Akon spun off two number one pop hits and one number two from Konvicted, so he couldn't be blamed for working the same tricks on his third album, yet Freedom is a major change of pace -- the kind of drastic switch-up that normally happens after reaching a creative and commercial dead-end.
Hip-hop and R&B are all but scrapped entirely.
The set instead is rooted in the gleaming synthesizers and spring-loaded dance beats of Euro-pop.
(That slamming jail-cell door trademark, deployed as much as ever, doesn't quite have the same alarming effect.) Akon sounds more comfortable than expected, and he reduces the lechery in favor of longing ("I wanna make up right now") and awe ("When I see you, I run out of words to say").
At times, the tensionless backdrops don't inspire Akon to do much with his pen; the chorus of "Beautiful" is basically "You're so beautiful, so damn beautiful," while falling for a stripper in "Against the Grain" is conveyed with "The way she drop down won't allow me to close my drawers." Even so, there's much more charm here than expected.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | BeautifulC. Colon, J. Harrow, Aliaume Thiam, Giorgio Tuinfort, J. Wesley | Akon | Play | 05:13 | 11 MB | 38 MB |
| 2 | Keep You Much LongerMark Goodchild, Aliaume Thiam, Giorgio Tuinfort | Akon | Play | 04:20 | 9 MB | 33 MB |
| 3 | TroublemakerClaude Kelly, Aliaume Thiam, Giorgio Tuinfort, Timothy Walls | Akon | Play | 03:57 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 4 | I'm So PaidDavid Bal4, Francesco Romano, T-Pain, Aliaume Thiam | Akon | Play | 04:23 | 10 MB | 33 MB |
| 5 | Holla HollaDavid Bal4, Ray Lavender, RedOne, Francesco Romano, T-Pain, Aliaume Thiam | Akon | Play | 03:00 | 6 MB | 19 MB |
| 6 | Against the GrainHakim Abdulsamad, Ray Lavender, RedOne, Aliaume Thiam | Akon | Play | 04:04 | 9 MB | 29 MB |
| 7 | Sunny DayAliaume Thiam | Akon | Play | 05:12 | 11 MB | 34 MB |
| 30 mins | 69 MB | |||||
| 30 mins | 217 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kory Aaron | Assistant |
| 2 | Hakim Abdulsamad | Composer |
| 3 | Akon | Audio Production, Keyboards, Primary Artist, Programming |
| 4 | David Bal4 | Composer, Keyboards |
| 5 | Dave Benck | Assistant |
| 6 | Leslie Brathwaite | Mixing |
| 7 | C. Colon | Composer |
| 8 | Rutger Croese | Audio Engineer |
| 9 | Shanti Das | Marketing |
| 10 | Detail | Audio Production, Vocals (Background) |
| 11 | N. Fisher | Composer |
| 12 | Declan Gaffney | Assistant |
| 13 | Mark Goodchild | Composer, Mixing |
| 14 | Mark "Exit" Goodchild | Engineer, Mixing |
| 15 | Hakim | Audio Production |
| 16 | J. Harrow | Composer |
| 17 | Nate Hills | Assistant |
| 18 | Kevin Hissink | Guitar |
| 19 | Jaylien 2010 | Audio Production |
| 20 | Wyclef Jean | Featured Artist |
| 21 | Jeezy | Featured Artist |
| 22 | Kardinal Offishall | Featured Artist |
| 23 | Claude Kelly | Arranger, Composer, Vocal Arrangement, Vocals (Background) |
| 24 | Joe Koubek | Assistant |
| 25 | Jason "Chyld" Kpana | A&R, Marketing |
| 26 | Chris Kraus | Assistant |
| 27 | Ray Lavender | Composer, Featured Artist |
| 28 | Lil Wayne | Featured Artist |
| 29 | Anthony Mandler | Photography |
| 30 | Kevin Mills | Assistant |
| 31 | Colby O'Donis | Featured Artist |
| 32 | Glenn Pittman | Assistant |
| 33 | Trent Privat | Assistant |
| 34 | RedOne | Audio Production, Composer |
| 35 | Francesco Romano | Composer, Guitar |
| 36 | Eddy Schreyer | Mastering |
| 37 | Nico Solis | Engineer |
| 38 | Joe Spix | Art Direction, Design |
| 39 | Tashia Stafford | A&R |
| 40 | Devyne Stephens | Creative Director |
| 41 | Sweet Rush | Featured Artist |
| 42 | T-Pain | Audio Production, Composer, Featured Artist, Programming |
| 43 | Aliaume Thiam | A&R, Composer, Executive Producer, Keyboards, Producer, Programming |
| 44 | Dave & Ian Thomas | Stylist |
| 45 | Giorgio Tuinfort | Audio Production, Composer, Keyboards, Producer, Programming |
| 46 | Javier Valverde | Engineer |
| 47 | Timothy Walls | Audio Production, Composer |
| 48 | J. Wesley | Composer |
Colby O'donis
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |