to move back. He explained on REVOLT’s Deposit$ podcast: “Man, Africa could be the strongest nation in the world if y’all went back home. Because we got everything that it takes to be that. We got the resources, we got the land, we got the population. And together we got the strength and we got the know-how. Like, why we ain’t doing that?”
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