It would take the most naive of hip hop listeners to believe every word that comes out of a rapper’s mouth. Exaggeration is one of the elements of their craft. But it’s always amusing to see an rapper’s past directly contradict some part of a his lyrical persona. Take Dr. Dre, for instance. You might not have known that before he adopted an austere wardrobe and a permanent scowl for N.W.A., he was a member of the glittery World Class Wrecking Cru. After the jump, check out a few rappers who know what happens when an icky thing called “reality” encroaches upon their music personas.
It’s absolutely no surprise to any of us that Akon is full of shit, right? It’s just sort of crazy that the people at The Smoking Gun, which is really on a roll these days, are the first ones to officially call him on it. With a little digging, they’ve figured out that Akon’s famed backstory — that he was in jail for 4 1/2 years for being “ringleader of a notorious car theft operation” and wrote songs, like his famous “Locked Up” while he was in jail — was false.
