Rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes was fatally shot on Florida Road on Friday evening, 10 February 2023. A week later, his family celebrated his life and memory in a public memorial service.
Also read: Rapper “AKA” fatally wounded in shooting
Family, friends and fans gathered at the Sandton Convention Centre on Friday to honour the multi-award-winning artist.
@zino_melony #akaburied #akafuneral #aka #fypシ ♬ pain’s my only home – Zevia
Among the attendees were other stars from the music industry, including JR, Da LES, Yanga Chief, and Anatii.
Lynn Forbes, AKA’s mother, gave an emotional tribute to her late son, expressing his wish for his legacy to continue for both his daughter and his fans.
“He would have wanted us to be excellent and aspire to that. He would have wanted us to make sure that when his daughter Kairo is of the age of getting onto social media, that she be flooded with messages that celebrate her dad and his work.”
Watch the full speech below.
7-year-old Kairo, AKA’s daughter, sat in the front row of the memorial service, crying and dancing along with the crowd as the room remembered and celebrated her dad.
Rapper JR, who also spoke to the packed convention centre, told the crowd that “Kairo was the apple of [her dad’s] eye.”
Watch the full speech below.
Friends remembered the rapper as loyal and a genius in his field. The first South African urban hip-hop artist to hit a billion streams, he would spend hours working to get a beat just right or fixing the lighting for his upcoming shows.
Among his successes, AKA was also the first South African rapper to win Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Award, and his vodka brand sold 1.2 million bottles.
Rapper Sim Dope spoke of meeting AKA at St. John’s College when he was 11 years old. AKA was the one who gave Dope his name in an attempt to help him sound mean in an upcoming rugby match.
“He would have hated it if he was here and saw you all wearing black sneakers; he hated black sneakers,” Sim Dope joked.
AKA’s memorial stretched beyond the walls of the Sandton Convention Centre, with Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi calling him a patriot.
“Thanks for contributing to fees must fall when it was not fashionable. They can take you, but they can’t take what you have done for our country.”
The police are still searching for AKA’s killers.
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Picture: Timothy Bernard / African News Agency