AKA Biography: Net Worth, Age, Real Name, Girlfriend & Music

AKA Biography And Net Worth, Age, Real Name, Girlfriend & Music

South Africa has produced numerous great musicians, rappers, music producers and the like. A great deal of them have reigned and have been forgotten. This article is however about a trending musician in South Africa who has set trails ablaze – AKA Biography!

AKA Biography And Net Worth – About AKA the Rapper

AKA is a South African singer, songwriter, rapper, entrepreneur and record producer. A definition of Jack of all and definitely master of all. He is a singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and an entrepreneur. His real name is Kiernan Jarryd Forbes but has AKA as his professional and stage name. He was born on the 28th of January 1988 in CapeTown which is South Africa’s Western Province.

AKA Education Background And early life

He lived with his grandmother in Mitchell’s Plain and in 1995, moved in with his mother Lynn Forbes in Johannesburg. While in CapeTown, he attended Holy Cross Convent school and in Johannesburg, he attended Greenside primary school. His college education was done at St John’s College. His stay here was the foundation of his present music career. It was in college that the band, Entity was formed. He went on to study Sound Engineering in 2006 after Entity was disbanded.
AKA is not the only child. He has a younger brother who is five years younger than he is. Little is known about his brother, however.

AKA Music Career – Venture into music

Mr Kiernan Jarryd Forbes alias AKA has always loved music. He created Entity, a Hip-hop group. It was done together with his two friends, Vice Versa and Greyhound. They went their separate ways in 2006 as Vice Versa and Greyhound went on to the University. Prior to that, they were nominated for the KORA Awards under the Best African Hip Hop category.
AKA, shortly after graduating from Sound Engineering, alongside two other people, co-founded the production collective The I.V League in the year 2006. The I.V League specialized in making production credits for several artists. Some of the artists they worked for includes Khuli Chana, ProKid and JR. He kicked off by releasing three songs. They are, In My Walk, I Do and Mistakes.

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Kiernan Jarryd Forbes alias AKA released a song which was the lead single in his debut studio album, Altar Ego. The title of the song is I Want It All, and was released on the 28th of July 2010. Two other singles, All I Know and Victory Lap, were also released by him. On the 23rd of August 2011, he took the country on a spin by releasing his album Altar Ego. It was a huge success as it was certified gold and the single Victory Lap, topped the South African local radio charts. The album also caused him to win South African Music Awards for Best Male Artist of the Year after it won Metro FM Awards for Best Hip Hop Album.

Three years later, in 2014 precisely, Mr Kiernan Jarryd Forbes released his second music album Levels. The release happened on the 30th of June 2014. Four singles were released to support the album. Their titles are Jealousy, Kontrol (featuring Da L.E.S), Congratulate and Run Jozi (Godly) featuring KO and Yanga. In the same year 2014, the album hit a platinum certification. By the year 2018, it had climbed and landed a double platinum by RiSA.

Not pausing for a breath, AKA released another song, this time a lead single titled, The World is Yours. It was a prequel from his third album which had not been released yet. While preparing for the release of his third album, AKA collaborated with Anatii to compose an album, Be Careful What You Wish For. It was released on the 28th day of July 2017. AKA and Anatii supported the album with three singles that were titled 10 Fingers, Don’t Forget To Pray and Holy Mountain. As usual, it had a lot of positive reviews and critics. It was expected as whatever AKA touches turns to gold.

After AKA’s single The World Is Yours was released in 2016, he also released some other singles Caiphus Song, Star Signs which featured Stogie T and Sweet Fire. These were done to support his third album Touch My Blood. Fifteen days prior to the release of Touch My Blood, AKA released the song Beyonce. It was a controversial one as it was a dismissive song that was dedicated to his past partner Bonang Matheba. Before the album was released still, AKA organized a mini-contest for the graphic artist of his music album cover. He announced it on Twitter and entries began to pour in. The winner was a young man called Taonga. He did exceedingly well especially with the description that was given for the art, a clear face portrait of AKA. Part of Taonga’s prize was an internship with Beam Group.

The album Touch My Blood was supposed to be released on the 25th of May 2018, but due to the lot of work that had to be done underground as regards its promotion, it was released officially on the 15th day of June 2018. The album featured other South African musicians like L-Tido, JR, Yanga Chief, Stogie T, Kwesta & Okmalumkoolkat, and a Nigerian artist and producer Kiddominant. Touch My Blood shook South Africa and in few months was certified Platinum by RiSA and in 2019, it hit double Platinum.

AKA music list

Altar Ego released in 2011.
Levels released in 2014.
Be Careful What You Wish For featuring Anatii, released in 2017.
Touch My Blood released in 2018.

Other activities

On the 8th of April 2019, AKA was featured on a WWE live event that took place in Cape Town and Johannesburg, South Africa. In February 2019, he was the featured roastee in Comedy Central SA annual roast special.
Kiernan Jarryd Forbes alias AKA in April 2018, in collaboration with a vodka brand Cruz, launched the watermelon-flavoured drink with his initial on the bottles.

Kiernan signed a deal worth millions of dollars with Reebok. The deal is for the publicity and marketing of their men’s wear brand.

AKA Relationship, personal life and family

AKA dated the producer and DJ, DJ Zinhle. Their relationship kicked off towards the end of 2014 after he received several awards and nominations. They birthed a daughter whom they named Kairo on the 8th of July 2015. Their relationship, however, hit the rocks following his affair with Bonang Matheba.

AKA also dated Nicole Nyaba, a top model. They began dating in 2018. Nicole confirmed their relationship in an interview with Drum Magazine. They even lived together but the relationship did not last long.
AKA and Zinhle got back together again in late 2018 and broke up again to the consternation of South Africans in 2019. They both went to an undisclosed location for a vacation.

DJ Zinhle and Kiernan Jarryd Forbes co-parenting their daughter Kairo. It is evident that she is the apple of Kiernan’s eye as he lavishes her with expensive gifts. On her third birthday, they both threw her a very lavish party.

AKA Awards and Accolades

18th South African Music Awards, Best Male Artist in 2012. This was for his album, Altar Ego.
Channel O Africa Music Video Awards nominee for Most Gifted Hip Hop Artiste in 2013.
African Muzik Magazine Awards Best Male, Southern Africa and Best Rap Act nominee in 2014.
MTV Africa Music Awards nominee for Best Hip Hop in 2014.
Channel O Africa Music Video Awards nominee for Most Gifted Hip Hop Artiste in 2014.
Winner of African Muzik Magazine Awards for Best Male Southern Africa and Best in 2015.
Winner of MTV Africa Music Awards for Best Collaboration in the year 2015.
Winner of 21st South African Music Awards for Best Male Artist. This was due to his work on the album Levels in 2015.
Kora Awards nominee for Best African Hip Hop in 2015.
BET Awards nominee for Best International Act (Africa) in 2015.
MTV Europe Music Awards nominee for Best African Act in 2015.
M.O.B.O. Awards nominee for Best International Act (Africa).
In the same year 2015, he was nominated and he won several awards at the 4th South Hip-hop awards which include
Best Collaboration nominee due to his work in AKA – Baddest which featured Burna Boy, Khuli Chana and Yanga and Anatii – The Saga featuring AKA which he won.
Winner of the Most Valuable Artist category for his work in Levels (Gold album), Congratulate (Gold single), All Eyes on Me (Gold single) and Run Jozi (Godly) (Gold single).
Winner of the Most Digital Sales category
Winner of the Song of the Year category for his collaboration Anatii – The Saga (featuring AKA) and AKA – Baddest.
Winner of Video of the Year category for Anatii – The Saga (featuring AKA) and nominee for AKA – All Eyes on Me, Da L.E.S – P.A.I.D (featuring AKA and Burna Boy) and AKA – Sim Dope.
In 2016, at the 15th Metro FM Music Awards he was
Winner for Best Collaboration category and Best Hit Single Category for his song AKA – Baddest (featuring Burna Boy, Khuli Chana and Yanga)
Nominee for Best Remix category for AKA – Baddest Remix (featuring Fifi Cooper, Rouge, Moozlie and Gigi Lamayne)
22nd South African Music Awards 2016 nominee for Best Collaboration category for AKA – All Eyes on Me (featuring Redsan, Burna Boy and Stonebwoy) and Best Remix category for AKA – Baddest (featuring Fifi Cooper, Rouge, Moozlie and Gigi Lamayne).
BET Awards 2016 nominee for Best International Act.
BET Awards 2017 nominee for Best International Act.
Winner of 2019 Kids’ Choice Awards for Favourite South African Star.
Winner of Namibia Annual Music Awards 2019 Pan African Artist of the Year.
BET Awards 2019 nominee for Best International Act.
Winner of 26th South African Music Awards for Music Video of the Year for his work in AKA – Jika ft YangaChief.

AKA Net Worth

Kiernan Jarryd Forbes is one of the richest music artists in South Africa. He is estimated to be worth 155.6 million South African Rand. In 2020, he was estimated to be worth $11 million dollars.

Material possessions

AKA is a lover of the good life. In his garage, he has a BMW i8 worth about 4 million Rand. AKA biography reveals he also owns a BMW X6.

Besides the cars, he also has a massive 170 million Rand home he bought after he had his daughter, Kairo with DJ Zinhle. It is also rumored that he got another house during his relationship with Bonang Matheba.

Controversies

AKA biography wouldn’t be complete without mentioning some of his controversies. It was rumoured to be his affair with Bonang Matheba that ended his relationship with his baby mama DJ Zinhle. Kiernan Jarryd Forbes and Bonang Matheba, however, denied such allegations and threatened to sue DJ Zinhle for character defamation. In 2016 however, Bonang Matheba and AKA made it public that they were dating. This was evidenced by their posting pictures of each other on their Instagram accounts. Bonang Matheba also featured on AKAs music video for The World Is Yours. Their relationship was the envy of many as they almost rivaled Kim Kardashian and Kanye West. In 2016, they won the Favourite Couple Award at the YouSpec Awards. They were also on covers of various magazines. A power couple indeed.

The duo broke up shortly afterwards in 2017. AKA took to his Twitter account and announced their break-up. It was rumoured that Bonang Matheba was the muse for the single Beyonce that AKA dropped on the 10th of May 2018.
Nicole Nyaba revealed that her relationship with AKA crashed after he went back to his baby mama, DJ Zinhle.
In an interview with Vanguard, Kiernan Jarryd Forbes revealed that he loves Nigerian women because they are go-getters and are known to be sassy.

AKA has also gotten his fair share of Twitter drags online. He once made a tweet stating that racism would only end if there were more mixed-race babies. A lot of individuals came at him for such an inflammatory statement. As always, other people were on his side.

Conclusion on AKA Biography And Net Worth

Kiernan Jarryd Forbes has done a lot for South African hip-hop and has put them on the map internationally. More is expected of him however in the coming years.

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