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About A-Q

Gilbert Bani (born August 1, 1986) better known by his stage name A-Q, is a prolific Nigerian rapper, recording artist, dancer, songwriter, and performer. A-Q started his music career at the age of 12 listening to other artiste and miming their songs. He was then advised to start writing his own lyrics by friends while in Kings College Lagos.

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Born into a family of six as the last child, A-Q real name Gilbert Bani was raised in Surulere where he has lived for most of his life. Growing up in this environment exposed him to different social classes rich, middle class and poor, which has influenced his ability to socialise within any class he finds himself.

A-Q attended Fountain nursery and primary school, Kings College Lagos, and had his tertiary education at the University of Lagos. Being the last child of his family he caught up to hip-hop at a young age largely influenced from watching his elder siblings react to different genres of music. He started collecting hip-hop tracks, learning the lyrics and miming them and was soon able to mime almost any track out at that time. It didn’t take long before he started writing his own lyrics on advice from friends and thus his sojourn into entertainment.”

About Kiernan Jarryd Forbes

Kiernan Jarryd Forbes, known by his stage name AKA, is a South African hip hop recording artist and record producer. He is a multiple award nominee and winner, both internationally and locally. His break through came after the release of his single, Victory Lap, followed by its remix, with features such as Khuli Chana. On the back of this, he released his first album, Altar Ego, which became a great success.

He has grown to become one of the most significant hip hop artists in Africa. He is respected for his contribution to the growth of hip hop and the foundation of a legacy in Africa. He has influenced many and even stirred controversies with his intimidating and unique skill. His rise has been rapid, and he is popularly considered a young living legend.

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AKA has opened for Kanye West, Snoop dogg, Rick Ross, 2 Chainz, Big Sean and Kendrick Lamar in their South African tours.[6] He has won many awards including “Best Street Urban Music Album” and “Male Artist of the Year” at the 18th South African Music Awards (SAMA) In late 2014 rapper AKA signed a multi-album deal with Sony Music through its new local urban label Sound African recordings. Executive head of A&R for Sony, Zakes Bantwini made the announcement through their platform. ‘We’re excited to add AKA’s illustrious career to our stable. We are excited about AKA’s growth prospects in Africa and beyond.’ The Sony Music/AKA partnership is the key catalyst to change the business and face of Music across Africa, especially in the key areas of quality, distribution and content management’.[7] In June 2015, AKA’s sophomore album Levels was certified Gold, by the Recording Industry of South Africa, for shipments of over 20,000 copies domestically, as of May 2016 the album was certified platinum by RiSA.