At age seven, he moved with his family to Union City, New Jersey, splitting his time between the United States and Senegal until settling in Newark, New Jersey. A child of a dancer mother-Kine Gueye Thiam ( née Gueye), and a percussionist father, Mor Thiam, Akon learned to play five instruments, including drums, guitar and djembe. He spent a significant part of his childhood in Senegal, which he described as his "hometown". His father Mor Thiam was born to a Toucouleur family of Quranic scholars in Kaolack, Senegal.