By EDN Reporter
Slain South African Rapper Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes’s first single from his Mass Country album dropped shortly after midnight on Friday.
The single, Company, featuring KDDO, amassed over 5000 hits on YouTube within 30 minutes of its release. The Tweet in which the link was shared had over 13 000 views within 30 minutes.
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Fans were in their feels as they replied to the Tweet. Many were touched by a line in the song where the rapper paid homage to slain South African house and Amapiano star DJ Sumbody. The DJ was himself killed in a hail of bullets.
— AKA (@akaworldwide) February 16, 2023
The release of the song followed an announcement by Forbes’ family on Thursday indicating that his album would be released as he had planned as a tribute to him. In the joint statement by VHT Season, The T Effect and Sony Music Entertainment Africa, it was announced that the Forbes family had confirmed the release of the album.
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“With the nation engulfed with the grief of the tragic death and untimely passing of Kiernan AKA Forbes, the family have acknowledged the outpouring of support and love from South Africa and beyond. The family continues to celebrate the life of their son and to honour his legacy, they are choosing to continue with the release of the Mass Country album on February 24 as planned,” reads the statement.
In the last two years, Mass Country reportedly became AKA’s entire world, and he constantly kept the album release momentum and anticipation high. The manager and Co-Executive producer of Mass Country Nivo stated that the team was extremely blessed to have worked so closely on the project with AKA.
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“We spent a lot of time mapping out this roll-out and creating all the content we have under his direction. AKA worked tremendously hard on this project. He put his heart and soul into it and we were blessed that he got the opportunity to map out his entire roll-out and approve all the elements, so what will be coming out will be as per his direction and his vision,” he said.
He further thanked the Forbes family for their faith in the entire team working on the project, adding that AKA’s team @VTH Season, The T Effect and Sony Music Entertainment Africa will manage the release of Mass Country.
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“With the support and blessings of the family, we celebrate the Supa Mega through his gift of music,” said Nivo.
The single release coincides with Forbes’ memorial service which will be held at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg. He was gunned down outside a restaurant in Durban’s Florida Road. No one has been arrested as of yet in connection with his murder. He is expected to be laid to rest on Saturday.
