Senegalese Musician Akon says in spite Ferguson African Americans are better off than their brothers in Africa

But Akon added, “I don’t want to speak too much for them, because I think I might have some knowledge they might not quite have, because I’m in the position where I have experienced Africa and I’ve experienced the United States. I always felt like Africa was for Africans. So when I see African-Americans in America dealing with all these issues, my first question is: ‘Why don’t they just go back home… Back to Africa.’”

Born in America but partly raised in Senegal, Akon tells Folly, “In Africa, the way I grew up, let’s just pick a \[housing] project in New York, for instance: that’s a five-star hotel compared to the environment I came up in… They actually get money from the government, there actually are programs that help the impoverished and the poor, and you get food stamps. I mean, they have it good, compared to Africa, you follow… If these groups were to be taken from the environment where they are now to the same ‘equal’ environment in Africa, they would be crying to come back to America.”

He says African-Americans should put their challenges in perspective by visiting Africa as tourists. “How many African-Americans do you know actually consider Africa as a vacation spot?… Even, just for knowledge, just to know where they came from, just to get an idea of what that is. There is so much fear instilled in them that they wouldn’t even want to go there to visit. You mention Africa, they start shaking.”

Akon, who has sold over 40m albums and had 45 Billboard Hot 100 songs, also speaks about his charity work in Africa; his views on Band Aid 30’s recent Ebola fundraising single; whether he’s a misogynist; his investments in Africa; and his upcoming five-part album, Stadium, which he says will be out in 2015.

Akon is the Senegalese-American hip-hop singer, songwriter and producer who created his image based on his criminal history.