Akon Mines Crime Past

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.