AKA is a South African rapper-producer who has been able to garner an extreme level of success within his own country. AKA has mastered the art of engineering and has pioneered through the production of the majority of his own music. Upon reviewing some of the rapper’s music I was surprised to hear so many western hemisphere influences within his flow, lyricism, am pop culture message.
His music consists of very well manufactured beats, with distinct sounds and a lot of originality. His lyrics rhymes and his message is basic in interpretation. A piece that stood out for me is titled “Run Jozi (Godly)” by AKA with an appearance from K.O on the track.
The reason for my sudden interest was the familiar flow to which the first verse of the song has. The first verse of “Run Jozi” is delivered in the same fashion as Migos’s delivery on their own track “Versace,” which gained success through a collaboration in a remix with Drake. At first I took this to be either a carbon copy of the Migos track or a straight up act of plagiarism. I then came to realize the the flow was merely a sense of purposeful imitation. Within the Migos flow, AKA makes an inference to Drakes,” Started From the Bottom,” by subtly delivering the exact line in continuation with his rise to the top and what he interprets to be a REAL struggle for relevance. While AKA raps majorly about his successes and pride for achieving them, Migos rapped about showing off bling and furthermore, using it as a trophy to access life’s riches. Neither have a political discourse, and neither truly send a true message, but rather merely show off a good sense of rhyming skill.
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