Nadia Nakai opens up about her new reality show. Picture: X.
Award-winning hip hop artist Nadia Nakai is baring it all in her new MTV Base reality show, “Nadia Beyond Bragga”.
From her musical journey to personal struggles, including coping with the loss of her partner, rapper Kiernan “AKA” Forbes, this intimate look into the “Naaa Meaan” hitmaker’s world promises drama, authenticity and a behind-the-scenes glimpse of the South African music industry.
“You will get to see a side to me that you haven’t seen before,” she insisted.
“Viewers can expect the drama of what happens in my life everyday because my life is like a movie and I feel like everybody has drama in their lives but mine is so ridiculous.”
It will also feature the 34-year-old’s inner-circle including her family, her friends, such as socialite Bobby Blancho who appeared on Boity Thulo’s BET Africa original reality show “Boity: Own Your Throne”, rapper Tshego and her manager Phindile Matroshy.
“You will see me with my eco system, how I have survived for so long, you will see the work that goes into things, the support system and how we actually get things done.”
“I think people think that it’s easy to navigate the music industry, they think it's simple but it really isn't.”
“You have to get your elbow grease in it, you really have to wake up and work and you have to feel the passion, you have to focus and I think people will actually see what it takes to stay in the game for as long as I have.”
Nakai has already gotten a taste of reality tv when she featured on Netflix’s “Young, African & Famous” but she is thrilled to be helming her own show.
“The Netflix series kind of gave me a taste of what people really enjoyed about me which was my authenticity and I really wasn't trying to be anyone else other than who I am so I thought that I would open the doors a bit wider about what I actually do, what I am about, my music, the process of working on an album, going to shows and I thought that would be really dope to show.”
She admitted that being followed by a camera crew was not too daunting as she is used to being in the spotlight as a musician.
“Shooting the show was fine. People think that with the camera, you end up acting, but I’m used to it.”
And while she hopes that viewers will be able to resonate with her show, the purpose of it was simply to showcase who she is outside of the entertainment world.
“I don’t know if the show will help other people, I hope that it does but that's not the intention of why I do these things,” she explained.
“The cameras capture my everyday life, the situations that I'm going through as I’m going through them so technically, the reality show is showing the process of before I write things down and put them into a song.”
“It is literally just showing the real life of me, of an entertainer, of someone who is navigating this industry, somebody who has lost a partner, somebody who is trying to navigate her family dynamics, finding my feet and my voice and you will see a lot of the imposter syndrome where I’m fighting with my team who wants me to do certain things that I feel like I am not big enough to do yet.”
“You see all of that and the thought process of why I want to do things and why I’m crippled by my own securities.”
Apart from “Nadia Beyond Bragga”, she also dropped two new singles earlier this month.
The first is “Missing You”, featuring Shekhinah,and is produced by the Grammy Award-winning Zakes Bantwini. The second is “M.E.G.A” (Make Everything Godly Again), produced by Osaze Za and featuring Cindii Masina.
These tracks form part of “Braggacy”, her upcoming tribute album to “AKA”, which will be released later this month.