Kairo cried but also danced as friends, family and musicians remembered and celebrated the remarkable life of her father Kiernan Jarryd Forbes, who everyone knew as AKA.
The 7-year-old sat in the front row at the memorial at the Sandton Memorial Centre late yesterday afternoon, surrounded by Forbes’ family, one week after his murder in Durban.
“Kairo was the apple of his eye,” rapper JR told the child before telling the packed convention centre about the genius of a man who thought nothing of phoning him at 3am to get him to listen to a track he was working on.
Friends also remembered the rapper as loyal, a genius and who at times would push those around him hard to get the best out of them. He would spend hours working on his craft, getting a beat just right or working the lighting to improve his stage presences on an upcoming show.
This was the musician and businessman who had not only won countless awards, but also became the first South African urban hip hop artist to hit a billion streams of his music.
He was also the first South African rapper to win the Nickelodeon’s Kids’ Choice Award. Besides the music, his vodka brand sold 1.2 million bottles and he created two vodka flavours: watermelon and banana.
Rapper Sim Dope took the stage to remember the Kiernan he met when he was 11 years old in an Afrikaans class at St John’s College. The two quickly bonded and it was Kiernan who gave Dope his name, so he would 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 laughed.
Even those who couldn’t make the memorial yesterday sent their condolences. Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi called 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,” he said.
But away from the service, controversy that had swirled around AKA continued to spill over.
The family of Anele Tembe, AKA’s late fiance, were forced to release a statement to dispute claims they were behind his shooting.
Tembe fell to her death in April 2021 in what was called a suicide.
“Kiernan’s murder has robbed me and my family of the opportunity to get to the bottom of what happened at the Pepperclub Hotel on the fateful night that Anele died – something that I and my family have been fighting for during the last 22 months,” the statement said.
“For these two reasons, it is therefore deeply disheartening to note the scurrilous, absolutely unfounded and baseless rumours doing the rounds regarding my ‘role’ in Kiernan’s death,” the statement read.
Last night on Florida Road in Durban where Forbes and Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane were gunned down, all is returning to normal. The restaurant Wish, which they had just left when they were gunned down, has reopened. Police are still searching for the two killers.
At the end of the memorial AKA’s mother Lynn stood and spoke.
She spoke of her heart shattering, of the anger and pain. But she pleaded with his fans to carry on.
“His fans meant everything to him. You inspired him to be better.
“He was never going to just push out an album, he was never going to be mediocre.
“He would have wanted us to carry on with his legacy.”
Saturday Star