Popular African-American singer Aliaune Damala Badara, known as Akon, has decided to open music universities in Africa.
Akon has disclosed that he and Michael Jackson planned to open music schools across Africa before Jackson’s death in 2009.
He described the late Michael Jackson as a very caring person passionate about helping African children. However, he could not fulfill some of his wishes before his death.
“It started off as a concept; Mike and I were speaking about creating music universities throughout Africa,” he told TMZ in a recent interview.
“I’m giving them the tools, the instruments, and the business knowledge. Just help them with facilities that help them polish up their skills because Africa has so much talent. This was one of the main motivations when I went to Nigeria back then—to start and support all those young artists for afrobeat and things like this.”
Talking about Michael Jackson’s personality, Akon said, “Mike was just an amazing person, man. I wish people had a chance to understand and really experience the person the way I did,” said Akon during an interview with HipHopDX.
“We had like a good two years together where we just hung out practically four or five times a week, right? Real conversations, and he would shock you—the kind of shit that he likes, the kind of shit he would say,” Akon told the outlet.
He narrated that Michael Jackson always wanted to help African children succeed in their lives because he never really experienced a childhood, having risen to stardom by the age of eight.
“His biggest thing was always making sure that kids were in a comfortable position to be kids. Because he never really had a childhood himself,” Akon stated.
“He was a big star as a child. He didn’t get a chance to go to the carnival, go to the movies, or eat candy like kids naturally do, so when he got older, he surrounded himself with all those kiddish things that he never had a chance to be at,” he added.
Unfortunately, the two were never able to realize their plans when Jackson died suddenly from cardiac arrest in June 2009. At the time of his death, he was planning an extensive series of global comeback shows.
Akon revealed that he and Michael Jackson had planned to open music schools across Africa before Jackson died in 2009.
“It started off as a concept; me and Mike were actually speaking about creating music universities all throughout Africa,” he told TMZ in a recent interview. “I’m giving them the tools, the instruments, and the business knowledge. Just help them with facilities that help them polish up their skills because Africa has so much talent. This was one of the main motivations when I went to Nigeria back then—to start and support all those young artists for afrobeat and things like this.”
