For the longest time South African hip hop was shaped by two individuals: arguably Cassper Nyovest and Kiernan “AKA” Forbes.
But as much as they were talented, their rivalry became a huge talking point.
It’s only now, after AKA’s death, that Nyovest realises that their long-standing beef could have been quashed and the two could have been friends again.
Appearing on “The Episode” podcast, the “Mama I Made It” hitmaker admitted to having regrets about not making amends with the “Company” rapper.
The artist spoke to the hosts on a few topics that included his love for AKA’s song “Company”, why he didn’t acknowledge AKA’s death on social media sooner and how he thought they would settle their long-standing beef.
“I’ve always been a fan of good music. It’s so hard for me, people don’t even understand how hard it was for me. People might take it however they take it, but ‘Company’ is a brilliant song...
“When it dropped it was my favourite song at that time, it’s still one of my favourite songs...It’s not every day you get a song like that, it makes you feel so good.”
He went on to say that when the news of AKA’s death broke he opted not to say anything on social media right away because of the heat he would have received.
“When we heard the news, I didn't say anything for a few days because there was nothing I could say that was not going to be turned around, even if I said ‘rest in peace’, so I was like let me just keep quiet and I’ll say something whenever I feel strong to say something. It’s sensitive, it’s a very sad, sad, sad situation.”
Asked if he and AKA could have resolved their issues, Nyovest admitted that he felt that they needed to have met in the boxing ring.
“I really think we needed to fight. I met his father and he said, ‘If you guys fought, do you think you would have won?’ And I said, ‘Ya, I would have kicked his a**’.
“That’s how I thought it was going to go. I thought we were going to get into the boxing ring. I thought after that we would be okay or make music together.
“We actually do have music together that people have never heard, those are golden songs. We made a few records together.”
Speaking on their impact on the South African music scene he said: “It was just a journey. He was doing his thing, I was doing mine, and we were back and forth, and we didn’t know we were creating this moment.
“We carried music. People don’t remember, before AKA, hip hop wouldn’t win awards like Best Album, you would probable win like Best Hip Hop Song or Best Collaboration or something... so we changed a lot.”
Nyovest also admitted to having regrets about how AKA and his friendship went astray.
“Of course now, because (he’s gone) I’ve got regrets, but we were just in a moment, we were all in the moment.”
Aside from speaking on AKA, the 32-year-old rapper, who is preparing to launch his new album title “Solomon” on July 28, said that he wanted listeners to “sit” with the album.
“When the album comes out please sit with it for a little bit before you search for opinions... For me, I think the best way to enjoy this album is play it, sit with it, visit it again in a few days, and maybe you’ll get the perspective.
“Some people will get it with the first listen, some people won’t, and some might not, ever. In my opinion this is my best album because I am calm, I’m not trying to prove anything, I was just trying to make a good album,” he said.
Watch the full interview below.