Akon Is Building a City in Senegal Called 'Akon City'

Artist Akon is ready to welcome you to Akon City.

The pop singer announced on Twitter on Monday that he “finalized the agreement” for a city named after him in Senegal. The city has been approved by Senegal’s state-owned SAPCO tourism company.

"Looking forward to hosting you there in the future," he wrote.

Akon City will be a “crypto-city” built on 2,000 acres of land, gifted to him by the Senegalese President Macky Sall. The people of Akon City will pay for everything in a cryptocurrency known as AKoin.

Although Akon — who rose to fame with his hit single "Lonely" in 2005 — was born in St. Louis, Mo., he is of Senagalese descent lived there as a child until he was seven years old.

Akon City is expected to become an eco-tourism destination, run entirely on renewable energy (through the work of Akon Lighting Africa, the rapper’s solar power project). It's located a five-minute drive away from Senegal’s new Léopold Sédar Senghor International Airport, outside of Dakar.

%image1

In an interview with Nick Cannon in November 2019, Akon said that construction on the city began last year and phase two is expected to begin in 2025. There’s a “10-year building block” schedule until the city is ready for visitors. Akon has spoken about his wish to make the city futuristic and innovative.

There aren’t very many details available about Akon City but it’s likely that it will have some sort of philanthropic angle.

“When I travel, I see so many things that happen, so many people that need assistance and so many things that need to be resolved,” Akon said in the interview with Cannon. “And if you can have a billion dollars sitting in the bank while you have all these people suffering and struggling, man, to me, it’s just crazy.”