Seven months after the untimely passing of her lover, South African musician AKA, rapper Nadia Nakai has made an ultimate return to the mic and to sure-footed form. Aptly titled ‘Back In’, it is the Zimbabwean-South African artist’s first official single as the primary artist since her 2022 song ‘Not the Same’ alongside hip-hop star Lucasraps.
Produced by Murphy Cubic and Plxygrnd, ‘Back In’ is a bouncy, gym-ready drill joint with a hybrid personality accented by a heavy bassline and a rumbling bass which oscillates in and out of view in honour of glitch-hop. Kinetic and groovy, the song features quickfire hi-hats and stylistic vocals of Nadia breathing in and out, almost as if she’s been racing against the beat sprinting (albeit in step) alongside her.
Lyrically, ‘Back In’ is the song it presents itself to be, with Bragga bulldozing her way through the beat with braggadocious verve and chic. In the song, she flaunts her well-to-do status (“Back in my bag / Birkin tags, I know that they mad”), resilience (“Back on my Bragga / Too many colours Balenciaga / I run with the vatos”), and pays homage to her late boyfriend (“We at the top, Kilimanjaro / Pray they remember, I do this for Mega”).
Her acknowledgements that her energies are a reincarnation of those from the late Kiernan Forbes and that she herself has found a skin once again as a grieving woman are what make the song human, imparting qualities of soul and encouragement.
More than just a musical flex, ‘Back In’ plays out as a celebration and a testament to the bouncebackability of the human spirit. Considering the loss of love to death and having to juggle a career where emotions are a mere spectacle, something to be shelved because “the show goes on”, the single is a proud chin-up moment for the hip-hop muso.
