Four months on from the death of her boyfriend, the rapper AKA, Nadia Nakai conducted her first podcast interview since when she sat down with L-Tido for the latest episode of his L-Tido Podcast.
The “Naah Mean” rapper spoke at length on a host of topics, including her current journey of sobriety, her experiences with AKA before his death, her relationship with DJ Zinhle and Kairo, and her career thus far.
“I joined Family Tree because, honestly, I’ve always seen Cass (Cassper Nyovest) when I went to varsity at Monash because Boity used to go to varsity and Monash and he always used to be on campus visiting Boity,” she explained.
She also spoke on how she felt motivated to join the label because AKA, Nyovest’s long-time arch rival at the time, had excluded Nakai from an all-female remix of his hit single, “Baddest”.
She added that the snub made her feel “really bad” and she subsequently decided to do her own remix of the song.
AKA would later explain to her that he hadn’t intentionally snubbed her but rather he didn’t “cav (see)” her like that.
When L-Tido asked if the perception that female rappers don’t get along is true, Nakai explained that she thinks it’s easy for female rappers to get into a tiff because women are naturally very territorial.
She went on to share how her and Moozlie didn’t get along for several years but squashed their beef in the past few years.
Later, she explained why she eventually left Family Tree. “I think people always assume that when a relationship ends, it means that you ended on bad terms.
“We didn’t end on bad terms. I just feel like I wanted to grow and I wanted to build a ragga Records and I wanted to build a ragga Productions… My mindset was building my own entities.”
Later in the interview, Nakai shared how she was at Ayanda MVP’s event when she got the news that AKA had been shot. “I’d spoken to him 10 minutes before he passed away,” she said.
“He called me in the greatest of spirits, ‘Baby, what are you wearing?’ And then he’s like, ‘The boys and I are leaving, we’re going to the hotel to get ready’.”
Don Design’s girlfriend, whom she was with, later pulled her to the side shortly after and told her that AKA had been shot. “It didn’t register that he was shot fatally at all until I got the news that it was fatal. I really felt like he’s probably shot in the shoulder or like on the leg.”
She says they got in the car and drove to Durban immediately that evening — “Which was also pointless too because there was nothing I could do. But I was just like I have to get there. I just have to get there.”