Akon says he no longer promotes his planned city, Akon City, because he believes it has become a “target” for misinformation.
On Kid L’s podcast, Akon spoke about the Wakanda-inspired city he first announced in 2018, explaining why he doesn’t talk about it as much anymore.
“I stopped promoting it because I realized that the more I promoted it, the more popular it got—and it started to become a target,” said the singer around the 27-minute, 40-second mark of the video below.
“Africa is one of those kinds of places that the system had a design to keep it down because of all of the resources, and how they could leverage it,” he continued. “Projects like this, all it has to do is spark confidence in the people.”
“I kind of already saw where it was going, so I said, ‘OK, let me just back off the marketing approach and just allow it to be done,’” Akon continued. “I realized that the more they knew what I was doing, the more the sabotage started to come. I started to see a lot of fake news and bots online.”
Akon said that headlines like the city “not happening” and “land being taken” were getting “bigger and deeper” to the point that he wouldn’t be able to fight off allegations, so he decided to “allow it to sizzle itself off.”
Since its unveiling, Akon’s $6 billion city has had its share of public issues. The first phase of construction was supposed to be completed by the end of 2023, but that didn’t happen because of delays and controversies.
A year prior to that, Akon’s former business partner sued him over millions allegedly owed because of a settlement agreement. He told the judge that Akon City and Akoin—the singer’s cryptocurrency that would be the currency of the—exhibited “many of the trademark characteristics … of fraudulent business ventures such as Ponzi schemes and pyramid schemes.”
In 2022, Akon blamed the delays on building the city on COVID-19 and said that its plans were “100,000% moving.” He also said that he was working on a 10-year plan to complete the city.
Aside from delays, Akon’s city has also faced land rights issues and the termination of a contract entered into with Senegal President Macky Sall and the Society for the Development and Promotion of Coasts and Tourist Zones, who loaned him $2 million for the project—then told him that if it wasn’t completed by 2023, then their contract was over.