Akon says his break from music gave other artists the spotlight.
The ‘Lonely’ hitmaker went on a three-year hiatus before returning in February 2013 with the single ‘Dirty Work’ with Wiz Khalifa, and has admitted he took some time out to give other talented music stars their moment.
Speaking to the Daily Star newspaper’s Wired column, he said: "I gave some room for a lot of people to come in."
Akon has transformed from a rapper to a Latin and Afrobeat singer, and recently released new Afrobeat record ‘AKONDA’, which is one of several albums he is putting out in 2019.
The first was the Latin LP ‘El Negreeto’, which was released earlier this month, and he then has a hip-hop and R&B album called ‘Konnect’ on the way, plus collaborative record ‘The Konnection’, set for release in December 2019, which will include guest artists such as Nicki Minaj, Pitbull and Ty Dolla $ign.
He added: "I’m so proud of the transition I made for myself than anything."
Teasing his records, he said recently: "This year I’m dropping three albums back-to-back.
"I always wanted to do this.
"Everyone says it’s impossible.
"Well I’m putting out different albums of different genres: I’m putting out a Latin album, a hip-hop album and an Afrobeat album."
Akon also admitted he finds the music industry much "easier" than it was 15 years ago, because streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music make it so simple to get music out into the world.
He said: "I’m enjoying it a lot more now than I did back then. Back then it was a little different because we worked harder.
Today is actually easier, because of the platforms and how the digital age kinda caught up to music and technology."
Akon took a break to give other music stars the spotlight
