2y ago

Rapper Akon's promise to build a Black Panther inspired city falters

www.theguardian.com

Akon City: Tumbleweed rolls through site of rapper’s Wakanda-inspired dream

11 comments

crypto grift fails to deliver and only leaves suckers disappointed? colour me surprised
- I laughed out loud when I read about his crypto schtick
I always wondered what happened to this. Also that city rendering is hilarious
- The rendering looks like an AI generated version of the "How society would look if X" memes.
  
  I asked ChatGPT to generate a utopic looking city but make the buildings curvy. It got pretty close.
To the surprise of no one.
- Oh, I'm sure there were too many investors quite surprised at this outcome, in fact ..
  
  If they were dumb enough to invest in this it was just a matter of time before they lost their money to some grift.
  "A fool and his money are soon parted."
Didn't know Akon found Vibranium.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A siege of herons flies unperturbed above the futuristic curvature of an oddly solitary white concrete building in Mbodiène, a coastal village in Senegal.
The plans were first unveiled five years ago by the US-Senegalese R&B singer Akon, and the first phase of construction was supposed to be completed by the end of 2023, but the project has been riddled with delays and controversy.
Since childhood, Jean Charles Édouard Sarr, a 55-year-old maintenance engineer and self-confessed cryptocurrency aficionado, has visited his ancestral village of Mbodiène, where his mother is buried.
For Mbodiène’s 53-year-old village chief, Michel Diome, who has met Akon several times, the project could be a goldmine for the local economy, which has been damaged by a decline in the fishing industry.
The scheme initially had backing from Senegal’s outgoing president, Macky Sall, and the Society for the Development and Promotion of Coasts and Tourist Zones (Sapco), which loaned the singer $2m for the project.
Extolled for its pristine beaches and surfing spots, the land near Mbodiène earmarked for Akon City was ceded to the Senegalese state in 2009 for future tourism development by Sapco.
The original article contains 955 words, the summary contains 187 words. Saved 80%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
That's what they want us to believe.

11 comments