Abou "BU" Thiam

Abou "Bu" Thiam is a African American Music Executive, Manager and Producer. Abou was born March 24, 1979 to parents Mor Thiam and Kine Gueye. Music has always been a major part of Abou's household growing up from his parents to his siblings; Mouhamed Thiam , Omar "O" Thiam , Khady Thiam Gueye and International Superstar and Philanthropist Aliaune "AKON" Thiam.

Abou "BU" Thiam is an in-demand, certified Hit-Maker, visionary A&R music executive, international philanthropist/venture capitalist, entrepreneur, TV personality

(MTV’s “Hip Hop POV” and “Like a Boss” on Oxygen Network ), Brand Ambassador for FILA China, and consultant. Although multi-talented in diverse arenas,

Bu’s first love is music, he was inspired to pursue a career in music after growing up listening to his father – legendary drummer Mor Thiam and his brother

Akon also encouraged him from a young age telling him that he had “a good ear for music”. His first major business opportunity was handling A&R for his brother, Akon, with his multiplatinum album Trouble. Abou “Bu” Thiam has worked with many of music’s biggest stars including: Kanye West, Jay Z, Justin Bieber, Chris Brown, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, J-Lo, Frank Ocean, T-Pain, and more.

In addition to being responsible for the production of many #1 Hit records, he is also committed togroundbreaking projects in his family’s homeland of Africa such as co-founding the “Lighting Africa” solar power initiative with Akon which has brought electricity to 1 million + homes. Bu recalls Akon telling him around 2004 “We gotta give back, we gotta do it now” and Bu firmly agreed it was the right time, even if it meant a hiatus from his high-powered music career to focus on a family endeavor. Another issue he feels strongly committed to is access to the internet which is why he co-founded and remains the Co-CEO of WAW Internet Company in 2015. He wanted to do something that would help the largest amount of people and pondered, “What’s missing? What do they need to be more successful?” and he came up with the idea of internet service at 50% off the competitor’s rates so that more Africans could access educational and work opportunities.

Some highlights of Abou's wide-ranging expertise within the music industry includes:

• Co-CEO of Konvict Muzik with his brother, recording artist, Akon

• Vice President of A & R at Def Jam Records for 4 years (the youngest person to ever be

named Vice President when he was only 28 years old)

• Managing high-profile artists such as Chris Brown for three years and trailblazing Chris into the

African market

• Discovering T-Pain, signing him to Konvict Muzik Group for five albums

• Discovering Jeremiah whose “Birthday Sex” record went #1 on Billboard and has over 121

Million views on YouTube

Some of the most famous Albumshe’s/turacks Abou has been an instrumental el includeement of:

• Akon's multi-platinum album Trouble (A & R) Platinum in the United States and the United

Kingdom

• He was an executive producer on Kanye West and Jay Z’s album Watch the Thrones which

debuted at #1 on the US Billboard 200 and went Platinum with 7 Grammy nominations

• Rihanna’s Loud Album, which became her highest first-week sales in the US at that time. It

also debuted at #1 on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.

• Rihanna’s Talk That Talk Album with worldwide sales of over 5 X Platinum

• Chris Brown’s “Loyal” which was the #1 song on Billboard for 15 weeks

• Young Jeezy’s “Soul Survivor” ft. Akon (which Akon wrote and produced) 2 X Platinum and

#1 on Billboard Rap and Hot R&B Charts

• T-Pain’s Epiphany and Three Ringz albums which both charted at # 1

References

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