Akon

In the last two years, Akon's weathered both controversy and a gazillion hits. So perhaps he was wary of taking risks on his third album ("I'm that type of guy that likes kissing/ I'm that type that will pop the clip in," he says on "Troublemaker," sounding defensive in the face of challenges to his cred). Or maybe he's just resting on his laurels (and that Auto-Tuner!). Whatever the reason, Freedom feels kind of phoned in. The hits are here, as are plenty of dancefloor-ready beats, but (with the exception of the poignant "Against the Grain") none of it recaptures Konvicted's magic.

Beneath the digital production and R2D2 vocals, Akon is secretly an old-fashioned
romantic, and his third album is his most heart-on-sleeve. There's a song about high rolling
("I'm So Paid," featuring Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy) and a skeezy ode to PDA, "We Don't
Care." But most of Freedom is pure melodrama about love and love lost, delivered in a
hooting style over synth-swamped beats that are closer to early Peter Gabriel th... More >