I think as long as you hold onto that past, there's a lot of weight that you carry with you everywhere you go. It's hard to move forward and move fast when you got a weight on your back. You just gotta let it go. Akon went on to say that African Americans need to "understand their worth" and accept that American will never make up for their racist history. They don't care. Perhaps that is because the architect hired to sketch out the first renderings is Hussein Bakri, based in Abu Dhabi.
Akon is trying to tap into the growing feeling of alienation that many black people feel about the way they are treated in America.
He offers them the prospect of a life where you are not defined by skin colour prejudices, but instead the size of your wallet or your purse. The prospect also appeals to the growing ranks of the African rich who want to enjoy their wealth with Instagram-ready backgrounds for every shot posted.
But the black capitalism that Akon espouses has little to offer the overwhelming numbers of black people in Africa who are poor because capitalism made them that way.
Who will be serving and cleaning in Akon City? Who will deliver the high end goods to the luxury apartments? Who will be working in the hospital beyond the doctors?
The answer, of course, is the black poor. For every millionaire drinking a seaside cocktail, there will be scores of others living in shanty towns outside Akon city trying to scrape a living. Just as there are on the edges of cities across Africa, Asia and Latin America. How is Akon City a vision of black liberation if the majority of black people there are being oppressed by the rich?
He first announced his idea for the idealistic city back in where compared it to the fictional technologically advanced nation of Wakanda portrayed in "Black Panther. The plan is for Akon city to trade exclusively in its own digital cash currency cryptocurrency called Akoin. Unlike other cryptocurrencies tied to stable currencies, Akoin is tied to cellphone minutes and relies on the use of smartphones. According to the singer, more people in Africa trust their cellphone companies more than they trust local currency.
In November , the singer told CNN that cryptocurrency will allow Africans to become less dependent on their governments. He argued that Akoin will enable people to have control of their own currency and by extension make financial decisions without external interference from their countries. The main thing they Africans will be able to gain is independence and I think being in the position to make your own financial decisions is key," he said.
Al Jazeera: So, what made you say this to Source magazine? When I said that, I was talking about the environment in where they live. And the rights they actually have. And the blessing they do, you know, have actual access to. Like, if they see how they live, they actually get money from the government, there actually are programmes that help the impoverished and the poor, and you get food stamps.
I mean, they have it good, compared to Africa. Al Jazeera: But you say now that the system is against them? Akon: I was talking about a way of life. A far as the system goes, the system in America was never built for black people. This is my personal opinion, I am speaking for myself. Do you understand that experience that these people are denouncing?
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