‘When I heard he died, I cried’ — The man who helped launch AKA's career, Malcolm X, pays tribute

“I will always love you and your family the way you all always loved me. Under my watch, Kairo, your daughter, will never be in need of anything.

This is the promise businessman and “the people's blesser” Malcolm X has made to slain rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes.

The 35-year-old rapper was assassinated outside a popular Florida Road, Durban,  restaurant last Friday night. Celebrity chef and author Tebello “Tibz” Motsoane was also killed in the shooting.

Their deaths have sent shockwaves across the country and sparked a manhunt for two shooter who pulled off the hit.

Speaking to TshisaLIVE this week, Malcolm X said his friend's death had him heartbroken.

“When I heard he died, I cried. In April 2021, I mourned the death of Nellie Tembe. Today, I mourned the death of her fiancé, AKA, the same way I mourned Nellie.”

In a message to AKA, Malcolm said: “You and I met in The Streetz on Planet Earth. The Streetz through which I try to change people’s lives for the better brought us together. Since 2005 until your death, you picked up all my calls, returned those you missed and responded to all my messages. I did likewise.

“You and I broke bread inside your parents’s house, both your parents respected me and your mom cooked us good meals. Whenever I reprimanded you for something you neither talked back to me nor raised your voice to me. Vice versa.

“I’m going to miss you, my little brother. After [going] to your home and conveying my condolences to your parents and entire family for the third time yesterday, I stopped crying

“I will always love you and your family the way you all always loved me. Under my watch, Kairo, your daughter, will never be in need of anything. Until we meet again in The Heavenly Streetz that I’m sure you’re preparing for me, peace.”

He described how he helped launch AKA's career after seeing him perform at a LoveLife HIV/Aids awareness event in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg, 17 years ago.

“Out of all musical performances, I was intrigued by the performance of a 13-year-old boy, Kiernan. I requested his parent’s contact details, he gave me his dad’s cell number.

“The following day I was sitting in my office at Creative Kingdom Records (CKR) with his dad Tony Forbes, including the family lawyer adv Dali Mpofu. CKR’s CEO Sipho Dlamini gave them a contract I recommended and that was Kiernan Forbes’ (AKA) launch of his professional career as a rapper.”

Malcolm said he attended many of AKA's shows around the country and bought 550 copies of his Touch My Blood album to give away to fans. He also spoke of him and AKA giving away R30,000 to the rapper's fans.

He recounted how he was there for a mourning AKA after Nellie's death in 2021.

“He went on to date Nellie Tembe, a daughter of my friend in Durban, Moses Tembe. Nellie called me Uncle X. At Nellie’s funeral, I held Kiernan’s hand while viewing his fiancée’s body at her home. We attended the funeral service at Durban’s Convention Centre together and later went to the graveyard together.

“It is so sad that Nellie passed on in Kiernan’s city, Cape Town, and Kiernan passed on in Nellie’s city, Durban”.

A memorial service for AKA will be held on Friday at the Sandton Convention Centre before a private funeral service on Saturday.

The memorial will be streamed online with free tickets available to ensure capacity is met.

Tickets were quickly sold out, with only 1,500 issued. The family urged people not to show up at the venue if they did not have a ticket.

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