By Patrick Douglas

After selling four million copies of his previous record, “Konvicted,” and two million units of his debut “Trouble,” the multi-faceted Akon (he has his own clothing line, Konvict and Aliaune Clothing, and spearheads his own charitable organization, the Konfidence Foundation, where he provides underprivileged African youth with educational tools) has reason to smile about the prospects of his latest release, “Freedom.”

Akon can claim a distinct record (no pun intended) that would make Elvis Presley jealous. He’s the only musician in history to hold the No. 1 and 2 slots on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart consecutively on two different occasions.

While the jury’s still out on the ultimate success of “Freedom,” Akon is happy that it’s finally out there for people to hear.

“I’m excited, especially after all the work we put into it,” Akon shared.

The son of jazz musician Mor Thaim, Akon spent the early years of his life living in Senegal, moving permanently to the states when he was 15. The musician was given the tools to learn music at the young age of seven, which certainly helped in his development.

“He taught me the game a little bit and I took it upon myself to get on the instrumental side,” said Akon of his father. “It definitely gave me a head start ‘cause I had the information before I actually got into [the music business].”

Known as one of the kings of the collaboration, Akon has joined forces with everyone from Eminem to Michael Jackson, Gwen Stefani and Snoop Dogg. On his new album, he brought in the services of Wyclef Jean, Lil Wayne, T-Pain and Young Jeezy to help him out.

The reason for getting together with so many different artists is simple: it keeps the music fresh.

“It’s because it’s something new. It’s something different,” Akon said. “It creates a different sound, a different energy. The people wanna hear something new all the time.”

Akon admits that on “Freedom,” he matured quite a bit, even choosing to exclude all profanity from his songwriting, making this the first Akon release without the Parental Advisory warning.

“I think as a person, you definitely mature,” he mused. “I think with the success you really see a lot more and you’re a lot more responsible with the decisions you make.”

“The same way I can make a record explicit and make it a hit, there’s no way that I can’t make a record that’s not explicit and also a hit,” he continued.

As the hit singles keep coming, Akon is just happy to see his music make an impact.

“I never intended this to be a career, it just happened. It definitely started out as a hobby and something to do therapeutically, ‘cause I wasn’t the type to talk to too many people. I was always to myself and music was my way of venting and before you knew it, it became a hobby and then a career,” he explained.

Since this is Pulse Magazine’s fitness issue, it’s appropriate to find out what Akon does to keep himself in shape. He simply watches TV.

“I do pushups between commercials. It’s automatic. There’s not even a question. If I’m at a hotel and I’m watching CNN and a commercial comes on … I get down and do 50. If I get onstage, an hour every night is my cardio.”

Photo courtesy of Anthony Mandler