Akon has admitted that his brother, Abou “Bu” Thiam, would occasionally fill in for him as a body-double at concerts when he was overbooked. He brought up the hilarious story during a recent discussion with Bootleg Kev.
As caught by Complex, Akon explained that Bu as well as their other brother, Omar Thiam, would capitalize on his celebrity early in his career. “Bu used to fill in for me in shows, and my other brother, Omar, he would just Debo, like, straight take a show,” Akon said. “I’ll be in New York, and next thing you know, I’m getting a flyer from Baltimore that I’m performing live. This n***a O would just book the show and keep the money. [He] wouldn’t even tell, as if I’m not gonna find out. He would go as me. O was a straight gangsta about it.”
He continued: "[The audience] would not know the difference. And when you see me and my brother separately, if you didn’t see me in person, you would definitely say ‘OK, 1000%.’ Omar was running it up.”
It isn't the first time Akon has admitted to his brother filling in for him at events. He previously discussed how he and Bu would pull it off during an interview with The Morning Hustle in 2022. “Let me clear some things up so we all know,” he said at the time. “Bu was my double. He was my double. This was before the internet. If you saw Abou in one place and you saw me, you couldn’t tell the difference … That was probably the funnest part of our lives.”
Akon's Next Album
In other news, Akon recently made headlines by announcing that he's working with several stars in country music to release remixes of the biggest hits from throughout his catalog. He discussed the plan with TMZ for an interview in New York City, last month.
"I'm not even joking… This has been an idea for years. The project has been in motion for the last five years. But, starting next month, y'all gonna start seeing all the releases," he said. He noted that "Locked Up" will be one of the many songs getting a country twist.
