Music
Photo by Oupa Bopape/Gallo Images via Getty Images.

Costa Titch Was Just Getting Started

Following his tragic passing, we take a look back at the polarising South African rapper’s career.

AKA expressed that his and Costa Titch’s joint album, You’re Welcome, helped take him out of a dark place after losing his fiancé in 2020. “He and I started just hanging out, and he brought me out of my shell, saying, ‘Come out, come make music again, come start performing again,’” AKA told HYPE Magazine two weeks before being shot and killed in Durban last month.

Costa Titch, who died a month later while performing on stage at Ultra Festival in Joburg, had met AKA through Riky Rick, who also passed away in 2022. AKA and Riky appeared on the remix to Costa Titch’s 2019 breakout hit “Nkalakatha”—and AKA they hit it off from then.

Breaking Through to the Mainstream

The “Nkalakatha” remix was Costa Titch’s knighting event. Following years of bubbling under, the New Wave (South Africa’s SoundCloud rap scene) pioneer had not just caught the attention of two of the biggest rappers in the country, but he was on a song with them.

Costa Titch had worked his way up from dancing with his homeboy Benny Chill while growing up in Nelspruit in the Mpumalanga province. Costa and his crew had a stint as Cassper Nyovests’ official dancers in the mid-2010s. But Costa Titch found himself being a recording artist after making music with Tumi Tladi (another South African rapper who passed on last year). Their thinking was that, in order for their dance videos to be played on TV, they needed to be accompanied by original music. When people fell in love with their music, the two rappers ran with it and Costa Titch started building his name in South Africa’s SoundCloud rap scene.

By the time of his death, Costa Titch had grown into an A-list South African artist. His breakout hit “Big Flexa” had gone viral through a TikTok challenge and a music video that had surpassed 40 million views. His lyrical approach to amapiano was reminiscent of Focalistic’s style. “‘Ke Star’ like Foca,” Costa rapped on the song which featured his early collaborator Alfa Kat alongside Sdida, Man T, C’buda and the duo Banaba Des.

Polarising Nature

While millions of fans danced to Costa’s viral hits, the critics were crying foul play at a white kid appropriating black culture. “I had a lot black friends and I connected with black people more,” Costa Titch explained in an interview with SlikourOnLife. “I’ve just been around African culture.” Costa Titch’s best friend growing up was the rapper Benny Chill with whom he remained close until he passed on. “I’m learning Zulu through making music,” Costa said at the time.

The game opened its arms to the young rapper. His debut album Made In Africa, which dropped in 2020, featured the likes of DJ Maphorisa, Sjava, Riky Rick, AKA, Boity, Boskasie, YoungstaCPT and a few other South African music stars.

Costa Titch’s music was catchy and allowed him and his dancers to give a lively show on stage. He also maintained the dance element in his music which was helpful in an era when fans connect with songs they can dance to on camera, becoming TikTok sensations in the process.

Explaining the joint album, AKA said the two of them had set out to make a “non musical project.” “We are living in the amapiano era. So we said how can we make amapiano without making amapiano,” he said. “We wanted to make TikTok songs… We didn’t wanna make long songs.”

Saving AKA’s Life

You’re Welcome hardly made a dent. The album wasn’t well-received by fans and its lead single “Super Soft” didn’t do much either. It also felt too soon for AKA to be making music after the controversial passing of Nellie.

To AKA, though, You’re Welcome meant a lot. He was introduced to Costa’s younger fanbase as the duo performed in spaces AKA wouldn’t normally give the time of the day. Costa Titch saved AKA’s life, but both rappers, unbeknown to anyone at the time, didn’t have much time left.

AKA passed on two weeks before the release of Mass Country, his comeback album which was led by the monster single “Lemons (Lemonade)” which featured Nasty C, a rapper AKA has invited to rap on stage in Durban many moons before Nasty became a superstar himself.

Costa Titch was only getting started. His career had just taken off. At this year’s Cotton Fest in February, Costa brought out Akon as a surprise guest. The Konvict Kulture head honcho announced a partnership between his company and the South African rapper. “I wanna inaugurate him into the Konvict Kulture family,” he said. A remix of “Big Flexa” featuring Akon followed a week after. Costa Titch was about to make the world his oyster. But the universe had other plans. He collapsed while performing at Ultra and was pronounced dead almost instantly.

Costa Titch was a polarising artist as, while some felt he was performing musical black face, those on his side felt he was just being a citizen of a post-racial South Africa where racial and cultural lines are blurred the way Mandela envisioned.

Others hailed Costa Titch as an icon, understandably so. “You were that white kid who stood out like a sore thumb because of how incredibly skilled, technical, intentional, creative, professional, disciplined, hardworking and wildly amazing you were as a multitalented dancer and choreographer,” wrote Bontle Modiselle, who also spent a long time in the thriving South African hip-hop dance scene of the late 2000s and early 2010s.

Costa Titch joins a plethora of popular South African musicians who have passed on in what seems like a purge of sorts. In the last two years South Africa has lost talents such as Riky Rick, AKA, Tumi Tladi, Mpura, Killer Kau, DJ Dimplez, DJ Citi Lyts, Mampintsha and DJ Sumbody, a majority of who were on top of their game and had exciting futures ahead of them in the game.

Music
Photo Credit: Sjava

Sjava: The Man In the Mirror

Breaking down the South African hip hop artist’s latest album, Isibuko.

Sjava’s third studio album Isibuko raked in more than 7.7 million streams in its first week. This was done without a lead single, just a well-planned and well-executed rollout and a loyal and ever-growing fanbase that had last heard from the BET Award-winning artist in 2021 with his previous project, Umsebenezi.

Isibuko is Sjava’s most personal album to date. Sjava lays his vulnerabilities bare. “Till today, my life is a mess, because of what I do. I was happier before I put out the music,” the South African artist is heard saying in the album’s trailer. “But now I’m happy because I finally understand that it doesn’t matter what another person says.”

Through a Broken Mirror

The album's trailer reveals a man in the process of self-reflection. Isibuko’s provenance was a minor accident. “I bought this mirror at Game,” Sjava said, explaining the album title is IsiZulu for “mirror,” during the album’s listening session in Rosebank, Joburg. “But then when I was walking down the stairs, I dropped it and it broke. But it was still in its packaging, so I just kept it as is. I would look at myself every time when I was getting ready, checking out my swag nam’ saying. And where I live, it’s quiet, so sometimes I’d just look at myself in that mirror and just think.”

From that reflection was born the concept of Sjava taking a moment to examine himself. “So,” he says, “I decided, let me make this album, an album for someone who will listen to it by themselves and it speaks to them. The music you play when you’re alone is usually not what everybody plays. I wanted to create that kind of music.”

Sjava - Isibuko (Album Trailer)youtu.be

“This is an album you can listen to when you are at home on your own or you are driving, music that will uplift you. Whenever you feel like a failure, you have a song that will encourage you, tell you that you are just pushing pressure on yourself, you are on the right track.”

The last sentence is a quote of the hook to the poignant “Amavaka,” a song on Isibuko where Sjava speaks of disliking who he sees in the mirror. “Ngay'buka es'bukweni ngay'zonda / Ngathi, ‘uwena omosh' impilo yami,’ ngaz'khomba,” (which directly translates to: “I looked myself in the mirror, and hated myself, and said, ‘you are the one who’s messing up my life’”) he sings as a lo-fi instrumental hisses under his hoarse alto.

YouTube Lo-Fi Beats

The lo-fi production is one of the elements that set Isibuko apart from Sjava’s previous three projects — Isina Muva (2015), Umqhele (2018), Umsebenzi (2021) — which were almost exclusively produced by his long-time producer Ruff. About 30% of Isibuko was produced by lo-fi producers Webmoms and Delayde who are both from the U.K.

Sjava found their music while listening to lo-fi beats on YouTube after a stressful day, he says. Some beats caught his attention. “I saw the names, went on IG and DM’d them saying, ‘I’m Sjava from SA, I fuck with your shit.’ I sent them links to my music, they liked what they heard, they sent me a beat and "Umcebo" was born.”

He recalls having one beat on loop as he drove and started freestyling what would later become “Grounding,” a song about a conversation between Sjava and his mother, who is asking him to settle down and get married. Sjava lets his mother know that the game today is different from dating during her time. “Uthando lwamanje sel’hlukile, lugcwele udlame (love today, is violent),” he sings.

Sjava #Isibuko Live Medleyyoutu.be

Webmoms and Delayed also produced “Ubuhle Bendalo,” a song about the necessity for humans to take a break from the hustle and bustle of the city and reconnect with nature and their roots. “We went to Emtshezi on a camp,” says Sjava, “I was just walking around and the chorus came.”

Webmoms and Delayed are among a number of producers who contribute to the 18-track album. Bassist and guitarist Vuyo Manyike produced “Ungavumi." Manyike, who’s also an instrumentalist, played the guitar on “Ubuhle Bendalo” on Isibuko and "Winter Nights" on Sjava's 2015 album, Isina Muva.

A Personal Body of Work

While some songs draw from observing the lives of others, a majority of the album feels personal because of the amount of detail in his writing. From the story of an ex who drunk texts him at 3 a.m. as she listens to too much Summer Walker (“Amaphiko”), to a song like “Amakhehla,” where he sings about walking around guarded by his ancestors, or a song like “Isoka” where he warns his woman that haters will talk shit about him, but she shouldn’t be bothered as no one is flawless.

“But, I was talking about the public more than intombi (a woman) because there have been situations where I was portrayed negatively so that the girl, who’s you, would dump me,” Sjava says. He was likely referring to the sexual harassment case that was opened by his ex-girlfriend Lady Zamar, a case that was later dismissed by the court due to a lack of evidence.

On “Ithuna,” a song featuring maskandi legend Shwi, Sjava sings from the perspective of a womaniser reflecting on his ways, which he equates to digging himself a grave. “I’m encouraging amajongo (gents) to slow down and settle down,” Sjava says. “After recording it, I felt like I had said my piece but the song needed an elder’s voice. Then I went to uBab’uShwi and broke the idea down to him." The maskandi legend introduces himself through backing vocals on the hook before dropping gems on his verse.

“It’s important to go back to our legends because they are the ones who inspired us to get here. If you listen to my music, you hear a lot of Shwi,” Sjava says.

Late kwaito legend Mandoza offers inspiration to Sjava in the song “My Life,” which features fellow ATM (African Trap Movement) member Emtee and Emtee Records signee, Lolli Native. “People who know me know how much I look up to Mandoza. He motivated me,” Sjava says. “That song was inspired by his vibe and aura. When I was making it, I remember saying to Ruff I’m not sure if it will sound the way it does in my head, but let me try.”

In the song, Sjava and his collaborators express that their lives aren’t perfect, which is a misconception people tend to make when looking from the outside. One can’t be blamed for thinking that. Sjava has fought some battles since his introduction to the game in the 2010s, but he has effortlessly maintained momentum in his thriving career.

With the release of Isibuko, Sjava further settles into the hearts of South African music lovers’ hearts and the annals of contemporary South African music.



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