AKA's Former Business Partner Reveals the Cost of the Iconic ‘The World Is Yours’ Music Video

• In an interview that aired on the SA Hip Hop Mag YouTube channel on Thursday, 12 February 2026, Benza shared how much he invested in one of AKA's music videos
• Benza shared that the video started as a romantic trip for AKA and his then-partner, Bonang Matheba, before becoming a full-scale production
• The investment reportedly returned three to four times its original cost through streams, views, brand exposure, and lasting popularity

As music fans continue to remember the slain rapper and producer Kiernan ‘AKA’ Forbes on his death anniversary, the cost of one of his iconic videos has been revealed by his former business partner and record label boss, Vth Season founder Raphael Benza, popularly known as Benza.

AKA was known for pushing the envelope regarding creativity and taking South African music to the world. In an interview with SA Hip Hop Mag, Benza shared how much Vth Season shelled out to shoot the video to AKA’s hit song The World Is Yours, revealing it was the most ever spent on a hip-hop video in South Africa at the time.

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Cost of AKA's iconic music video revealed

Benza said the video, which began as a romantic trip for AKA and his then-partner, Bonang Matheba, cost just over a quarter of a million rands.

“’The World Is Yours’ video. Back then, I thought that was the biggest budget, which was R275,000. I think it was the biggest budget,” he told the magazine.

Benza said investing such an amount in a music video was not an issue for him, as he had fallen in love with the song the first time he heard it as a demo. He added that he was confident that they would recoup the investment because he believed the song would be a hit.

“The first time I had the demo of The World Is Yours, I thought this is our song. We’re going to make back the R275,000. We’re going to make the money back because the song is that good. It has to have a video that looks as good as it,” Benza added.

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Benza’s investment paid off, and he estimates that The World Is Yours made three to four times over through streams, views, brand exposure, and the song’s lasting popularity.

At the time of writing, the video, which premiered on AKA's official YouTube channel on 2 February 2027, had been viewed just over 10 million times, with 10,870,610 views.

The video was directed by Alessio Bettocchi, Aka and Prince Costinyo and shot in Phuket, Thailand. Briefly News previously ranked the song number seven out of 10 of the rapper’s best songs with videos.

Watch the full video of Benza’s interview with SA Hip Hop Mag below:

Zee Nxumalo reveals earnings from R250k video

Zee Nxumalo is another musician who shared how much they made from a music video after investing R250,000, as previously reported by Briefly News.

On Thursday, 31 August 2025, Zee Nxumalo revealed how much she had earned from the video, which premiered on YouTube on Monday, 22 August

Netizens reacted with admiration, scepticism and curiosity about how the revenue was generated.

Source: Briefly News