AKA: slain South African rapper was a once-in-a-generation pop culture sensation

SANYA OSHA

AKA, South Africa’s most recognisable name in hip-hop, was gunned down – with his friend, celebrity chef Tebello ‘Tibz’ Motsoane – outside a restaurant along Durban’s popular night spot Florida Road on 10 February.

It’s reported that AKA was killed in a drive-by shooting, a recurring theme of gangsta rap culture. The ghastly manner of his death, clearly an orchestrated hit as captured by CCTV footage, is a first in the South African music industry and has had international reverberations.

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, Victory Lap, it seemed AKA was born for the role of top dog in a highly competitive and adversarial hip-hop scene.

Cape Town is regarded as