Content creation has become a career.
Hundreds of South Africans have taken up this path, dedicating hours of their time to content, whether it is comedy, beauty or reality shows.
It has become so big that content creators were honoured at events like the DStv Content Creator Awards.
At this event, Molemo Lehoko walked away with the Sports Fan award. He started his comedy career in 2015 and it has now borne some fruits for him.
The 33-year-old from Soweto is a full-time content creator who you might know as Lemii Loco and finds this to coincide with his passion for entertaining.
“It’s great, especially for such a tough category. I deliberately chose to go a humorous route in a space that I felt was over-saturated with the same kind content, i.e., face to camera, pumping fellow sports fans with stats, analysis and typical commentary of the very same game they just watched. We have traditional broadcasters and professional analysts for that.”
Molemo chose to do something more witty, passionate, full of punchlines and emotion, “and it worked. Authenticity is always my secret weapon. I love the creation part of being a content creator. I don’t follow trends.”
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This accomplishment means a lot because he’s an advocate for originality and encourages all upcoming creators to prioritise being original.
“Professionally, I’m honoured that my originality doesn’t go unnoticed and [get] overshadowed by trends or “what traditionally works”. All the extra effort of performance and editing is appreciated instead of just hitting record and spewing out stats.”
Originality is they key ingredient that Molemo is sure to sprinkle into any of his content creation.
“I’m inspired by all creators, young and old. Professional pundits, analysts especially what we in South Africa call the Extra-Strong fans. I’ve made friends with a few of them, and they inspire me the most.”
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Being recognized has seen him become a benchmark for content creators which is humbling for the brother, but he also sees it as a target on his back with people looking to outdo him in the new year. He confidently explains how this will simply spur him on to create even better content.
Molemo wards off any enquiry around the major differences and similarities between art and content creation.
“Personally, I’d say if your content is not a form of artistic expression, then you’re doing something wrong,” he says.
When he first started out, he found collaborating with content creators he enjoyed personally, to be somewhat of a challenge.
“I wasn’t “booming” enough. That’s why I jump at collabs now, especially with upcoming creators that are trying to make a name for themselves because I know what it’s like to be there. Now, it’s a “die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain” situation,” he explains invoking a popular quote from the Batman film The Dark Knight.
“People think you win these awards because you work with big brands in those respective spaces. But I guess everyone loves an underdog story, so I always grind like I’m still the underdog.”
He feels he has made a mark on the media industry and is hoping this will reap more rewards for him.
“Probably collab with other creators more. There’s a lot of power in collabs and there’s a lot of creators doing really cool stuff there. I’m a huge sports fan. Always have been and always will be. I’d love the opportunity to create such content on a broadcasting level.”
