Blxckie opens up about AKA igniting his sense of patriotism as he tours the US with the SA flag

If the late AKA had a political party, fellow rapper Blxckie would probably give his vote to him for this year’s elections.

This after Blxckie told The Citizen that he took a leaf out of AKA’s book with regards to performing with the South African flag while on tour in the US.

Fuck it … I’m going to start performing with the flag again … Vote BHOVAMANIA 🐺 for President in 2024. Good Night. 🇿🇦 .. and please RT every SA flag your see. pic.twitter.com/yh7F002xax

— AKA (@akaworldwide) July 29, 2019

“Definitely took inspiration from AKA as I’d had conversations with him too where he explained the importance of even just owning a flag alone,” averred the rapper whose real name is Sihle Sithole. He spoke to The Citizen mid-tour while in the US.

The tour is in support of Bas’s fourth studio album, We Only Talk About Real S**t When We’re F****d Up, which Blxckie features on in a track titled U-Turn. The album was released in late 2023.

The patriotism

In an interview with Skwatta Kamp member Siyabonga ‘Slikour’ Metane around 2016 AKA explained his reasons for the flag’s mainstay in his performances.

“If I’m performing in the North Pole or if I’m performing in Brazil, I’ll keep it there. I actually picked that up from Americans, if you’re in the States there are[sic] American flags everywhere. They’ve turned it into like a style for a t-shirt, they’ve turned their flag into like a colourway, why shouldn’t we do that.”

You would say this has become a full circle moment, in how the US inspired AKA and he went on to stimulate Blxckie’s sense of patriotism as he tours the North American country.

“I always knew I’d do it if I ever travelled the way I’m travelling now and, of course, it’s being received well. I live in the best country in the world,” said the Kwenzekile rap singer.

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A post shared by somnyama, yena yedwa. <3 (@blxckie_)

ALSO READ: EXCLUSIVE: Blxckie reflects on his career as he heads to the US to tour with Bas

Life on tour

The six week tour across the US is on its third week and the 24 year-old who hails from KwaZulu-Natal is enjoying his time.

“The tour has been going amazing. Everything happened so quickly in terms of finalising and getting me out here for the tour so I really didn’t have much time to mentally prepare; so everything just feels so new,” Blxckie said.

“The LA show stood out to me for sure. Very cool people out there and the backstage was a vibe.”

Blxckie has been documenting his experiences on social media, showing fans that had just seen him for the first time asking for autographs and photo opportunities with him.

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A post shared by somnyama, yena yedwa. <3 (@blxckie_)

“That means a lot to me because it means something is being done right. I came onto this tour knowing that I’m not as well known here as I am back home so any sort of love I receive is much appreciated,” averred Blxckie.

One of the posts that had a number of people intrigued was when he shared a photo of himself with renowned rapper, J Cole.

Blxckie explained to The Citizen that they had two free days on the tour calendar and Bas decided to take him to New Orleans to see the Drake tour which J Cole is part of.

“That show was amazing – I’ve never seen anything like it. Bas then introduced me to J Cole and I guess he had a small idea of who I am because I am on Bas’ latest album. I met Drake too but I wasn’t able to get the picture,” he said laughing.

American rapper Bas who invited Blxckie on the tour is the first artist to be signed under J Cole’s record label Dreamville.

“It’s always dope meeting people that inspire me and, quite frankly, there’s not many people bigger than those two so it was very surreal. There was no music made just very important conversations that I took a lot away from.”

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Missing home?

As exciting life on tour is, one can terribly miss home and some things that can only be found where you come from. The rapper said he missed cow-head and braaied meat.

“I miss braai’d meat for sure, inhloko (cow-head); there’s also no Nandos here so that too just to name a few. This [is] my third time in America so I’ve kinda learnt what to eat just off trying various things. So, I’m good, for now.”

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