Celebrating the life and career of South African rapper, AKA

Late Kiernan Jarryd Forbes who was 35 years old when he died led a very fruitful life and an even more fruitful career. Following the death of his long-term girlfriend Nelli Tembe, only 3 months after their engagement, Forbes had been on drugs.

AKA also known as Super Mega, as opposed to opinions, was not killed by his drug use. He was murdered in Durban as he waited outside a restaurant with his friend, Tebello Motsoane by unknown gunmen who fled by foot. That night, he had been scheduled to perform at the Yugo nightclub in Durban as part of his birthday celebration.

AKA released 5 studio albums in his time, 2 extended plays, 30 singles and had over 20 features in top songs in South Africa. He was so impactful that following his death, Sony Music released a deluxe version of his album Mass Country which became gold in only 2 weeks.

AKA's Notable nominations and awards

In a remarkable launch of his musical career, AKA was nominated for Best Male Artist at the 18th South African Music Awards for his debut album Altar Ego which was released in 2011. In 2015, he won Best Male Southern Africa at the African Muzik Magazine Awards, he also won Best Collaboration for All Eyes On Me featuring Burna Boy, Da LES and JR at this event as well as at the MTV Africa Music Awards.

Still, in 2015, he won Best Male Artist at the 21st South African Music Awards. He won 5 awards at the 4th South African Hip Hop Awards where he won;

• Most Valuable Artist for Levels (Gold album), Congratulate (Gold single), All Eyes on Me (Gold single) and Run Jozi (Godly) (Gold single)
• Best collaboration with Anatii for the single The Saga
• Most Digital Sales
• Song of the Year for The Saga and Baddest
• Video of the year for his collaboration with Anatii for The Saga

In 2016, he won Best Collaboration and Best Hit Single for the remix to Baddest where he featured Burna Boy, Khuli Chana and Yanga at the 15th Metro FM Music Awards. At the 2019 Kids' Choice Awards, he was awarded Favourite South African Star and at the Namibia Annual Music Awards in 2019, he was awarded Pan African Artist of the Year.

In 2020, at the 26th South African Music Awards Music, he won the Video of the Year for his single Jika where he featured YangaChief.

In 2023, the year he died, he won 5 awards out of 10 total nominations. They were;

• Song of the Year for Lemons (Lemonade) featuring Nasty C at the Content Creator Awards
• Best hip hop artist for Mass Country at the 23rd Metro FM Music Awards
• At the 29th South African Music Awards he won
  • Best Male Artist for Mass Country
  • Album of the Year for Mass Country
  • Best Engineered Album for which was engineered and produced by Robin Kohl and Itu, and,
  • Best Collaboration for Lemons (Lemonade) featuring Nasty C

It is quite amazing that he achieved so much in the little time between his debut in 2010 and 2023 when he died. His lover, Nadia and friends have done their bit to remember him over the years.

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