The plot for the video of South African rapper Kiernan Forbes, popularly referred to as AKA’s breakout solo single I Want It All begins with a younger boy coming throughout a pair of goggles, mimicking what would right this moment be referred to as VR headsets, and a bunch of polaroid pictures.
The boy inserts the polaroids into the goggles and will get to witness and expertise, in video format, the rapper’s present performances and lots of different escapades with mates, immersing himself within the rapper’s life via the goggles.
The video for I Want It All was launched in 2010, virtually a decade earlier than ideas like VR headsets, digital actuality and the metaverse turned mainstream speak. Additionally, the only was from his 24/7/366 mixtape, a physique of labor launched solely on-line in 2009 at a time when consumption of music by way of digital channels was nonetheless nascent in South Africa.
24/7/366 and I Want It All are early examples of how the South African rapper, who was gunned down on the age of 35 on the night of Friday tenth in Durban, was one of many early pioneers of embracing the adoption of digital channels in South African hip-hop music.
As his profession progressed and he turned a greater star, or the ‘Supa Mega’, which is an aka he coined himself and which was quickly adopted by his legion of followers, the rapper would proceed to make use of digital mediums to make sure that his music reached the lots not solely in South Africa, not solely in Africa, however worldwide– a time period he added to most of his social media handles to maybe talk his imaginative and prescient of turning into a world famous person.
From 2011 onwards, a interval which is perhaps thought-about by many as the start of the crescendo of his illustrious profession, AKA’s music rollouts at all times had an air of “digital first” to them, as seen by the solely digital releases, his sturdy, devoted, and typically polarising presence, and promotion of his music on social media, particularly Twitter, in addition to his domination of iTunes and Spotify charts with each new launch.
On the enterprise aspect of issues, one other space by which the rapper appeared to have the Midas contact as evidenced by his quite a few profitable branding and endorsement offers, Supa Mega would proceed his appreciation for digital channels sooner or later. In 2017, he launched Beam Digital, a platform which sought to empower creatives to have interaction with their followers via broadcasts throughout digital platforms.
Beam Digital’s in depth suite of merchandise included BeamTawk, a cellular messaging platform that allowed artists to attach with their followers instantly, BeamMarket, an e-commerce web site the place artists might promote their very own merchandise, BeamTunes, an internet music retailer, and BeamCoin, a digital forex answer.
In 2018, via a partnership with South Africa’s second largest cellular community operator Vodacom, AKA launched the “AKA Beam World App” which gave followers utilizing the community unique entry to content material together with his complete music catalogue‚ newest information‚ behind the scenes content material and an “Ask Me Anything” part referred to as Ask Kiernan Anything (AKA).
In 2019, he struck an endorsement and ambassadorship take care of South African digital musical platform My Muze to grant alternatives to individuals who wanted to promote their music on a worldwide market via the platform which has over 20 million digital songs and radio stations.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as different South African artists scratched their heads attempting to give you methods to earn a residing as lockdowns meant they may not carry out at reveals for sustenance, Supa Mega got here up with a easy however good concept; an app referred to as AKATV. With a R49.99 subscription price, the app gave followers who had been desperate to devour content material as they had been caught indoors, entry to unique content material which included his unreleased music, stay reveals, and even cooking content material. That’s how versatile in digital creativity and content material distribution the person was.
Post the pandemic lockdowns because the world went outdoors, AKA would proceed to tread the digital path with a lot zeal, inking a take care of Multichoice-owned streaming service Showmax to carry out his largest hits with an orchestra for an unique TV sequence titled “Orchestra In The Square” which earned him the respect of each followers and former doubters of his expertise.
Even on the day of his premature passing, as he equipped for the discharge of his fourth solo studio album “Mass Country”, which can now be launched posthumously, AKA employed digital means to assist the rollout. He launched a WhatsApp hotline to permit his followers entry to unique details about the album, a testomony to his love of utilizing digital channels to attach his followers to each himself and his music.
From the start of his profession to his final residing hours, AKA has at all times proven an appreciation for the web and expertise on the whole as a means to share his expertise with the world. Not solely did he present appreciation, he additionally exhibited data of utilizing these channels to always reinvent his craft, each in music and enterprise, which helped him stay related for the higher a part of a decade in an trade the place long-term constant success is uncommon.
From the futuristic imaginative and prescient of the I Want It All video proper to the digital savvy rollout of Mass Country, the Supa Mega has at all times demonstrated that past his unmatched expertise on the mic, he was additionally a visionary techie at coronary heart.
Long stay Supa Mega; stay lengthy!
Disclosure: This article was written by a large AKA fan.
…. to be continued
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