Akon makes his return to the music scene with the new mixtape TT Freak. In a collaboration with TikTok, the singer-producer dropped the seven-track project on Friday (December 2).
The Senegalese-American musician teamed up with several artists for the mixtape, including Atlanta rapper AMIRROR and Ghana-born producer Nektunez.
The title track, which Akon debuted on YouTube earlier today, features French singer John Mamann and contains an undeniably infectious fast-paced beat.
Dawty Music helped to produce the single along with Mamann and NEO. The San Diego-based production team is known for previously collaborating with notable artists like French Montana, Wale, and Ne-Yo.
The “Locked Up” singer joined forces with TikTok following his older music growing in popularity on the platform.
Speaking with BET last month, he shared, “I realized just how relevant I was on TikTok after so many years and I also realized that there's a whole another generation that didn't experience a lot of my records and it was kind of reopening up that base for me, but more of a younger base.”
“I was like, man, if TikTok is really rocking with my album, we need to go and just put an album specifically for TikTok and just go hard with it,” he continued. “Let's take advantage in a moment.”
TT Freak marks Akon’s first project since the release of Ain’t No Peace in 2020. The “Soul Survivor” singer has often taken breaks from the music scene while he pursued entrepreneurship and philanthropy.
In 2009, the 49-year-old launched Akon Lighting Africa, which is unquestionably his biggest venture outside of music. He's since worked to provide solar energy to different communities across the continent.
Per the project’s website, they’ve been able to use “off-grid lighting and energy products” to significantly help over 30 million people gain access to electricity.
Stream TT Freak below via Spotify or Apple Music. Let us know your thoughts on the EP in the comments below.
TT Freak Tracklist:
- TT Freak
- Enjoy That
- Prolly F**k
- Sleep
- More Than That
- Slow Motion
- One And Only
[Via]