Akon - Akon, 'Konvicted' (Universal Motown): Since emerging with the 2004 breakthrough hit 'Locked Up,' Senegalese-American singer Akon has rarely let listeners forget that he's been, well ... locked up. The son of respected jazz percussionist Mor Thiam, Akon spent some of his pre-music biz life behind bars. It's a history not typically associated with R&B singers. But as was the case on his debut album 'Trouble,' several songs on Akon's solid, aptly titled follow-up, 'Konvicted,' touch on the moral dilemma of the street game, often showing a measure of regret amid the bravado. He sounds particularly burdened on 'Tired of Runnin',' a bluesy meditation on dealing drugs and the fugitive life, admitting: 'That gangster life ain't no longer in me/ And I'm tired of running.' And over the West Coast bounce of 'Gangsta Bop,' he depicts hustler's life as being wrought with paranoia and despair. That's Akon's strength: delivering hard-hitting street portraits with an R&B singer's depth of emotion but with a rapper's level of credibility. In fact, most of Akon's vocals resonate somewhere between singing and rapping. It's a highly adaptable hybrid, whether Akon's backing tracks are reggae-flavored ('Mama Africa') or veer off into a soul-pop zone ('Don't Matter,' 'Never Took the Time'). Akon falters only when he embraces his rap associations too resolutely. On the rump-obsessed 'Smack That,' Eminem mails in a beat and guest verse, while Akon drops a brick: 'Wanna jump up in my Lamborghini Gallardo/ Maybe go to my place and just kick it like Tae Bo.' With lines like that, this sensitive thug may have some growing yet to do.