Who Is... Akon?

A very uncomfortable fact of being 44 years old and a producer of hip-hop music videos is it is very likely that I will not be able to recognize the very artist I am producing by sight.

To mitigate the possibility that I will ask a very stupid question, or even worse, not recognize the artist when I run into him/her, I usually do a little research. This week... Akon.

Jeff (above) looking on the internet to try to figure out who Akon is.

I have developed a check-list to be done before each job:

1) Is that the name of the artist or the name of the group? (Much like when I was a kid and my parents thought the lead singer of Led Zeppelin was a guy named Led). For example, Pretty Ricky is the name of the group, not any of its members. T-Pain is the name of the person.

Is AKON the name of the artist or the name of the group? AKON is his name. Check.

2) How do you pronounce the name? It is not unusual for the spelling of talent's name to be quite different from what one would expect when using expected English grammatical rules. For example, how do you pronounce RZA? I know now.

AKON is pronounced ay-con. Check.

3) What does he or she look like? I Google and image and confirm it with two or three sources. Then I print out a copy and keep it in my pocket. Check.

Akon (above) looking cool.

4) Then I do everything in my power to avoid making any contact with the talent by hiding in the production trailer and sip diet soda and eat Goldfish crackers until I can sneak out and go home and go to bed. Check.