In a recent interview on The Morning Hustle, Senegalese-American singer Akon admitted he used to have his brother perform as his double when he was overbooked for shows. According to Vibe, the 49-year-old touched on the topic when he was questioned about those rumors.
“Let me clear some things up so we all know,” he started. “Bu [his brother] 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.”
The Locked Up singer said that though his brother was initially his hype man, he started making him mount the stage to perform as his double when his popularity and demand shot up.
“I was like, ‘Man, all this money I’m leaving on the table,’” he said. “We cannot leave all this money on the table.”
And when he was asked if Bu was vocally gifted, Akon said: “No. He can’t sing. He can’t do none of that.”
Elsewhere in the interview, the Lonely singer revealed that his other brother, Omar, also used to impersonate him – though him and Bu did not give him the go-ahead to do so.
“Omar would be in another country, another city, getting money and I’d be like, ‘What? They booked me already,” he jokingly said.