/ 21 November 2012

AKA pulls out of SA Hip-Hop Awards

Kiernan Forbes
Kiernan Forbes

With eight nominations for the inaugural South African Hip-Hop Awards, Kiernan Forbes, better known as AKA, has released a statement distancing himself from the event because of a lack of communication and mismanagement.

"It came to the attention of my publicist and agent Farah Fortune yesterday [November 19] when she was contacted for the first time regarding the SA Hip-Hop Awards," the statement read.

"This was the very first time anyone in my management team was contacted regarding these awards. We were notified that I had received eight nominations.

"However, this communication comes three days before the actual event taking place November 21 2012 and the same day voting closed.

"With eight nominations on the table I feel I should have been asked to perform at something which is specifically to promote the genre I represent mostly.

"Due to these reasons, I have withdrawn myself from these awards and do not wish to participate in a process in which we have no information."

The awards, to be held on Wednesday evening at the Alex Theatre in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, are run by the Ritual Media Group.

Negativity and hype
Owner of the awards, Osmic Menoe, said that he finds all the negativity surrounding the event disheartening. Since the release of the statement and tweets by AKA, talk has been more of what is being said by the Jealousy rapper than the actual event.

"I am not going to focus on the attacks that are going on, it is all about tonight and celebrating the industry. Now everyone wants to focus on the awards and call me," Menoe said. 

He says that he does not understand where this is all coming from because AKA tweeted about the event two weeks ago.

A tweet from November 10 reads: "I would like to thank @SA_HipHopAwards for my 7 nominations."

Menoe told the Mail & Guardian that even though many are saying they have not heard about the awards and that there has not been much hype, they have received 5 000 votes via SMS and 9 000 fans have voted online.

The press release stated that AKA would not grant interviews related to the awards.

When questioned about the tweet, Fortune said that AKA found out about his nominations via Twitter but only got official word of it, along with an invite from the organisers, on Monday.