Stunning footage of Akon's reception upon arrival in Sierra Leone leaked yesterday via a twitter video. Akon, in the city's capital Freetown to play their April 27 independence day last week, found himself suddenly surrounded on all side by rabid fans. The amateur videography accurately observed that the mob didn't "give a f-ck" about their own safety, as they literally piled onto the SUV in which Akon and his body guards were traveling.

As the video winds down, you hear sirens in the distance, seemingly heading towards the scene to break up the unrelenting crowd. You can watch the video after the jump.

Sarkodie became the first in the music award's history to take home an award for "Artiste of the Year" with a debut album. The Akon prodigy also went home four other awards, including "Discovery of the Year," Hip Hop/Hiplife Artist of the Year, and Best Rapper of the Year.

Other big winners included Bradez's win for Most Popular Song of the Year for 'Simple,' Wande Coal for African Artist of the Year, Becca for Album of the Year ('Daa Ke Daa') as well as Best Female Vocal Performance.

The award ceremony included performances by Wande Coal (Nigeria), Jozi (South Africa), Donaeo (UK), Sarkodie, Obrafour, 4×4, Tinny, VIP, Ohemea Mercy, Ruff and Smooth, Nana Boro, Efyah, Amakye Dede, Becca and Wutah.

Akon's been on the Lady Gaga train from the get-go, having signed her to his Kon Live label and co-written her first hit, 'Just Dance.' The Yonkers girl has been recording her new album on the road during her 'Monster Ball' tour, and Akon recently told Vibe magazine, "I'm flying out to Europe to work on some new records with her."

While always cheering the pop star from the sidelines, Akon has been more public and strident in her defense, claiming last week that Lady Gaga makes Christina Aguilera "insecure" and stating that Gaga's next round of tracks are "crazy." All this in the ongoing Gaga backlash that's included Grace Jones suggesting the singer stole her style and MIA's tirade against the singer as a "good mimic" who's "not progressive."

No word yet on the specific Akon collaborations. Lady Gaga's new single 'Alejandro' dropped this week as a video shoot for it began.

Nigerian R&B duo P-Square were named Africa's best artist at the pan-African Kora music awards hosted recently in Burkina Faso's capital Ouagadougou, a prize that includes $1 million U.S. And, despite being offered US $150k and a private jet to the award ceremony, Akon did not attend the awards, to the dismay of music fans tuning in from all over Africa.

The award show, founded in 1996, is Africa's largest, broadcast across the continent to over 100 television channels and 22 countries. 2010 marked the first time the show was hosted outside of South Africa. In the running alongside the twin brother duo P-Square for best African music were Senegalese's Black Diamond, Angola's Paul G and Burkina Faso's Amety Meria.

Other winners included lifetime achievement awards for Cape Verde's Cesaria Evora and Gabon's Pierre Akendengue, as well as Ghana's Becca for best African prospect, Senegal's Chronicle 2h for best reggae artist, and Alicia Keys for "best African-American artist of the diaspora.

In the wake of outrage from protesting Buddhist monks in Sri Lanka that ultimately resulted in Akon's cancellation of a concert scheduled on the south Asian island's capital of Colombo, the tiny island nation of Maldives has secured a performance in its place.

As previously documented, the uproar over Akon's scheduled performance goes back to the video for 'Sexy Bitch,' which combined images of bikini-clad women with a momentarily visible Buddha statue in the background. The concert, which was sold out at $220 US a pop, was blocked by a secular but highly sensitive majority-Buddhist nation.

Maldives' President Mohamed Nasheed expressed good will through his press secretary about the April 23-scheduled performance. "We are very happy he is planning to come and perform," Mohamed Zuhair said Tuesday over telephone to the Associated Press.

The formation of MTV Tr3s has not only been significant in television, but in the music industry as well. While the official MTV channel has dropped the 'music television' tag from its logo, MTV Tr3s has kept music as one of its priority. The bilingual channel is directed towards a young audience, the key to its success is its ability to approach the highest growing population in the United States, through culture, celebrating both Latino ethnicity and the American dream.

If there's something else besides music that Latinos are passionate about, it's soccer. MTV Tr3s has announced Rock N' Gol, a two hour special celebrating the 2010 South Africa World Cup. The show will feature distinguished soccer players as well as personalities from the entertainment world. Among those participating include Belinda, Pitbull, Jenny Rivera and David Bisbal, as well as Hollywood actors Michelle Rodriguez and Jesse Garcia. Also in attendance, will be Ghana R&B sensation Akon, who has become one of music's representatives at the soccer tournament, which will take place in South Africa between June and July.

The event will take the form of a tournament, with four teams competing for victory. MTV Tr3s will also recognize the Urban Soccer Collaborative foundation for its non-profit efforts to guide youth towards responsibility and success. The event will be taped on March 31 at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles and will be broadcast on June 3.

See the full Rock N' Gol lineup of the tournament after the jump.

While American R&B singer Akon has been in the Indian mindset recently for his upcoming role in Shah Rukh Khan's movie, 'Ra.1,' he was denied a visa to Sri Lanka because the government felt he disrespected Buddhism in one of his videos. Sri Lankan Minister of Media Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena announced that the governmental action denied Akon from performing in the country on April 24.

Akon has reportedly apologized for his video, which features women in bikinis dancing around a pool with a visible Buddhist statue. While the government is pleased with the decision, three protesters were injured during a scuffle with the sponsoring agency, the Maharaja Organization. Several were arrested. Jathika Sangha Sammelanaya, an organization of Buddhist monks, have claimed responsibility for the protests.

Bollywood composer Aadesh Srivastava broke through with his work on the film 'Aao Pyaar Kare,' and has continued creating hits, with 'Shastra,' 'Angaarey,' and 'Kunwara.' He recently meet up with African R&B star Akon, who was in Mumbai collaborating on the soundtrack for 'Ra.1' with Shah Rukh Khan. Also involved with the project is vocalist Tanya Kumar, wife of film and music company T Series executive Kishen Kumar.

"What can I say about Akon, other than the fact that he is a creative soul," said Tanya. "I have been his huge fan, and now I have joined hands with Aadesh and him to work on more music and events. He is such a big star, yet, so down-to-earth, and open to creative ideas."

Srivastava announced that 25% of the profits of his collaboration with Akon will go to charity, as well as the Mumbai police, and that they are "planning more tracks in the future."

Senegalese-American R&B singer Aliaune Badara Akon Thiam, better known as Akon, will be arriving in Mumbai this week to sing on the soundtrack for the upcoming Anubhav Sinha film, 'Ra.1.' While there have been rumors floating around that the vocalist will act in the movie, those were denied by Sinha, who stated, "Akon is only singing for our film. He is not acting in 'Ra.1'."

The film is being composed by the team of Vishal Dadlani and Skekhar Ravjiani, who have previously served as musical directors for 'Jhankaar Beats,' 'Om Shanti Om,' 'Tashan' and 'Bachna Ae Haseeno.' Akon is also expected to return to India in April for live engagements alongside singer and composer Aadesh Shrivastav.

The film 'Ra.1' features Shah Rukh Khan, who will lip-sync Akon's lyrics in the movie. Khan roped in Hollywood writer David Benullo to write the screenplay for this futuristic sci-fi thriller, in which he plays a superhero.

One India reported that Akon Senegalese-American R&B singer Akon will reportedly contribute to Shah Rukh Khan's forthcoming film, 'Ra.1.' It is also possible that Akon will be featured in the movie. The sci-fi hi-tech 'Ra.1' features Khan as a video game hero doing battle with a self-created monster.

Akon is credited with 300+ guest appearances, as well as 40 Billboard Hot 100 songs over his fourteen-year career. He was the first solo artist to hold the #1 and #2 spot on that chart simultaneously, and has been nominated for six Grammy Awards.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Senegalese rapper Akon spoke candidly about Lady Gaga's success, and the bank roll it's meant for him and his Interscope imprint, KonLive.

"She's pretty much retired me," Akon said. "She was definitely a blessing. She came at the right moment. I'm glad I believed in her, boy. That goes to show you, if you believe in something strong enough, it will pay off."

In the same interview, Akon hinted that Dr. Dre's next album will include dance music-based beats. "You got some straight, hardcore hip hop guys actually moving into the dance realm." He added, "That's shocking, when you got someone like Dr. Dre about to do a dance record. That's my point. That's crazy. But, in a way, it's so exciting for me because that just shows our industry is so open-minded to everything. And believe it or not, with that open-mindedness, we can create magic."

The video interview can be seen after the jump.

Pepsi has sponsored an unlikely group of A-list collaborators for 'Oh Africa,' a track that will act both as Pepsi's official advertising theme during the 2010 World, and will raise money for disadvantaged African youth.

While the track was penned by the U.S. Virgin Islands based reggae duo Rock City and includes a guest spot by American R&B singer Keri Hilson (with winning lines like, "we'll do what it takes to get to the top of the highest mountain"), the project revolves around Senagelese-American R&B singer Akon, whose Konfident Foundation will be the recipient of the charity portion of proceeds.

Other Africans appear on 'Oh Africa,' as well. The Grammy-winning Soweto Gospel Choir form the song's vocal backbone, while Nigerian singer Folakemi 'Myst' Kaleyaiye spots a vocal solo. You can see the video for the song after the jump.