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Rapper AKA will attend his first Black Entertainment Television Awards next month as one of only two South African acts to be nominated this year as Best International Act: Africa. The other South African nominee is a cappella trio The Soil.
The announcement was made this week and means that the rapper will head to Los Angeles to attend the awards ceremony next month.
AKA may have won three SA Music awards, nine SA Hip-Hop awards, five Metro awards and three Channel O awards, but it looks like this will be his biggest year yet.
With a string of international media opportunities opening up in the UK, he told City Press he planned to use the trips to promote his latest album, Levels, to the rest of the world and to take his career on a global path.
“This moment is the result of many years of consistent work,” said the Run Jozi and Congratulate hitmaker.
In two weeks’ time, AKA will also perform at the Champions League fan zone in Berlin to an estimated 20 000 people. But this will only happen after he has watched the final with McCarthy, who handed him his ticket live on SuperSport last week.
“I’m excited, Benni was a childhood hero of mine,” said AKA.
After that, he heads for the UK where his management has booked him a round of interviews, including one with the BBC.
But not everyone will be applauding the rapper’s latest successes.
He has notched up a few haters in the course of his young career because he’s not afraid to speak his mind.
“What I say is nothing crazy. It is just magnified because of the exposure I have. I am an artist and I have a responsibility to speak out about my experiences.
“Calling what I say a ‘rant’ is just not accurate,” he said.
After settling his beef with rival rapper Cassper Nyovest, he became involved in a Twitter spat with hip-hop artist iFani, whose album went gold in one day with the help of Redd’s cider.
AKA said the company had bought 20 000 copies of iFani’s I Believes In Me (2nd Quadrant) to give away as a promotion.
“I don’t know the guy – he’s not a factor for me. What I had issues with was the lying. If you bought the CDs, come out and say it. The industry could do with more corporates getting involved, but not like that,” explained AKA.
In the Twitter explosion that followed the iFani controversy, his pregnant partner, DJ Zinhle, was targeted, with one nasty tweep saying they hoped she had a miscarriage.
“That stuff is crazy. I mean, at the end of the day, I am a human being. People need to keep their beef focused on facts. Why go after someone who isn’t even involved? It’s childish,” said AKA.
South African hip-hop is at its peak and, never one to fake humility, AKA said he believed he was at the centre of it.
“I don’t think I’m the reason for hip-hop being so huge, but I would say I am a huge part of this. In the time I’ve been around, things have evolved, and I am teaching others how to make that happen,” he said.
Now AKA is preparing to take things to the next level.
“I want to be the first rap artist to unite all African countries. It’s happening with Afro-pop artists like D’Banj, but I want to do it for rap,” said the rapper.
