Akon Reveals Why His Brothers Impersonated Him During Concerts
Akon opens up about the chaotic early days of his career, revealing how his brothers stepped in to perform as him to meet overwhelming demand.
During the meteoric rise of his early career, Akon found himself in a position that few artists ever experience: the demand for his live performances far exceeded his physical capacity to fulfill them. In a candid conversation on the Artist 2 Artist podcast with Jim Jones, the “Locked Up” singer revealed that his brothers, Bu and Omar Thiam, frequently stepped in as his legal—and sometimes unauthorized—impersonators to handle the overflow of booking requests.
Akon explained that he was simply leaving too much money on the table to ignore the influx of offers. While his brother Bu Thiam, a respected music executive, maintained transparency regarding the gigs he took on, Akon described his brother Omar as a “rebel” who operated with far more autonomy. The physical resemblance between the siblings was so striking that audiences rarely suspected a swap, with Akon noting that fans who hadn’t seen him in person before would believe Omar was the real artist “1000%.”
The deception reached a point where Akon would occasionally be surprised by his own tour schedule. He recalled a specific incident involving rapper Foxy Brown, who mentioned she was planning to attend his show in South Carolina. “I’m like, ‘I don’t have no concert in no South Carolina,’” Akon recounted. “She showed me the flyer and I was like, ‘N***a, this is Omar!’”
Despite the unauthorized nature of these performances, Akon views the era with a sense of humor, characterizing it as a practical, albeit chaotic, solution to the pressures of sudden fame in the mid-2000s. He noted that Omar was particularly adept at “running it up” and collecting payments from promoters before the singer even knew a show had been booked.
Today, the landscape of the music industry has shifted significantly. While Akon continues to tour—currently alongside R&B star Ne-Yo on the Nights Like This Tour—his brother Bu Thiam has established himself as a powerhouse executive, managing some of the most prominent names in hip-hop. Looking back, the singer sees the impersonation era as a byproduct of a time when his career was moving faster than he could manage, turning a logistical headache into a legendary piece of music industry lore.