Hip-Hop's Benjamin Button
Age ain't
nothing but a number, but at least most of us know what number we've reached. Not Akon. This week he told the
Associated Press he doesn't have any idea how old he is. "I don't want to know I'm
getting older," the hip-hop hitmaker said. "Then I'll
start to think about getting checkups and insurance. I don't
want that."
(Dude, not to sound like your mom or anything, but everyone should get checkups! And insurance is just common sense. What if they found something during one of those checkups?)
Akon's birth certificate says he's 31, but he says he's 21, and that he'll be celebrating his 21st birthday for the next 10 years.
Weird. But the subject of age causes some musicians to
get a little foggy--Nelly, James Blunt, J.Lo, and Nicole from the Pussycat
Dolls have all shaved a year (or more) off their ages, like if they're too much older than their fans, no one will buy their records. (In a related story,
Taylor Swift--who's either 13 or three
years younger than Akon, depending on what numbers you use--is at the top of
the Billboard album chart for the 9 millionth week in a row.)
One final note to Akon: along with checkups and health insurance, you really ought to be thinking about retirement savings. We're not saying you're old, but the earlier you start, the more time your retirement money has to grow--and what better time than right now, when you're celebrating being 21?
