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Award-winning rapper, Nadia Kandava – popularly known as Nadia Nakai – has penned heartfelt lyrics for her late rapper boyfriend, Kiernan “AKA” Forbes.
The rapper was shot and killed alongside his friend Tebello "Tibz" Motsoane in Durban, in February last year.
READ: AKA scoops an international music award
She titled the song Never Leave because “it’s purely about how I wish he never had to leave", she said.
Speaking to City Press, the rap artist explained that AKA had bought a rosary in Beverly Hills which he never took off. However, on the day of the shooting, he was not wearing it.
"I talk about the pendant that he usually wore, and how I wish he was wearing it on the day he passed because maybe if he had that pendant, he would have been protected by God.
"He used to brag to me and say ‘look, Babe, I never take off my pendant’,” she recalled.
The same pendant can be seen on Nakai’s artwork for Never Leave.
She added:
While the late rapper’s birthday is on Sunday, 28 January, Nakai said she chose to release the song on Friday, 26 January, "because Sunday is not a good day to release a song", adding that the song was in celebration and honour of her late boyfriend’s birthday.
Nakai explained that, regardless of what people's opinions of the song will be, "they should know that it was not for them or about online streaming platforms", but for her and her healing process.
She added that she hoped people who were going through loss would resonate with it.
READ: Gone but not forgotten: Remembering SA's notable personalities lost in 2023
Featuring KashCPT (Kelsey Minaar) on the song, she said:
The rapper told City Press that Never Leave would be followed by another single, and both singles would be part of an album she was working on. AKA’s murder case is still not solved.
