Culture

Late SA rapper, AKA tops music charts with release of ‘Sponono’

Published

10 months ago

July 5, 2023

Despite his death in a drive-by shooting in February, late South African rapper, Kiernan Forbes, popularly known as AKA, has continued to top the music charts with his second posthumously released single entitled “Sponono” by his record label, Sony Music Africa.

The single, from AKA’s platinum selling album, “Mass Country”, which was released on Monday, has jumped to the top of the charts as at Wednesday, according to the label.

Sony Music Africa announced that “Sponono” which features Sjava, 031 Choppa and Baby S.O.N., has been a fan favourite on the album, enjoying massive rotation on radio stations since it was shared.

“Sponono has already been officially certified gold in South Africa and has garnered over 2.6 million streams worldwide since ”Mass Country” dropped in February,” the label said.

“In celebration of the milestone, the single is officially being sampled to national radio, creating a platform for the featured artists to honour AKA through various supporting activities.

“’Sponono’ is an ode to love, an unashamed expression of love and appreciation by a man in love. The term itself is a Sotho term, used to refer to the utmost beauty of a black woman, praising her beauty and affirming her,” the statement said.

031 Choppa, who co-produced and co-wrote the song and featured on the track, wrote on Twitter:

“Wrote this hook thinking about the love of my life, my Sponono.
And on this song I’m expressing that I would do whatever it takes to be with her.

“I produced the beat with the gents thinking I was just gonna produce, then me and Son started vibing out then Forbes walked in and said that’s the hook for the beat. The rest is history.”

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Culture

Ghanaian rapper Sarkodie fires shots at Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy, Asake in new single ‘Brag’

Published

2 days ago

May 13, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Ghanaian rapper, Michael Owusu Addo, popularly known as Sarkodie, has sparked a new round of storm after he fired shots at Nigerian Afrobeats singers, Davido, Wizkid, Burna Boy and Asake in his new single, “Brag.”

In the single which dropped on Friday, May 10, Sarkodie boasted about his 2016 sell-out performance at the O2 Arena, claiming he paved the way for the Nigerian acts.

The Ghanaian rapper said he laid the light for Nigerian Afrobeats top artistes and as such, they should be grateful to him and his pioneering role in projecting their careers.

The “Painkiller” hitmaker boasted about selling out the O2 in 2016, long before the Nigerian stars and created the platform they are now enjoying.

He went on to place himself in the same league as Grammy Award-winning Burna Boy and Ghanaian rapper, Black Sherif.

Sarkodie also stated that his main competitors in the music industry were American rappers Kendrick Lamar and J. Cole, noting that he wasn’t on the same level as African rappers.

A line from the song goes:

“Wizkid came, I was already doing it, Davido started, I was improving it, then Odogwu came through Black Sherif & Asake.”

The release of “Brag” has however, elicited controversy and heated debates within the African music community, with fans weighing in on Sarkodie’s bold assertions and the perceived rivalry between him and the mentioned Nigerian artists.

Culture

Kenyan officials arrest four Tiktokers for filming robbery prank video outside police station

Published

4 days ago

May 11, 2024

Akanimoh Etim

Kenyan Police authorities have arrested four young Tiktokers for filming a robbery prank outside a police station in the Kilifi North Sub-county.

Local media reports that the four young people who were aiming for social media fame, were arrested after filming and publishing on Tiktok a fake robbery outside the police station.

“The four young people, one of whom is 17 years old, made a video titled ‘wezi mbele ya police station’ (robbery outside a police station), and posted it on the popular video platform. However, police didn’t take it lightly,” one report wrote.

“In the video, a seemingly drunk man exits the Administration Police (AP) canteen and gets robbed by two others on a motorcycle.

“The 18-year-old cameraman was among those arrested. Police identified them through CCTV footage at the AP canteen. The youths were arrested at their homes in Kilifi, with the oldest being 27 years old,” another report said.

The Kilifi North Sub-county Police Commander, Kenneth Maina, who confirmed the incident and arrest of the suspects, said investigations are still ongoing, and the suspects will face charges, including cybercrimes.

“The viral video of a daylight robbery at the Kilifi Administration Police canteen in Kilifi was not real but a prank by a group of youths creating content for their TikTok account,” Maina said.

Maina said they were pursuing another suspect who was still at large, adding that the youths revealed they only wanted to attract followers to their TikTok account.

“There were five youths and we managed to arrest four of them and the other one we have a crucial lead that will lead us to an arrest,” the Police Commander said.