“Be With You” appreciates a wife’s support and the joy she brings, and the singer promises to reciprocate. True “Freedom” exists in a relatively drug-free U.S.A. where it’s OK to “praise G-O-D.” Akon thanks the Lord for His blessings on “Over the Edge” and “Sunny Day.”
Hustling requires a sawed-off shotgun and a “bunch of goons” on the thuggish “I’m So Paid,” which calls someone “b–ch.” From there, hormones take over. A man headed for the “triple-X zone” watches a girl dancing at a club and wants to see her undress, “not like a hooker, but more like a princess” (“Beautiful”). “Right Now (Na Na Na)” and “Keep You Much Longer” request sexual favors. Akon tosses a “g–d–n” into “Against the Grain,” an explicit song about a turned-on guy falling for a pole dancer. “Holla Holla,” “Troublemaker” and “We Don’t Care” treat women like sexual playthings, adding alcohol to the mix.
Akon praises God one minute, then plays the gangsta and trumpets casual sex the next. It’s all too common in this genre, making us wonder, Where do these artists go to church? This follow-up to Akon’s Grammy-winning Konvicted will only leave young fans konfused.
