Nadia Nakai Details The Creative Impact AKA Had On Her Music Career
Nadia Nakai Details The Creative Impact AKA Had On Her Music Career. Nadia Nakai has shared fresh insights into the deep personal and professional impact of her close relationship with the late rapper AKA. In a recent interview with Slikouronlife, the South African star highlighted how his habits shaped her creative process long after his passing.
“Definitely influenced being a lot more collaborative when it comes to making music,” Nakai explained. She recalled her early days focused on solitary work with producers and beatmakers for her first album. AKA, however, thrived on collective energy.
“He always bounced off ideas with the people that were around him, and he was very big on collaborating. Even if it was just having friends that can come over to the crib and listen to the song, or him sending a song to the boys at 3 AM saying, ‘Listen to this,’ and getting their feedback and asking, ‘ Where do you think they should go with it and all.”
This openness now defines her workflow. Nakai embraces input from others throughout the song-making process, a shift she attributes directly to AKA’s example. “So, being a lot more collaborative, being a lot more open to people’s opinions in the song process, like the song-making process, 100 per cent that.”
Beyond collaboration, AKA inspired her to think bigger about sound itself. Nakai learned to move past genre boundaries and chase deeper resonance. “Another thing that I also learned was just trying to make more sonically, like more music.
Not necessarily making a hip-hop song, but making music, making sonically timeless things,” she said. “I think that’s what I learned from him, just making music that should surpass the time and music that can resonate with the 5-year-old kid and the 80-year-old. That’s kind of like been the most nuggets that I got from him.”
Nadia Nakai‘s reflections arrive as she continues to honour AKA’s legacy while carving her own path in an industry that lost one of its brightest stars. The conversation underscores how his influence lives on through artists who shared his circle, turning private lessons into public inspiration for the next generation of South African talent.
