Get the latest gossip

Abou ‘Bu’ Thiam on Managing Kanye & Chris Brown, His BuVision Label at Atlantic & Breaking New Artists

Abou "Bu" Thiam talks managing Kanye and Chris Brown, his BuVision label with Atlantic Records and more in a new interview about his 20-year career.

He’s worked with not only his brother, but artists such as Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Chris Brown, T-Pain and Jeremih — as a record executive at Def Jam and Columbia, as an artist manager and, most recently, as the founder and CEO of BuVision, an imprint for which he recently signed a partnership deal with Atlantic Records. An accomplished A&R and manager, his credits include working on albums like Rih’s Talk That Talk, Jay and Ye’s Watch The Throne and DONDA, among many others; signing Gaga to her first deal with Interscope through his and Akon’s Konvikt Music; signing 4Batz and Central Cee to Columbia; and managing the careers of Ye and Brown at different times. Because at some point, the relationship between an artist and a manager is going to strain, because superstars want you to themselves, and if you’re working with someone else, it’s gonna start to feel like they’re sharing with the other person.

Get the Android app