The son of Sengalese percussionist and jazz musician Mor Thiam, Aliaune Akon - aka Akon - spent the now statutory period for aspiring rappers getting into trouble with the law as a youth in his adopted home of New Jersey, before turning to music as an outlet for his creative frustrations.

Trouble has all the elements of a disaffected youth turned rap hero: songs from and of the street, as on Gansta - with its gunshot sound effects and less than subtle street talk; Trouble Nobody - where a kindly judge lets the lad off with a stern ticking off - and the new single, Locked Up. But despite this rap-by-rote approach on further listening there is more to Akon than just another street kid turned bling merchant. Easy Road may sound like another stubborn call to reject authority but it's set against some subtle African sounds, while Bananza (Belly Dancer), a chat-up song if there ever was one, is positively tribal with its manically sped up sample of Fun Boy Three's Lunatics Have Taken Over The Asylum with yet more African rhythms and a hint of ragga thrown in for good measure.

Akon has had enormous radio success in the States with Locked Up and there seems little chance of this momentum being halted in the UK, with the likes of Kiss, Radio 1 and Choice throwing their weight behind the track.