American singer, Aliaune Thiam popularly known as Akon, has moved one more step away from music and reportedly building a real life ‘Wakanda’ city, a depiction of Marvel’s 2018 fictional movie ‘Black Panther’.
The futuristic city which will be built in his ancestral home will exclusively trade in Akoin: a cryptocurrency named after him.
The 45-year-old had last week announced at Cannes Lions, France, that the Senegalese government gifted him 2,000 acres of land to kick off the project.
The idea for the new city was first unveiled about three years ago, and is part of President Macky Sall’s wider scheme to revitalize Senegal’s economy.
The picture of Akon’s new Wakanda is said to include some of the same buildings which appear on promotional material for Diamniadio Lake City, an exclusive development boasting high-end flats, houses and penthouses.
“It brings the power back to the people and brings the security back into the currency system.
“It also allows the people to utilise it in ways where they can advance themselves and not allow government to do those things that are keeping them down,” Akon explained at Cannes Lions.
Earlier, the singer claimed to be developing a reality TV show called My Brother’s Keeper, in which Akon’s two brothers would wander around Atlanta pretending to be him, picking up girls and free dinners. However, the show has been kept on ice for years.
Akon, who was born in the US to Senegalese parents, is reported to be worth a not insubstantial $80m (about N28.8 billion) but even that falls a little short of the total cost of a city.
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