AKA isn’t shy to experiment with his hair.
Image: Gallo Images/Oupa Bopape
When AKA kicked off his career as part of the hip-hop group Entity, his go-to hairstyle was a short brush cut or close fade. This look was nothing to write home about and he continued to largely play it safe until he released his debut solo album, Altar Ego, in 2011.
But as the rapper’s career has progressed, he’s transformed into a hair chameleon serving up myriad cuts and colours. Some of these styles have earned approving nods, while others which have left us asking, “what’s going on with AKA?”
Here are nine times AKA has impressed, amused or baffled us with his hairstyle choices:
SIGNATURE AKA
Aah, the AKA look we love the most, and probably the rapper’s most long-standing hairstyle. For us, this high-top fade with semi-clean edges and lots of body and texture at the top spells cool, hip-hop mogul vibes.SHARP EDGES
An updated take on AKA’s signature high-top fade, this one sees the cut being revised with much cleaner shaved edges and sides and much shorter, yet structured length at the top. We can’t complain here either — it is still signature AKA but sharper and we stan.VERSACE GOLD
We’re all for experimentation, but we weren’t quite sure what to make of this era of AKA’s hair evolution: the blonde looked orange and wasn’t toned to remove any brassiness. The colour sparked many memes and comparisons to cartoon character Johnny Bravo; it really had us thinking, “what’s up with AKA?”AKA GOES PLATINUM
We’d like to thank the hairstylist who added a splash or two of toner and purple shampoo to AKA’s brassy orange strands because this platinum colour is more our speed. The icy blonde shade paired with that high-top fade style felt like what his ‘Versace gold’ hair flop was probably meant to have looked like all along.GROWN-OUT ROOTS
Grown-out roots tend to be frowned upon, but given that dark roots and chunky blonde highlights are making a comeback, we can get behind this look. While we’re not sure if AKA’s do is intended to be frosted tips or grown-out roots, we’re not offended by the style — in fact it’s a fresh, cool update.