Familiar with the term keeping it real? That's what Akon should have done from the beginning. It looks like a popular website for diggin' up the dirt on celebs has ousted Akon for the fraud he is. TheSmokingGun.com did a little research on the claims that Akon made about spending 4 ½ years in prison and running "a notorious car theft operation," and found them to be false. According to the site "Police, court, and corrections records reveal that the entertainer has created a fictionalized backstory that serves as the narrative anchor for his recorded tales of isolation, violence, woe, and regret.

The real deal is that he was convicted of one felony (gun possession) which he made a guilty plea and was sentenced to three years probation.  He also was arrested for stealing a BMW but it was nothing like the car theft operation he claimed to be involved in. In this case, charges were dropped.

Honestly this is just funny to me. It just goes to show that a lot of times in music people are out to make money, not keep it real. At the end of the day does it really matter though? I think not.  He's still going to sell records and people are still going to enjoy his music. What is lame is the fact that he had to use a fabricated criminal past as a means to gain "street credibility," and that people actually embraced this behavior and bought into it.  When you have true talent you don't need a gimmick. I guess he missed the memo on that.



Aaron Fields writes for KSTW-TV in Seattle. All opinions expressed in this column are his.