Rapper AKA has announced that not only will the Beam Group no longer manage him or any of his business affairs, but he is also in the process of shutting the company down.
AKA and his business partner, Prince Costinyo formed the brand management company two years ago.
However, according to AKA, the company has now run its course.
Taking to social media, the rapper whose real name is Kiernan Forbes let fans in on why he pulling out of the company.
“Unfortunately I also have to announce that Beam Group now no longer represents or manages me in ANY capacity. While I remain the owner of the company, I’m actually in the process of shutting it down,” he started.
“We started the company with the best of intentions, unfortunately it’s just not working out for me the way I wanted it to ... so I’m taking my ball and going to play elsewhere,” he continued.
This was met with mixed reactions from fans and industry peers who weren’t so sure that AKA was telling us the whole truth.
But AKA went on to state that it is in the nature of business to try many different things until you get the right one.
“That’s business ya know, you try ... you fail, you get up, you dust yourself off and you keep it moving,” he said.
His followers were left even more confused by this, with some wondering if the failure was on his part or if the company had failed all together.
Some had even speculated that things had gone sour with his business partner, Prince.
Two weeks ago, the Sunday Sun reported that AKA and Prince had indeed been involved in some sort of a disagreement and that the rapper was forced to crawl back to his previous manager, Raphael Benza of Vth Season.
“He went back to Vth Season, because things are not going well for his company. He fired his road manager months ago, and since then people have been leaving his company,” one source told Sunday Sun.
AKA’s now former business partner and former manager concurred with the source.
“I can confirm that AKA is back with Raphael Benza,” he said, and added that he would continue working with AKA in his other business ventures. I want people to know the truth and I don’t want drama, as I’m mourning the death of my mother,” he said.
Meanwhile, Raphael refused to confirm nor deny the news.
“All I can say at this stage is that I wish AKA well on his career. He’s been doing well over the last month with his new song and I’ll continue to do everything possible to elevate his brand,” he told our sister publication.
However, AKA had a different story to tell on Twitter.
“The truth is, AKA is really the “company”. So having a company is actually quite pointless since I’m AKA,” he said.
“I actually realized that you don’t need a company when you yourself are the business,” he continued.
This logic was another point of contention, with industry peers disagreeing with AKA, claiming that he actually would need a company, particularly for tax purposes.
When asked about his relationship with Prince, he did confirm that they were no longer working together.
“It means that I wish him all the best. He’s a great businessman, I’m sure he’ll go on to do awesome things,” he said.
