Akon gets his own city, Taylor Swift and Slipknot release films
Akon City, Senegal
Aliaune Thiam, Senegalese singer better known as Akon is now an owner of a city in his home country called Akon City.
As Consequence of Sound writes, Akon City is part of the singer's deal with African country’s state-owned tourism company. While the city is planned to be a fully sustainable tourist village, it is said that the official currency will be Akoin, Akon’s own cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency should be a smart move because of the corruption and steep inflations in Africa.
However, this is not Akon's first philanthropic project, there are also Akon Lighting Africa Initiative and Akon America Lighting Initiative. While the first one is oriented towards bringing off-the-grid energy to people in Africa who are without electricity, the latter is a project focused on building renewable energy sources in America and investing the money in Africa.
Regarding his philanthropic work Akon said, “If you can have a billion dollars sitting in the bank, while you have all these people suffering and struggling, it’s crazy to me. It’s like a waste of a billion dollars.”
Akon shared the finalization of the contract on Instagram, with a caption saying: „Just finalized the agreement for AKON CITY in Senegal. Looking forward to hosting you there in the future”
Miss Americana gets a release date
Swift’s documentary hits the streaming service towards the end of the month.
Talor Swift, contemporary country-pop icon, has shared the release date for her documentary Miss Americana. It is set to appear on Netflix on January 31st.
The release date was not certain until just recently, writes Pitchfork. Due to Swift's disputes with Scooter Braun, who owns the copyrights to her first six albums, released on Big Machine, it was not even sure whether there will be a release date. Swift claimed that Braun declined to license her music, and also that he would allow her to use it if she stopped talking about him and if she agreed not to re-record the material, which she is allowed to do starting 2020.
However, not that these disputes are over, the film will make its first appearance at Sundance Film Festival on January 23rd. The film was directed by Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Lana Wilson and it is supposed to capture Swift as an artist in her transformative period, learning how to embrace her role as an artist and as a woman.
Slipknot’s Clown directs a weird 20-minute film
After a bit of teasing, writes Loudwire, Slipknot has released a 20-minute film titled “Pollution”, directed by their percussionist Shawn Crahan.
The film consists of 9 equally creepy parts, one of which is a music video for “Nova Forte”, from their 2019 album “We Are Not Your Kind”, regarded as one of the best metal albums of that year.
Crahan said in a statement, “I set out to make a short film that makes you question your own existence, here in this reality. When you lay down in your bed, next to the one you love, do you ever ask yourself - is it possible that this person could slit my throat while I’m sleeping? Enjoy. Pollution is everywhere."
There is no doubt that Crahan successfully realized his idea, the film leaves you full of questions. Lynchian influences are clear, but Shawn’s film aspires more to disturb than to be subjected to any analyses. It starts with a part titled The End, then goes on to give an uncanny representation of the process of biological reproduction, and in the end birth, hence the name of the last part – The Beginning.
The film is available on Youtube.
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