Akon: Sounding Off

By Souleo It's a rare thing to get a celebrity who isn't afraid to give their honest opinion on hot topics. Thankfully, Akon is one of those rarities. On day three of his Takeover, Akon is sounding off on artists who call themselves the next Michael Jackson and letting you know which artist really has next, plus he's offering his two cents on the Lady Gaga copycats and revealing how he's made peace with the murder trial results for his formerly signed deceased artist, Dolla.

On artists comparing themselves to Michael Jackson:

Half of them might say it but they really don't believe it. It's more of motivating themselves to be just as great as him. Now there is one particular artist that has the potential to one day become that if he focuses so much more on his artistry and I think that's Chris Brown.

Of course, you have to be able to focus and you have live it every day and every minute of the hour for that to happen. Michael never thought about nothing else but his creativity and every day he was thinking about how he can be better. So you can't settle unless your satisfied with what it is you're getting. Some people settle for whatever the record company wants them to do or they settle to please someone else. Mike never did that. If he wasn't personally happy with it he wasn't doing it. I think in order to become that it has to be your vision and your motivation towards yourself.

On Lady Gaga copycats:

I never think 'Oh these guys are biting,' or trying to take her style. I look at it as a form of appreciation that they don't even realize. When Michael Jackson came out with "Thriller," everybody in the world was wearing his jackets because we loved it. You're only going to emulate things that you love or you admire. Her mindset and creativity is so much bigger and this is just a piece of what that is. She's about to graduate into something completely different. Honestly, I don't think they're going to be able to keep up.

On the acquittal of Aubrey Louis Berry for the murder of Dolla:

I wasn't personally there when it happened. I know for a fact that there were a lot of problems between the two of them and I feel like there was a better way to deal with the issue. As far as him being acquitted, I always leave things like that in the hands of God. I may have an opinion that Dolla had no right to be taken out that way and dude was completely wrong and he had no right to be acquitted. But God saw differently. It goes to show no matter how much I would've felt about it it's not going to make him any more guilty or any more innocent. It's not going to make the judge overturn his decision. I put it in God's hands and if this is the outcome of what's meant to be then I just have to live with it.