Nadia Nakai Kandava, pseudonym Nadia Nakai is a
Zimbabwean born Hip Hop Artist raised in Kenya and
Johannesburg, South Africa respectively. A personality
made for stardom – boasting proficiency in performance and
persona - Nadia, is the personification of boss-hood and
queendom which many girl bosses have an appetite.
Upon musical debut in the year 2016, Nakai has since attained
numerous noteworthy accolades namely, her first debut
single Money Back which obtained critical acclaim. The track
received overwhelming adulation making its way to feature
on MTV Base and Telenovela, Rhythm City. Nakai’s follow up
project with EP Bragga, was too, well received debuting at
number 2 on iTunes hip hop chart. Her hit single Naaa Meaan
featuring Casper Nyovest (2017) placed her as the first female
hip hop artist to reach over 1 million views on YouTube in
South Africa; a collaboration later nominated for a SAMA in
2018. Needless to say Nakai’s initial efforts alone earned her
Best Female nomination at the SA Hip Hop Awards (2017), 2
nominations at the Africa Muzik Magazine Awards (2017) and
Best Collaboration nomination at the Metro FM and SA Hip
Hop Awards (2017) for her feature on Gemini Major’s Ragga
Ragga. It is Nadia’s numerous hit single features as well as her
solo contributions that fashioned her as a strong adversary in
the South African hip hop universe early on.
Ushered in by lead single Imma Boss, her greatly anticipation
debut album Naked - a project that illustrated strength in
vulnerability – functioned as a gateway into Nadia’s thought
process and sought to address many unanswered questions
about the artist. The body of work became Nadia’s transference
of womanhood, telling the experience of life from that
lens. With versatile penmanship and robust production by
mentor Casper Nyovest as well as Gemini Major, Playground
Productions and Tshego, Naked, was armed for great success.
Nakai followed up with deluxe version Naked 2, which