Akon locks down top of singles chart

By: Yves Erwin Salomon

Senegalese singer and producer Akon has taken over the top two slots on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Billboard.com reports that Akon's "I Wanna Love You" featuring Snoop Dogg jumped from Number 17 to Number One last week, while the singer's collaboration with Eminem, "Smack That," held strong at Number Two for the second consecutive week.

Akon's latest album, Konvicted, has benefited from the success of the singles. The album debuted at Number Two on the Billboard 200 albums chart after selling more 284,000 copies its first week in stores.

In related news, one of the singer's goals is to educate people about his African homeland through his music. Akon shared that he is often disappointed to find out how ignorant Americans -- especially African Americans -- are when it comes to Africa: "Like everybody go by what they see on TV, what the history book tell 'em and they never even ever actually been there themselves to experience it. They don't even know how much Africa has evolved since then. They still living in the days of 1801, 1830, 1900s, not even knowing that Africa is just so much as modern as it is out here, you just never visit the areas that was like that."