On Friday, February 10, news of the passing of South African rap artist and entertainment entrepreneur, Kiernan Forbes, popularly known as AKA broke across multiple news outlets and on social media.
According to reports, AKA and close friend Tebello "Tibz” Motsoane were shot dead on Florida road, one of Durban’s entertainment hubs, and was laid to rest in a private ceremony at the Westpark Cemetery in South Africa on February 18.
AKA or SupaMega as folks called him, was regarded as one of the greatest rap personalities from the African continent, one of the most successful rap artists of his generation, a superstar that enjoyed parochial domination for much of his career and reached continental ubiquity through headline hit songs and collaborative efforts with artists from across Africa.
By only 35-years old, SupaMega’s sound lived everywhere on the continent and beyond. It’s near impossible to be a rap fan and not know AKA.
Let me tell you the AKA I followed half of my life.
Before the Burna Boy-assisted "All Eyes on Me” brought him closer to everyone as the mid-2010s rolled along, AKA was easily one of my favourite rappers after he produced classics like ‘Victory Lap’, ‘I Want It All’ and ‘Bang’ among others, thanks to MTV for introducing an icon to masses.
My first encounter with AKA was born out of curiosity. In 2013, I was a diehard follower of rap music, given how it was dominating the world of music. Me, and most of the kids in my neighborhood, used to meet after class and discuss music as well as freestyle on beats we created using tables and benches.
By this time, my knowledge of South African music was sparse at best, mostly limited to Joyous Celebration’ first album I got from my brother.
It was not until one of my classmates played us ‘I want it all’, a classic by AKA featuring Khuli Chana produced by I.V league. That first and third verse hit me, I had to open the browser on my Nokia and Google South African rappers.
Ever since then, I started following AKA from his sound engineers, to designers, instrumentalists and producers. I was convinced that AKA was the best African rap artist in existence.
Between 2014 and 2020, my admiration for AKA as a rap artist remained, and it was through him that I got introduced to other rap stars such as Kwesta and Emtee and Nasty C and K.O and Anatii and many other South African rappers.
In East Africa, AKA rose to eminence after appearing on hit songs that featured Nigerian and Ghanaian artistes, seeing that the two countries were pushing a new wave of sounds known as the Afrobeats, it was easy for Rwandans and other East Africans to recognize a name associated with the genre.
One of my favourite times as an AKA supporter came in 2015 when he sent out warning shots to several rivals including Cassper Nyovest with the classic diss track, "Composure.”
During the same year, AKA appeared on a classic, ‘Roll Up remix’, with Wizkid and Emtee, a move that brought his name closer to everyone.
The year before, he had dropped ‘Levels’, the album that quickly eclipsed the critical and commercial bar set by his classic debut LP. In 2017, he teamed up with Anatii for ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’, arguably the high watermark for his powers as a lyricist. By 2018, when he dropped the ‘Touch My Blood’, he was already at the forefront of the rap game of Africa, anointed himself as the best producer in his genre, and I cannot agree less.
For a Rwandan to understand SupaMega’s influence on the rap scene, he’s the Mc Mahoniboni, Riderman or any member of the Tuff Gang to South Africans. For any rap fan, he is the Kanye (ye) or Jay-z of our generation.
For me and many other fans that won’t see you perform live as we dreamt for centuries, your music will live forever in our hearts. Long live SupaMega. Your legacy lives on.