Akon has confirmed that he’s planning on running for US President, as well as creating his own version of Wakanda – the mythical country featured in Marvel‘s Black Panther.
The ‘Locked Up’ rapper, who has previously shown his interest in politics, made the surprise admissions during the latest edition of NME’s Show & Tell video series.
When shown a picture of the White House, the rapper revealed that he came extremely close to becoming an unlikely rival to Donald Trump in 2020.
“Now that’s something I’m definitely going to attempt to do before I retire,” he said of a potential Presidential run.
“I got this close [squeezes fingers together] to running for President in 2020, but then I thought about it and said ‘Well, if I run now I would never be able to do music again freely. Before I say goodbye to music, I’ve just got to come back into the game and have as much fun as I possibly can and get it out.
He added: “Once you get into office there’s no coming back, so I said ‘let’s put the brakes on and get focused on the music.’ But I guarantee you, once I’m done with this a future in politics is definitely possible.”
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As well as discussing his hopes that his cryptocurrency Akoin will become “the official currency for all of Africa”, the rapper also revealed that he’s planning on creating his own Wakanda.
In the hit 2017 Marvel movie, the fictional kingdom is the most technologically advanced nation on Earth – but it hides behind a veil of apparent poverty.
Akon, who recently recorded a song inspired by the film, said: “Wakanda is something that I one day plan to build in Africa! To watch that movie and see the future of what Africa could look like and the potential of what Africa could become, it’s something that is very and totally reachable.
“There’s nothing in that film, futuristic, that Africa doesn’t carry the resources to create. I know for sure that’s more than doable. My life goal is to create that city in Africa before I pass.