It is the final album recorded by AKA shortly before he was murdered in February 2023. The album was promoted on the rapper's official
Instagram account hours before his shooting. The first few singles including "
Lemons (Lemonade)" received positive reactions from the likes of producers
Swizz Beatz and
Diplo.[9]Spotify honored Kiernan Forbes by displaying a billboard of the album in
Times Square, New York.[10]
SME Africa announced an upcoming Mass Country Deluxe edition in July 2023, released date to be announced.[11]
Commercial performance
The album surpassed 10 million streams on Spotify in less than 8 hours, becoming his most streamed album,[12] was certified Gold by the
Recording Industry of South Africa (RiSA) two weeks after its release,[13] and later Platinum. Sony Music Africa hosted a private brunch to celebrate the milestone and announced that the posthumous album surpassed 35,404 units, which is equivalent to 40,972,588 streams in South Africa alone.[14]
Artwork
AKA revealed the album's artwork on 11 January 2023, on his Instagram account. The artwork was designed by South African illustrator
Karabo Poppy.[15] It shows the face of AKA surrounded by objects which represent South African Culture, like a 10-cent coin, an old
BMW, a skull, and a snake.[16]
Title
In an interview with Slikour, AKA revealed that the album's title is inspired by a South African cultural music genre called
Maskandi, citing that the title "MASS COUNTRY" sounds like "Maskandi", blending the genre with hip hop music and country music.[17][18]
Thus the link between the title of the album and its artwork are about South African Culture, as particular objects that represent the culture appear.[19]
Track listing
Mass Country track listing adapted from Apple Music.[20]
AKA came out as the most nominated individual in
2023 leading the nomination list of the
South African Music Awards (SAMAs) with seven nominations,[21] of which four categories namely
Album of the Year, Male Artist of the Year, Best Hip Hop Album, and Best Engineered Album he scored amid the success of MASS COUNTRY.[22]