DJ phones famous friend to rescue deal (TheTimes - South Africa) Metro FM DJ Tbo Touch roped in the help of his mate, the award-winning Senegalese soul singer, Akon, to sort out the mess caused by a phoney US agent.

Tbo Touch, 26, whose real name is Thabo Molefe, was trying to bring R&B sensation Joe Thomas to South Africa to collaborate with local artists.

He claimed he was conned by a US “agent” who took more than R400000 from him to facilitate the trip . But, after paying the money, Tbo Touch heard nothing from the agent again.

Tbo Touch then contacted Akon — known for hits such as Smack That and Don’t Matter — who contacted Thomas’s managers and arranged the upcoming trip. Tbo Touch said he has since instructed a US attorney to recover the money.

An upside to the drama surrounding Thomas’s trip down south is that Akon will be coming to South Africa too, said Tbo Touch.

The paperwork has been signed and Akon will travel here with Thomas in May.

Akon is set to perform, while Thomas will do a studio recording with an artist yet to be named.

Tbo Touch and Akon are partners in a South African business venture called Konvict Muzik SA, which facilitates collaborations between international and local musicians.

Last year, Akon walked off with the American Music Award for favourite soul/R&B male artist. He also received three World Music Awards, including one for the world’s bestselling R&B artist.

The son of Senegalese percussionist Mor Thiam, Akon has collaborated with, among others, Wyclef Jean on his recently released album, Memoirs of an Immigrant.

Akon says his new album is called Acquitted and he is aiming to have it out the first week of May. The R&B singer/producer is hoping that Michael Jackson can cameo on the lead single, and MTV News reports that while MJ has recorded his part, legal barriers are holding up his official involvement with the song. Akon even says he is already thinking about his next album. “My fourth album is called Double Jeopardy,” he told MTV. “I’m already on it. It’s all set up. If they want all the records now, it would take me 30 days to put it together.”

COPENHAGEN (Reuters Life!) - A free concert with U.S. rap artist Akon in a Danish shopping mall ended in a violent melee on Wednesday after fans who were evacuated in mid-performance by a fire alarm turned on police.

Some 2,000-3,000 people gathered at the Fields shopping mall outside of Copenhagen to see the 34-year-old American Music Awards winner, many lining up hours before the concert. Latecomers were turned away at the door.

“It was a free concert and we knew that many people would come, but there were a lot of people there, more than we had expected,” Fields director Jens Geppel told Reuters.

Geppel said 1,000 people were let into the concert area of the mall while the others were forced to watch from afar as Akon started his performance. The fire alarm - which later turned out to be false — sounded during the third song and police began evacuating protesting fans.

After the evacuation, police fought several dozen disappointed fans who pelted them with bottles and rocks.

Police said they arrested eight people during the turmoil, while emergency services had to treat a number of others injured in the commotion. No serious injuries were reported.

“It’s a pity that not everyone got to see the concert,” Geppel said, adding that the mall would analyze what had gone wrong.

The 20 times platinum reggae icon contemplates leaving his girl for all the wrong reasons while Akon adds his silky smooth chorus on this track off Shaggy’s latest album Intoxication (VP/Big Yard). The legendary Hype Williams, also known for his works with Kanye West, Beyonce, Jay-Z and Missy Elliot, perfectly complements “What’s Love” with his colorful and bold direction. The video premiere will also be coupled with a special behind-the-scenes making of this high concept, high fashion video.

Shaggy recently performed this burgeoning hit off his critically acclaimed release on NBC’s The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and now the reggae/dancehall single is currently receiving the most U.S. radio airplay for its genre.

Intoxication “merges catchy choruses with deep, fluid growls landing like smart bombs over irresistible beats” (Village Voice), and debuted at 1 on the Billboard Reggae charts. People magazine raves club smash “Church Heathen” “ingeniously intermixes dancehall riddims and Gregorian chant.”