A young AKA in 2014, left, and Supa Mega, as he was also known, later on in his career. The rapper was killed on Friday evening 10 February in Florida Road, Durban. Images: Facebook/dapo.oyebanjo.71 and Twitter @akaworldwide
RIP AKA: From Mitchells Plain to the world…Supa Mega fact-file
The Megacy in mourning: Following the death of AKA, we look at the award-winning rapper’s life and career from Entity to Michael Jackson.
A young AKA in 2014, left, and Supa Mega, as he was also known, later on in his career. The rapper was killed on Friday evening 10 February in Florida Road, Durban. Images: Facebook/dapo.oyebanjo.71 and Twitter @akaworldwide
Internationally acclaimed South African rap sensation Kiernan Jarryd Forbes, popularly known as AKA, was shot dead at pointblank range along with his close friend, author and celeb chef Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane on Friday 10 February. The shock incident unfolded just after 22:00 outside a popular restaurant in Durban’s bustling Florida Road.
AKA had hours earlier posted on his Instagram account that he was at Wish restaurant and would later perform at the YuGo nightclub in Mathews Meyiwa Road as part of the 35-year-old rapper and hip-hop star’s AKA Supa Mega Birthday Celebration.
ALSO READ: Breaking: Footage of AKA’s fatal night out emerges [watch]
AKA death: What happened?
Police spokesperson Colonel Robert Netshiunda has told the BBC that the rapper and his friend were walking to their car when they were approached by two armed men who shot them at close range. The assailants then fled the scene on foot.
The motive of the killing is being investigated.
ALSO READ: AKA ‘received several warnings’ not to set foot in Durban again
AKA and ‘Mass Country’
On Friday, an excited AKA also headed to social media to remind his followers of his upcoming fourth studio album, Mass Country, which is set for release on 23 February.
AKA’s first single off the hotly anticipated album, Lemons (Lemonade), went gold in September last year.
This was followed by Paradise with Musa Keys and Ghanaian singer Gyakie in November, and his track with Motswako rapper Khuli Chana, Prada, became an instant fan-favourite when it was released at the end of January.
ALSO READ: ‘Prada’: AKA drops Khuli Chana track, teases album release date
AKA fact-file: Teen star, ‘kind of a Dr Dre’ and going solo
In honour of the late rapper extraordinaire, we take a look at his journey from teenage star to South African music icon:
- AKA was born in Cape Town on 28 January 1988 to parents Tony and Lynn Forbes.
- According to Buzz South Africa, Kiernan lived with his grandmother in Mitchells Plain, in the gangster-ridden Cape Flats, until the age of seven.
- In 1995, he moved to Johannesburg to be with his school teacher mother. He attended Greenside Primary School and later St John’s College.
- As a budding teen artist, AKA broke onto the music scene in 2002 as member of the hip-hop boy band Entity alongside Nhlanhla Makenna and Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh.
- They released the album Royal School of Hip Hop and received a nomination for a KORA Award in the Best African Hip Hop category before disbanding in 2006.
ALSO READ: RIP AKA: Top five tracks to remember slain muso by [watch]
WATCH: Entity’s hit song ‘Touch N Go’
- The hip-hop star studied sound engineering and in 2007, he joined Kamza and Buks to form the production collective, The IV League. According to TimesLIVE he was “Kind of a South African Dr Dre”. He produced for big names – including Khuli Chana, Jub Jub, Shugasmakx, Teargas and Prover.
- AKA went solo in 2011 with his debut album, Alter Ego, and hits such as In My Walk, Do It, Fela in Versace and Mistakes.
- The hip-hop super star won multiple South African awards, was nominated several times for a Black Entertainment Television award in the United States and was once nominated for an MTV Europe music award.
- AKA co-owned the popular Durban nightclub Cuba Lounge BLK and a clothing brand called Bhovamania, named after his 2021 EP of the same title, as per Zalebs.
- According to News24, AKA made history in February 2016 as the first South African artist to reach one million views on YouTube within 10 days for his song Make Me Sing, featuring Tanzanian star Diamond Platinum.
- The rapper’s beef with fellow South African musician Cassper Nyovest was a well-known fact.
- Apart from boxing, he also loved football and was an avid fan of Manchester United and South African soccer icon and Man U coach Benni McCarthy.
- His tattoos included one of Manchester United’s logo, “Kairo” (the name of his daughter with former girlfriend DJ Zinhle), Africa, a lion for courage, and the word “Legendary”. He took great pride in one of a young Michael Jackson on his biceps. AKA was quoted by TimesLIVE as saying that Michael Jackson was “only the greatest artist, ever”. Recently he also got a “His and Hers” lion tattoo with girlfriend and rap star Nadia Nakai.
- His death took place almost two years after that of his then-fiancée Anele “Nelli” Tembe. The 22-year-old Tembe fell to her death from the 10th floor of the Pepperclub Hotel on Loop Street, Cape Town, on 11 April 2021.
ALSO READ: Anele Tembe’s father denies any involvement in AKA’s death
