In South Africa, there's famous, then there's famous famous.
When he released Ngud' featuring Cassper Nyovest in 2016, South Africans stood up and took notice.
And with his third studio album Dakar II, his star soared. It became the country's best-selling hip-hop album of all time, deservedly.
But he had been at it for years before, cementing his place in the hip-hop greats with Special ReKwest in 2010 and Dakar in 2013.
His music is timeless, his voice distinct and his fashion is impeccable.
He is Kwesta.
He's been in the business of rap for 16 years and this calls for a celebration. With quite a few studio albums under his name and countless collaborations, at 34, he's made his mark. He's even brought Rick Ross to the country and introduced him to his grandmother.
In that time in the industry, he's become a husband to Yolanda Mvelase (think Khethile Khethile) and a father to two girls Khai and Kenya.
Kwesta, born Senzo Vilakazi, is taking the celebration down to Carnival City Big Top Arena with a live concert titled ‘The 16th Bar Legacy Tour’ in August.
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Speaking about naming the celebration with Drum, he says, “It’s my 16th year in the entertainment industry and I just thought that it is quite a milestone and [it’s] also just a play around the fact that a verse in Hip-Hop is 16 bars, so my whole life in this music industry has been a verse and not a lot of people get a chance to be here for 16 years, so I saw it as an opportunity to celebrate a milestone that is not so common.”
He adds that he decided to kick off the celebrations at Carnival city because that’s where it all started for him.
With the concert, the tour and the years he still plans to dedicate to music, Kwesta wants to leave a legacy of authenticity and longevity.
“When I decided to do music as a career, my whole thing was to try [to] impact it and not be impacted by it. I want people to look back, whenever they do, at my career and go ‘that guy purely gave us pure music, he sounded like himself, he sounded authentic’.”
More than anything, he wants to always be remembered as a creative who put his head down and grinded out his creativity into his music.
“The message that I’d like the 16th bar to put out there is that longevity is a possible thing. A lot of people have been told and it has been drilled into them that the music industry is unsafe, ‘don’t do it, it doesn’t’, which is true only if you don’t dedicate yourself.
“But if you do dedicate, practice and get better at it then it can last 16 years as I am living proof of that. I want to send out that message to any young artist; to just keep their heads down and keep working, by the time they put their head up, it’ll be 16 years later,” he says.
The same way he will be sending out motivation to young artists who look up to him and wish to get as far as he has, the father of two also wishes to show his daughters that it is all possible.
Read More | Kwesta on new music, keeping inspired during lockdown, and his family
“My outlook with my children is that I want them to holistically see me as a person who did their best, not necessarily in a specific song but in everything. So, the whole show is just also to send them the message that if you dedicate yourself and work hard, you could have yourself a 16-year career.”
Even after having brought Rick Ross to South Africa for the ‘I came I saw’ and winning multiple awards, Kwesta says his greatest achievement in his illustrious career is none of these.
The rapper and musician tells Drum that his greatest achievement rather has been remaining a recognised person at home even with his success.
“I tried my best to remain myself and didn’t get swallowed up by the industry as it sometimes does, I’m still recognisable when I get elokshin (in the hood; township where he grew up, Katlehong). Having that much stubbornness to keep your head on your shoulders is something that I actively work on.”
He recalls the South African Music Award ceremony during which he scooped six awards in one night and says: “Besides winning the award, the fact that when they were announcing the nominees, people really wanted me to win, they literally brought the house down whenever Kwesta Dakar came up.
"We shut down Oppie Koppie this one time and got to perform overseas a bunch of times but the biggest one is that I am recognisable at home regardless of the career I chose.”
