Fans, family, and the management team of the deceased rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes were in shock when a song titled Cocktail by an unknown artist appeared on Spotify under new releases on September 17.
Vth Season, AKA’s management team, has since come forward to offer clarity, stating that it was a glitch with distributors.
The last project Vth Season released by AKA in February 2023 was titled Mass Country. Following that, his girlfriend Nadia Naka released an album featuring the late rapper.
Vth Season hinted at potential releases by other artists who had featured AKA, but nothing had yet been cast in stone or made public.
Rectifying the error, Ninel Lara Musson and Raphael Benza from Vth Season explained that the song released on AKA’s account was due to a technical issue.
They confirmed the song is not theirs nor does it feature AKA. “We are aware of a certain track appearing on AKA’s profile,” Benza said.
Musson and Benza are working with Spotify to prevent future unauthorised uploads from happening.
Shot and killed on Florida Road
They reassured AKA’s fans that they have not compromised any of his music and that they are working with the distributors to resolve the issue.
“These tracks seem to only be on Spotify, but we will clean up everywhere else if we come across anything.
“The Spotify profile has not been hacked. It is a weakness with Spotify that distribution services can deliver content to almost any suggested profiles without restrictions.
“We are in touch with Spotify to notify us of upcoming cases so that we can intercept them before they go live,” Benza said.
AKA was shot by men believed to be hitmen outside Wish restaurant on Florida Road in Durban on February 10, 2023.
His death came two years after the passing of his fiancée, Anele “Nellie” Tembe, who fell from the balcony of Pepper Hotel in Cape Town on April 11, 2021.
The incident happened after an altercation with the award-winning rapper.
