AKA’s legacy celebrated with fourth studio album Mass Country as the (M)egacy Lives On
The story behind the exhilarating making of AKA’s magnum opus album, “Mass Country”
As Mzansi, and the greater Africa continent, battles with SupaMega’s untimely death, the 35-year-old hip hop giant comes alive through his music today.
His most anticipated album Mass Country released just as the rap icon was laid to rest a week ago. The aim, according to his family and team, is to celebrate AKA’s legacy given his undeniable impact and contribution to the local music scene. And the best way possible is through music.
The new album is available on all digital platforms. Listen here.
AKA, real name Kiernan Forbes, was gundown in Durban on and laid to rest at a private ceremony at the Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg.
According to his team, the album’s genesis started in 2019, even before releasing his EP project “Bhovamania”, with the executive producers being the main man himself, Nhlanhla ‘Nivo’ Ndimanda and Tshiamo Letshwene and Zadok.
T-Effect co-CEO and AKA’s co-manager Nhlanhla “Nivo” Ndimande, explain the making of the album. “It’s been a two-year process working on this album from him giving us the vision and just telling us what exactly he wanted to do. It was tough in the beginning because we were like, ‘Wait, you want to mix country music, maskandi and hip-hop? How does that even make sense?”
But as the music began to take shape, AKA’s grand vision became clearer and clearer. What AKA wanted to do was to create an album that the people of South Africa could embrace and cherish, they said.
“As he’s done throughout his career by carrying the flag with him wherever he went, the Supa Mega wanted to create an album that sounded like home – an album for the ‘masses of the country.’”
During the album’s stunning intro, AKA makes several references to some legendary South African moments like Sphiwe Tshabalala’s opening goal at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. He also pays homage to iconic local musical pioneers like Zakes Bantwini, Johnny Clegg, Skwatta Kamp, Khuli Chana, and refers to the proudly South African beverage Oros and potjiekos – all in the spirit of patriotism and celebrating South Ah.
The first session for the album was with the renowned BET Award-winner Sjava and co-executive producer, Zadok. It was during these sessions that the team started to understand the sonic direction that would come to life during countless recording sessions across the country over the past two years. Throughout this process, producers like Oriah, Fdeeezus and Christer helped make this grand vision concise and cohesive.
While they followed a similar process and flow to that of previous albums like 2018’s stunning ‘Touch My Blood”, the entire team also incorporated new ways of producing an album. The first big camp was at a house in Mooi River., where he (AKA) emphasized how he is trying to do something that he’s never done before, according to the team.
Apart from Mooi River and his Johannesburg base, they also held a recording camp in Vanderbijlpark. The last song recorded on the project was ‘Company‘, recorded in LA, and features Nigerian pop and afrobeats star KDDO, a previous collaborator on ‘Fela In Versace‘.
Rap star Blxckie features on two songs on the album, ‘Dangerous‘ and ‘Ease‘.
“Kiernan and I went to their studios just to vibe with the guys about two years ago,” explains Nivo. “We recorded two songs there and “Ease” was the one that made it onto the album. They were able to bounce off each other’s energy because they’re both fans of each other. We were able to also work with Blxckie’s producers and build something new off what both artists are doing right now.”
AKA has always had an uncanny ability to bring out the best in his collaborators. That comes out with two songs, ‘Prada’ and ‘Lemonade‘.
“I remember with Emtee, half of that verse Kiernan wrote with him. Kiernan’s pushing him through the session like, ‘No, do it this way, do it that way’. He’s always had a vision. He always knew what he wanted, and he was able to get that out of people,” adds Nivo.
One of the first songs that AKA worked on is ‘Everest’. Nivo recalls how, two weeks after Anele Tembe’s funeral, as he was walking to AKA’s house in the estate, he was surprised to hear music.
“I’m like what’s going on, has this guy finally connected his studio? As I walk, I look and see that Kiernan had his studio set up in the garden and he was busy chopping up that sample repeatedly.” They then set up a session with AKA’s band to start enhancing the skeleton he’d put together. “That song to me was capturing Kiernan at his lowest emotionally but showing his creativity the most.”
The album is undeniably one of the best of AKA’s sprawling career and sets a new benchmark for South African music. Poetically, in true Supa Mega style, AKA went out with a bang.
“It’s crazy for me to say this, but I think spiritually Kiernan knew that this was his last project,” says Nivo.
Watch “Last time” visualizer here.
