Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973), better known as Akon is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, businessman, record producer and actor. He rose to prominence in 2004 following the release of “Locked Up”, the first single from his debut album Trouble.
A single, “Angel”, produced by French producer David Guetta, was released in September 2010. He performed the song during the 2010 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. He travelled to Jamaica to work with Damian, Julian & Stephen Marley. Around the same time, Akon collaborated with Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg on “Kush”, the intended first single from Dr. Dre’s forthcoming album Detox; however, it was removed from the final album track list. He also contributed “We Are the World: 25 for Haiti”, a charity single in aid of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. After a long hiatus, Akon put out the promotional single “Dirty Work” (featuring Wiz Khalifa), which was released in February 2013.
On November 11, 2013, He released a standalone single titled “So Blue”.
On January 1, 2015, He released five singles from Stadium. He also announced that the album would be a quintuple album, broken up into five different genres (Euro, Pop, Urban, Island & World). A fifth version of the album is being lined up for a digital and physical release in March 2016; it will be released through Atlantic Records, though the label said it was unsure of the release date.
In April 2016, He appeared in the Chinese reality TV show I Am a Singer along with the Taiwanese singer Jeff Chang.
Kanye Omari West (born June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, fashion designer, and entrepreneur. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West first became known as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the early 2000s, producing hit singles for artists such as Jay Z and Alicia Keys. Intent on pursuing a solo career as a rapper, West released his debut album The College Dropout in 2004 to widespread critical and commercial success. He went on to pursue a variety of different styles on subsequent albums Late Registration (2005), Graduation (2007), and the polarizing 808s & Heartbreak (2008). In 2010, he released his acclaimed fifth album My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, and the following year he collaborated with Jay Z on the joint LP Watch the Throne (2011). West released his abrasive sixth album, Yeezus, to further critical praise in 2013. His seventh album, The Life of Pablo, was released in 2016.
West announced in January 2016 that SWISH would be released on February 11, and that month released new songs “Real Friends” and a snippet of “No More Parties in L.A.” with Kendrick Lamar. This also revived the GOOD Fridays initiative in which Kanye releases new singles every Friday. On January 26, 2016, West revealed he had renamed the album from SWISH to Waves, and also announced the premier of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line at Madison Square Garden. In the weeks leading up to the album’s release, West became embroiled in several Twitter controversies and released several changing iterations of the tracklist for the new album. Several days ahead of its release, West again changed the title, this time to The Life of Pablo. On February 11, West premiered the album at Madison Square Garden as part of the presentation of his Yeezy Season 3 clothing line. Following the preview, West announced that he would be modifying the track list once more before its release to the public, and further delayed its release to finalize the recording of the track “Waves” at the behest of co-writer Chance the Rapper. He released the album exclusively on Tidal on 14 February 2016 following a performance on SNL. Following its official streaming release, West continued to tinker with mixes of several tracks, describing the work as “a living breathing changing creative expression” and proclaiming the end of the album as a dominant release form. Although a statement by West around Life of Pablo’s initial release indicated that the album would be a permanent exclusive to Tidal, the album was released through several other competing services starting in April.
On February 24, 2016, West stated on Twitter that he was planning to release another album in the summer of 2016, tentatively called Turbo Grafx 16 in reference to the 1980s video game console of the same name. On June 3, 2016, West premiered the first single “Champions” off the GOOD Music album Cruel Winter, which was six minutes and featured Travis Scott, Big Sean, Gucci Mane, Desiigner, Yo Gotti, Quavo, and 2 Chainz. He told the radio host, Big Boy, that the beat had been in works for a year and a half. In June, West released a controversial video for “Famous,” which depicted wax figures of several celebrities (including West, Kardashian, Taylor Swift, presidential-elect and businessman Donald Trump, comedian Bill Cosby, and former president George W. Bush) sleeping nude in a shared bed. In August 2016, West embarked on the Saint Pablo Tour in support of The Life of Pablo. The performances featured a mobile stage suspended from the ceiling. West postponed several dates in October following the Paris robbery of his wife Kim Kardashian.
Kimberly “Kim” Kardashian West (born Kimberly Noel Kardashian, October 21, 1980) is an American reality television personality, socialite, businesswoman and model. Kardashian first gained media attention as a friend and stylist of Paris Hilton, but received wider notice after a 2003 sex tape with her former boyfriend Ray J was leaked in 2007. Later that year, she and her family began to appear in the E! Network’s reality television series Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Its success soon led to the creation of spin-offs including Kourtney and Kim Take New York and Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami in addition to various business ventures. Kardashian’s personal life soon became subject to widespread media attention.
Kardashian attended the 2016 Vogue 100 gala in London, England in May 2016.
