AKA's sixth studio album, 'Mass Country', debuted on Friday. The posthumous tape marks a love letter from the rapper, who was recently laid to rest in a public ceremony with friends and loved ones. The 14-track project contains previously released hits 'Lemons (Lemonade)' with Nasty C, 'Paradise' with Musa Keys and Gyakie, as well as fresh arrival 'Company'.
Mass Country was produced and completed before South African rapper Kiernan Forbes’ untimely death. With a mix of local sounds, and features from a host of South Africa’s hottest Hip Hop talent including Khuli Chana, Blxckie, Nadia Nakai, Emtee, Yanga Chief, Sjava and more, there is no mistaking that this one was for his South African fans. In a video taken while he was in the studio, AKA is heard saying “there is only one audience I am pandering to”.
His mother, Lynn Forbes says: “Kiernan was so proud of Mass Country. As a family it was a pleasure to see his music's evolution over the years. He played us this album over and over again. We’re happy the world finally gets to hear it.”
The album is expected to make waves across the globe. Spotify has revealed that, while South Africa makes up the largest single market for AKA’s music at 38%, the vast majority of listeners (62%) are streaming from elsewhere in the world. The UK , USA, Sweden and Germany round out the top 5 markets for his music.
Since his death earlier this month, streams of AKA’s music have increased by 743% on Spotify.
AKA began his music career in high school with rap trio Entity, alongside Vice Versa and Greyhound. In 2011, AKA broke onto the music scene as a solo act with his debut album Altar Ego. Spotify data tracks his meteoric rise, and growing popularity with each new album. Levels, his sophomore album was able to reach the 1 million streams mark on Spotify in 19 months. His third studio album, Touch My Blood, released in 2018, raced to a million streams in just 11 months.
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