SOHH Exclusive: Akon - The Next Mogul In The Making?

  In this SOHH exclusive we talk to Akon about his upcoming album, Acquitted, his newly launched Konvict Clothing line and how he is building his record label, Konvict Muzik to rival the majors. Since founding Konvict Muzik in 2004, Akon has been carefully building his roster. "I'm just trying to create a real label rather than just a production deal," 'Kon told SOHH. "I want to be in competition with all of the majors at the end of the day." In addition to established artists like T-Pain and Kardinal Offishal, Akon is working with plenty of new artists across all genres of music. "We got Roc City, two guys out of the Virgin Islands," he said. "We got Ray Lavender and Red Café on the urban side. On the pop side we got Lady Gaga who is doing huge things." Akon is also experiencing success in the apparel arena with Konvict Clothing, a venture that he says he is thoroughly involved in. "I've got just the amount of input into the music then I do with my clothing line," he boasted. "I'm pretty much hands on with all that stuff."He recently launched an Atlanta-based office and factory for the brand and is beginning to see demand increase."The buzz for it is just incredible," said Akon. "It's stupid. No one can find it no where and we purposely did it that way so that we can create the hype and the demand for it. By the time the album release[s] we'll have it launched off in all the major department stores." Akon is eyeing a fall release for his new album, Acquitted, which is the follow-up to his platinum selling sophomore album, Konvicted. "That's coming very, very soon," he said. "I'm actually on and off working on it but I kinda wanted to get all of acts developed and launched before I actually completed my album. Right now we're due to release around September so the Acquitted album is definitely on the way." [For more on your favorite R&B artists peep SOHH Soulful]