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. And the name of his company, Konvict Music, was more wishful thinking than it was based in reality. In his lifetime, he has spent only a few months in county jail.

While the performer's rap sheet does include a half-dozen arrests, Akon has only been convicted of one felony, for gun possession. That 1998 New Jersey case ended with a guilty plea, for which the singer was sentenced to three years probation. Another 1998 bust, this one in suburban Atlanta, has been seized upon by Akon and transformed into the big case that purportedly sent him to prison (thanks to his snitching cohorts) for three fight-filled years. In reality, Akon was arrested for possession of a single stolen BMW and held in the DeKalb County jail for several months before prosecutors dropped all charges against him.

So there was no conviction. There was no prison term between 1999 and 2002. And he was never "facing 75 years," as the singer claimed in one videotaped interview.

Completely confident that no one would ever call him on his lies, which amount to an elaborate marketing plan, he has continued to embellish his fictional past in interviews, recalling new details of his fake three-year bid and describing his car-jacking theft in elaborate detail. It seems that "accidentally" dry-humping a 15-year-old and throwing that kid off the stage last summer was one of his greatest criminal offenses. Here's a compliment for Akon: You're a better liar than you are singer. That's for sure.

Check out some excerpts from interviews in which Akon expounds on his crime and incarceration-filled past!

From Rolling Stone:

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. When I was stealing cars I used to think, "If I stole your car it's because you did something bad and it's coming back to you. If I can't get this car, it's because God doesn't want me to have it because this is a good person." If I wanted to steal a car and took it, no problem, I figured it was because this person who owned it had done wrong and God was letting me steal their car as retribution. That's absolutely ludicrous! It's ridiculous. [Laughs] But that's how I thought at the time."

"I was driving a BMW 325, on my way to the chop shop. That's the slowest car in the whole fleet, the BMW 325. I'd been in high-speed pursuit before and always got away, but this time I didn't because the car was too slow. I didn't even want that car, it was a favor to someone else. And I wound up getting locked up for three years. I started the car-stealing hustle when I lived in Jersey, but then I brought it down to Atlanta because the entertainers were here, the athletes were here, the musicians were here, the cars that people wanted were here. I was very good at what I did."

From Tha Biz Entertainment:

"Locked Up," was like your first huge hit. I'm just going off of things I've read. I read you really were locked up once am I right?
Akon-Um huh. That's when I wrote the song.

Now you are like this huge star. When you were locked up did you ever dream of this?
Akon-No, not at all. I kinda planned to come out and get into the music heavy but I never expected it to be this big. I just expected it to keep me above water to where I could open up doors and do other things.

From Female First:

During the time he spent incarcerated, the rapper claims he got involved in fights almost every day for the first two years of his sentence to try and gain status among the other inmates and not allow himself to be bullied.

He revealed: "I fought almost every day for two years. I didn't fear anybody. I took out one dude in prison and from that point on it was OK for me."

Akon admits it is an experience he never wants to repeat and realised he had to turn his life around after becoming comfortable with his prison surroundings.

The incarcerated artist recognised he was facing a life of offending, jail, release and re-offending and vowed to himself that he would change his ways and not be trapped in the vicious cycle. He explained: "It's so crazy because in the beginning you feel like your life is over. But then after a while it starts to feel like home. When I became comfortable that's when I got scared. I knew straight away I had to try and straighten my life out."