Akon

Aliaume Damala Badara Akon Thiam (born April 16, 1973) (pronounced /ˈeɪkɒn/), 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.

He has since founded two successful record labels, Konvict Muzik and Kon Live Distribution. His second album, Konvicted received three nominations for the Grammy Awards in two categories, Best Contemporary R&B Album for Konvicted album and Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for "Smack That" and "I Wanna Love You".

He is the first solo artist to hold both the number one and two spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice. Akon has had four songs certified as 3x platinum, three songs certified as 2x platinum, more than ten songs certified as 1x platinum and more than ten songs certified as gold in digital sales. Akon has sung songs in other languages including Tamil, Hindi, and Spanish. He was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the #1 selling artist for master ringtones in the world.

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings. There are also cases where songs are used in tie in marketing campaigns that allow them to become more than just a song. Tie ins and merchandising could be used in toys are marketing campaigns for food and other products. Although the origins of music videos date back to musical short films that first appeared in the 1920s, they came into prominence in the 1980s when MTV based their format around the medium. Prior to the 1980s, these works were described by various terms including "illustrated song", "filmed insert", "promotional (promo) film", "promotional clip", "promotional video", "song video", "song clip" or "film clip". Since the creation and increased popularity of YouTube, mainstream artists now promote new music videos by releasing trailers of short promos on the site for their upcoming song and music video. Consequentially, YouTube has been converted into a social media platform for celebrities and artists to market themselves to their fans and audiences.

SRC Records

SRC Records (Street Records Corporation) was an American record label created by former Loud Records CEO Steve Rifkind. It was a subsidiary of Universal Music Group and was distributed through Republic Records.

Company history

SRC Records was founded by Steve Rifkind in 2002. The same year that he was ousted from his CEO position from Loud Records, he would form the label and sign an exclusive distribution deal with Universal Records. The label was much like Loud Records, a hip hop and R&B label. The first move with the label was signing David Banner, a rapper from Jackson, Mississippi. With Banner as their flagship artist, SRC soared to great heights behind his 2003 debut. The label was instantly hailed as the second-coming of Interscope Records, due to the obvious similarities. The hit single "Like A Pimp," would make the label a household name within the hip hop community. During the year of 2003, the label would hit paydirt after hearing tapes from Senegalese singer, Akon, who they would immediately sign to their label. In 2004, Akon would release his multi-platinum debut album, Trouble. In early 2004, they signed a deal to distribute material from the rap supergroup, Terror Squad. SRC would go on to release all albums from Remy Ma and the group Terror Squad, itself. In the summer of 2004, SRC would become home to the hit single, "Lean Back," by Fat Joe and Remy Ma. After these releases, SRC had established itself among the other heavyweight record labels in hip hop music. In 2005, the label granted Akon his own label Konvict Muzik. The deal brought more artists on to the label and a hit album from Akon.

Universal Records (defunct record label)

Universal Records was a record label owned by Universal Music Group and operated as part of the Universal Motown Republic Group. The label has been dormant since 2005, due to Universal Motown and Universal Republic Records being formed and taking all of the artists from the label.

History

Founded in 1995 as Rising Tide Records, the label would ultimately begin to thrive the following year when its name was changed to Universal Records to complement the branding overhaul of the Universal Studios structure since MCA Inc. was purchased from Matsushita Electric by The Seagram Company Ltd.. The label, which is actually the second incarnation (the first one was a short-lived underground imprint of MCA Records that existed from 1988 to 1989) was created by former Universal Music Group chairman Doug Morris (who now heads Sony Music Entertainment) and Daniel Glass, who became its president.

Universal Records had success in breaking new artists, including the multi-platinum debut of Erykah Badu, Billie Myers, Goldfinger, Akon and the Lost Boyz. Glass formed relationships with independent record labels as Kedar Entertainment and Mojo Records.

Na Na

Na Na may refer to:

Music

Songs

See also