How embracing digital channels turned AKA right into a mega star

The plot for the video of South African rapper Kiernan Forbes, popularly often called AKA’s breakout solo single I Need It All begins with a younger boy coming throughout a pair of goggles, mimicking what would at the moment be referred to as VR headsets, and a bunch of polaroid images.

The boy inserts the polaroids into the goggles and will get to witness and expertise, in video format, the rapper’s present performances and plenty of different escapades with buddies, immersing himself within the rapper’s life via the goggles.

The video for I Need It All was launched in 2010, nearly a decade earlier than ideas like VR headsets, digital actuality and the metaverse turned mainstream speak. Moreover, the one was from his 24/7/366 mixtape, a physique of labor launched solely on-line in 2009 at a time when consumption of music through digital channels was nonetheless nascent in South Africa.

24/7/366 and I Need 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 much bigger 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 plenty 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 changing into a worldwide celebrity.

From 2011 onwards, a interval which could be thought of 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 exclusively digital releases, his sturdy, devoted, and generally 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 interact 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 may 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 total music catalogue‚ newest information‚ behind the scenes content material and an “Ask Me Something” part referred to as Ask Kiernan Something (AKA).

In 2019, he struck an endorsement and ambassadorship deal with 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.

On the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, as different South African artists scratched their heads attempting to provide you with methods to earn a dwelling as lockdowns meant they may not carry out at exhibits for sustenance, Supa Mega got here up with a easy however sensible concept; an app referred to as AKATV. With a R49.99 subscription charge, the app gave followers who had been desirous to eat content material as they had been caught indoors, entry to unique content material which included his unreleased music, stay exhibits, and even cooking content material. That’s how versatile in digital creativity and content material distribution the person was.

Submit the pandemic lockdowns because the world went outdoors, AKA would proceed to tread the digital path with a lot zeal, inking a cope with Multichoice-owned streaming service Showmax to carry out his greatest hits with an orchestra for an exclusive TV series titled “Orchestra In The Sq.” which earned him the respect of each followers and former doubters of his expertise.

From the start of his profession to his final dwelling hours, AKA has at all times proven an appreciation for the web and expertise usually as a method to share his expertise with the world. Not solely did he present appreciation, he additionally exhibited information of utilizing these channels to continuously reinvent his craft, each in music and enterprise, which helped him stay related for the higher a part of a decade in an business the place long-term constant success is uncommon.

From the futuristic imaginative and prescient of the I Need It All video proper to the digital savvy rollout of Mass Nation, 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.