Akon’s princely past

LONDON - Singer-rapper Akon used to pretend he was an African prince while he was at school in a bid to attract girls.

The singer split his time between Senegal and America while growing up and admits he would play on his African roots as a teenager, by claiming to be royalty so as to impress girls.

“When I was 17, I thought I was the flyest thing on the planet. Of course, I still had my African roots so I would wear dashikis that kinda matched my jeans, I think I was a young hustler at that time, I told everybody, I’m a prince!” contactmusic.com quoted Akon as saying.

“People just didn’t know any better so they believed that we were princes from Africa,” said Akon’s brother Omar.

Akon got the idea from the classic Eddie Murphy movie “Coming to America”, a comedy about a misplaced African prince trying to make his way in America.