I wasn’t convinced at first. (Hell, I thought it was laughable at times.) However, I was pleasantly surprised with his debut album. Nobody, proponents and naysayers alike, could have foreseen the amount success he got since - most of it is due to the album’s opener and lead single, Locked Up. It’s a reflection on his time in incarceration in which he effectively conveys the dejection and despair that such a situation brings about. The track became a hit because people across the world could relate (sadly more literally than figuratively) to the storyline. (It also got remixed seven times to include rappers from all over the world.)

Locked Up also displays the qualities that favors Akon: his voice, his songwriting abilities and his musicianship. Akon is blessed with a very distinctive voice and he’s adept at harmonizing his vocals to enhance the melodies he writes. He also has the knack to find catchy hooks. But a double-edge sword lies in the substance of the songs.

He falls flat when he attempts commercially viable songs (the dancefloor-tailored Bananza, the street-oriented Gangsta), or when he opts for cliché lyrics (When The Time’s Right, Show Out). He’s much more efficient and seemingly comfortable when he keeps the subject matter personal. He uses simple lyrics and narrates, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, in a manner akin to the griot - it captures your attention, and makes songs like Locked Up, Trouble Nobody, Ghetto, Lonely and Journey memorable - whether you like them or not.

Akon is no slouch on the production tip either. He produced, arranged and recorded the whole album himself and he credits it to his musicianship: he can play the bass, the keyboard, the drums and the guitar (admittedly a poor one - for now). That surely speeds up the record-making process and gives him more control over his project. The fact that he’s self-taught says a lot about his dedication and the beats he did here - they are good but not that great - presages improvements in song composition.

And if he shows the same level of seriousness for his next albums, he's poised for a long career and better, less uneven projects, albeit Trouble was really impressive.