I was happier when I was poor – Akon

Legendary Senegalese-American singer and businessman, Akon, has said he was much happier when he was poor, noting that the more money some makes, the more problems they accumulate.

The 48 years old Singer  said this on Monday, October 4, while defending a statement he made in the wake of actor Michael K. Williams’ death in September 2021. The artist had used Williams’ death as proof that the more money some makes, the more problems they accumulate.

Speaking in an interview with TMZ, he said, “Nobody can sit there and tell me, that I didn’t go through poverty. I was the young African kid, barefoot and playing soccer in the village with no electricity, no running water, I knew what that looked like – believe me, I know what poverty looks like.

But I also know what success looks like, and from my personal experience, I’m having more problems successfully dealing with all that comes with success than I had when I was poor. I was actually happier when I was poor.”

“You know, this business creates this, like, environment where everyone’s wearing a mask, no one tells you what’s really going on in your life, so real friends can’t even really advise you ’cause we don’t really know what’s happening,”  he added.

“’Cause we put on this facade of success but yet behind the face there’s so much happening. The famous and the rich go through more issues than the poor. You know when they say ‘more money, more problems,’ that’s a real thing.”

Isn’t it strange that while the rich claims the poor are happier, a young Nigerian man is boasting that he can use his parents for money rituals? Must agree with the Nigerian saying which goes pidgin: “this life no balance“.

Maybe more money indeed means more problems, but happiness can be found in the ability to solve other people’s problems with your money. This is the case with a Nigerian man who provided shelter for two young kids he found in the streets.