AKA - Slain Rapper Was a Once-in-a-Generation Pop Culture Sensation TC_Africa: SouthAfrica AKA
The 35-year-old AKA was born in Cape Town as Kiernan Jarryd Forbes - and would later also tag himself as Supa Mega or Bhova. He was based in the country's biggest city, Johannesburg, where he hunkered down atop the hip-hop food chain for more than a decade. From the start, with his 2011 breakout single,
, it seemed AKA was born for the role of top dog in a highly competitive and adversarial hip-hop scene.of conscious hip-hop in the country. Johannesburg's scene generally follows more commercial imperatives, often cloning US rap culture. Commercial US hip-hop, generally speaking, is defined by conspicuous self-aggrandisement, photogenic babes and bling. It has been marked by fierce rivalries between cities and genres, and by guns, gangs, drugs, misogyny, violence, incarceration and death.
AKA embraced his self-annointed mission as a hip-hop star whole-heartedly. Undoubtedly, the African music landscape is diminished by his untimely death. His chest-thumping rants about his mega status and liberties - even when cringe-worthy - are also inimitable. He may not have been the most lyrical rapper or most gifted musician of his generation, but he certainly had the audacity to be a once-in-a-generation pop culture icon.
Unquestionably, AKA's single-minded drive to reach the apex of the hip-hop scene rubbed many up the wrong way. He bruised several fragile egos on the slippery slope upwards. Within such an aggression-driven scene, he'd have had many daggers drawn against him.AKA, like most of his hip-hop peers, didn't do much to dissociate himself from the violence in US rap. It appears cool, irresistible, loaded and confers much-valued street credibility on the winners - and their record labels.
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