The Metro FM award winner talks victory, vulgarity, style and making money.
By Pearl Boshomane
Pinning down AKA for an interview turned out to be very difficult. He'd stood me up twice already, although apparently to no fault of his own. So when I was invited for lunch with AKA (real name Kiernan Forbes) and his manager Tibz, I was doubtful about him showing up.
But when I walk into a very quiet Japanese restaurant in northern Johannesburg on a Friday afternoon, I'm pleasantly surprised (and relieved) to find him there. Seated alone, fiddling away on his BlackBerry, he's wearing Buddy Holly-style glasses - but not because he has bad eyesight ("I eat all my carrots," he jokes later) - teamed with a grey blazer, white tee, black jeans and black sneakers.
He's got his 'hipster in GQ' look on (he was recently named one of the most stylish men in the country by GQ, by the way).
"Sometimes I dress like a rapper and sometimes I dress like a clean rapper," he says. "I just believe that you should be multifaceted in how you can appear because a huge part of people's perceptions – or one of the biggest parts – is image... so when I dress up I just like to make a statement."
AKA doesn't come across as the arrogant jerk he's often accused of being. He seems like a level-headed young man (he's only 23) but has a cheekiness that makes him endearing rather than offensive. He does get a little cocky at times, but it's to be expected: whether he approves or not, AKA is a bit of a superstar for both his music and his looks.
But everything else is secondary to the music. He won three Metro FM awards last weekend: Best Newcomer ("It was a big one for me, especially since I was in a very tough category," he says), Best Hip Hop ("Which is no surprise, really," he chuckles) and Best Produced Album for his debut Altar Ego. The awards were determined by public votes.
Having really blown up over the past year or so, AKA feels he's gone "from zero to hero". On the Altar Ego skit New Year, New Naira, comedian Loyisa Gola says no-one wanted to work with the rapper a year ago.
AKA says: "I'm not gonna say nobody but I mean last year the line of people who wanted to work [with me] and wanted to talk business and whatever the case may be, people who wanted to associate themselves with me – the line was considerably shorter.
"And now I think I'm in a bit stronger of a position. Now I can pick and choose… Cos now they're coming to me, I'm not going to them." He chuckles after that statement, something he does often after saying something that can be perceived as arrogant.
For more on the interview follow the link:
