AGIZA HLONGWANE
Tokollo “Magesh” Tshabalala, who sadly passed away on Monday, was an influential kwaito lyrical genius who was never afraid to take the game in his own direction, with a catchy, stop-start chanting/rapping/call-and-response style that was always underpinned by street lingo and a cadence which made him an almost peerless epitome of “street-cool”.
Both as an individual artist, and the de-facto leader of the sensational TKZee trio, Tokollo was worth his weight in gold as a superstar.
A super-confident, razor-sharp wordsmith and potent composer, his music was always multi-layered and laced with top-notch “pantsula” sensibilities, catapulting his allure to stratospheric levels, thrilling multitudes of followers in a career spanning well over two decades.
In the unwritten encyclopaedia of South Africa street knowledge and wisdom, one of the best-kept secrets is the fact it is thanks to Tokollo’s lyrical inventiveness that the super-fast BMW e30 “box-shape” 325IS – revered across the racial spectrum – got to be known as a Gusheshe (the word itself a bastardisation of ‘kusheshe,’ to denote lightning-quick movement).
As a rhyme spitter, Tokollo was brash, boisterous and always commanding, often the first to jump on a beat and boss things up, before Kabelo and Zwai could come through and finish off the job.
Like the true maverick that he was, he had a knack for finding and hanging on to that sweet spot in a musical beat, though he never cared much about conforming to rap “bars”. He opted instead to follow his own unorthodox rapping style as if heeding a call from unseen supernatural kwaito forces.
He was no Ol’ Blue Eyes Frank Sinatra, but Tokollo did it his way.
He could also flip the script and use minimalism and ad-libbing to superb effect, as can be heard on hits like S’bu’s Ama-Lawyer “Abant’ bomthetho man!” and Mzala “We-skoplap… aw’na-double-up!”; and on Jakarumba’s Jaiva Njengengamla “Ngik’thanda nom’ unjaaalo!,”; as well as on the hardly-known Fresh Fruit and Vegetables, a delightfully raucous heavy-metal gem from the perennially under-rated MXO.
He employed the same tactic to stunning effect on tracks like Skop & Bhoboza “Shumayela yonke lent' esiyenzayo...” and Lematsa “Ungishaya off-key sometimes”, off Trompies’ Can’t Touch This (2006).
To an extent, it is tempting to reflect on Magesh’s life story through some of the country’s seminal moments. The son of Mr Shoeshine & Piano – Kaizer Chiefs legend Stanley “Screamer” Tshabalala – Magesh was born in October 1976, and entered a world still shell-shocked and smouldering from the ruins of the bloody Soweto Uprisings four months earlier.
By 1995, with a high school education from the relatively posh St Stithians College, Tokollo had just come of age as an 18-year-old during the post-1994 zeitgeist of “the new South Africa/rainbow nation” and its accompanying nascent sound of kwaito music.
There he was, on the Hey Kop EP by Mashamplani in 1995, alongside Mdu Masilela, S’bu Ntshangase, of subsequent “Ama-Lawyer fame,” and a little-known fellow only known as Pro – in what surely must be one of the most iconic kwaito album covers.
The EP contained street-certified classics like Phansi Ngey’thupha, which decries aloofness; and Vokol Is Niks, which is a lament about the pain of being consigned to the margins of life, with limited resources.
But it was on the third track Kite that Tokollo made his presence felt. The song is a cautionary tale about a wayward, possibly promiscuous, young man, who’s behaving like a kite: “Aw’sabambeki… Warning… Heeey, Izosuka man (you’re on shaky ground) Engathi ang’sak’tholi kahle (I don’t really get you nowadays…) – a fitting, yet non-preachy message at a time when HIV/Aids had started killing people mercilessly, long before anyone had heard “Antiretroviral Therapy.”
The album, owned and experienced in cassette tape format by most, was a breath of fresh air, and quickly found its own special place during a musically exciting and dynamic era which is not dissimilar to the current explosion of ama-piano.
With South Africans awe-struck by this energetic new sound of kwaito, Mashamplani were competing for supremacy alongside Arthur Mafokate, M’du, Thebe and exciting new groups like Chiskop, Trompies, Thebe and Brothers of Peace, New Skool, Vibe Squad, Crucial Zone, Helela, Crowded Crew, Cream and countless others.
But in no time, Mashamplani had broken away from Mdu’s stable, amid accusations that he had pulled a runner on them.
Towards the end of 1997, a brand new outfit going by the name TKZee burst onto the scene with an album titled Phalafala – and the game was just never the same. (They had released Take It Eezy the previous year, which was met with an indifferent response).
Championing a new “better” style branded as “iGoom Guz”, TKZee sold themselves as the antithesis of kwaito, long derided for its repetitive lyrics and lack of substance.
“S’bu batshele ses’fikile,” Magesh declared, while warning of impending regret for those who underestimated them… “…Mase baza ngamawazawaza, thina as’hluphi sobasaphaza.”
And then there was Masimbela, the ultimate diss track aimed at Mdu Masilela, where TKZee goes in hard – maybe not quite Hit ‘Em Up-esque, but quite close – with Tokollo reading the riot act: “Abant’ abafana njengawe… bayobhabhadiswa ngomlilo.” The album also featured the mellow, sometimes playful Happy Summer song.
Riding on the critical and commercial success of Phalafala, TKZee released the would-be multi-award-winning Halloween in 1998, which is widely regarded as their magnum opus, with smash hits like Magesh, Dlala Mapantsula, Bona Senzani, Mambotjie, We Love This Place, and Sikelela, which audaciously samples the sacred, prayer-like original Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika, which was subsequently remixed into our national anthem.
The runaway success of their follow-up project Shibobo, with Benni McCarthy, released just after his piping-hot exploits at the 1998 AFCON in Burkina Faso and just before the ’98 FIFA World Cup in France ‘98, is just like a Department of Home Affairs office: well-documented.
The euphoric Shibobo, based on The Final Countdown by Europe, was so big that Guz and Serenade, the other two brilliant songs from the EP – showcasing Magesh and Kabelo’s lyrical prowess – have remained largely in the shadows.
Though rumours swirled about a lifestyle of drugs, sex and rock ’n’ roll, TKZee’s popularity grew while their superb run continued. They once again “owned December” in 1999, thanks to the hit single Fiasco (which really should’ve been Fiesta), off their TKZee Family album – they had now welcomed into the fray S’bu, Dr Mageu, Gwyza and Loyiso.
At the turn of the millennium, with the apocalyptic “Y2K” scare a thing of the past, Tokollo released a fine body of work, the Ndab’ezitha album.
From its sleeve – our man is sitting in an old convertible and looks ultra-sleek in the retro chic of a poor boy cap and two-tone brogues – to its slew of his such as Ndlov’yangena, Summer 2000, Izinto Ziyenzeka and Msindo Phezulu, the album is a beautiful through and through.
Even the Vula Vala intro, with its kick-ass drums and bassline, could’ve been a bona fide single had it not been so short:
“Ngithi sizoy’vula lento s’phinde siy’vale
Ngithi sizoy’viva lento s’phinde siyi-winne
Kanjalo nje! X 4
“Ngithi sizoy’vula lento s’phinde siy’vale
Ngithi siz’oyiqala lento s’phinde siy’qede
Ngithi ngizoy’qala lento ng’phinde ngiy’qede
Kanjalo nje X 4
Ke marampa rampa rampa rampa Gauteng…
Ke marampa rampa rampa rampa alefatshe…”
There’s a popular view that Tokollo was never quite the same artistically after allegedly causing a head-on collision during a high-speed chase with the police – a crash which took the life of a Botswana businesswoman, and saw Tokollo come within a whisker of being extradited and hanged in that country.
Tokollo went on to release a number of memorable albums, such as All In One; Waarheid (Is’khathi), and Heist, with the hit Sgubh’ Sami, which came out a decade ago. TKZee themselves reunited and released Coming Home in 2009, which fans will agree was at least worthwhile.
There were many other notable collabos, such as Iskhath’ Sewashi, alongside Mandoza, with controversial lyrics: “Siphansi naphezulu… Eh, ngçela nikhokh umoya… Izandla phezulu – dankie sýabonga”; as well as the all-star Vat ‘en Sit, which discourages cohabitation among unmarried couples “Aw, sikhuz’ okhuzekayo…”; and It’s Alright… Boy’dlala kahle lento mfan’akithi!”
TKZee Family member Gwyza described Magesh as a humble fellow, a unifier who forged an important bridge between the “suburban” boys and those that were regarded as “ghetto”, such as Mandoza, Spikiri and his Trompies bandmates, which helped them work together with ease.
Tokollo once sang, “Ey, ngifun’abantu bam’ eh, kanti nikuphi na?”
There’s a lot of shock and sadness in the wake of Tokollo’s unexpected demise – from Phiri, Mapetla, Zola, to eMndeni, via eNanda, KwaMashu, eMlazi, and all around the country.
Affable old-timer Bra “Screamer” is said to be severely distraught, and has postponed several media interviews. Kabelo, for his part, usually plays the role of programme director during the sending off of other fallen souljahs. But his silence says a lot about how crestfallen he must be, after losing Tokollo.
Zwai, having finally mustered enough courage to speak, yesterday told an eNCA presenter how surreal the demise of his friend feels.
“We weren’t ready for this whatsoever. Is it a loss? The stuff that’s emotional and touching is when you reflect on the past, which to me feels more like gains, rather than a loss. Oh, what an impact he’s had on us – especially those who had personal encounters with him. He was such an amazing guy. Tokollo was not just ours alone, he belonged to the people… to everybody. The whole country, the whole continent… is feeling the loss.”
In 2016, a baby-faced Nasty C rapped about making “music for n****s in suits & ties, who have money and an evil smile, who end conversations with that… ‘I'll let my people call your people line.”
For more than two decades, Tokollo stepped up and rode beats like his life depended on it. And in many ways, it did. His talent touched and entertained ordinary people and working class pantsulas and pantsula wannabes from the “hood”, who use taxis to get by, or drive Citi Golfs, Toyota Kentucky Rounders, VW Microbuses and Caravelles and maybe old BMWs; who wear All Star takkies and walk with a bounce, and hustle every day, by any means necessary, to see another day.
He has bequeathed on them an extensive and precious kwaito musical heritage that’ll live forever in their psyche.
Sithi hamba kahle Msheng’ Shabalala – phez’ kwendaba.
Smooth operator.
Super-nova.
Gush-gush Gesh.
Heavyweight tiger.
SOSA All Star
No 1 Tsotsi.
You’ll always be missed by all the people abebegcwala ngay’ emazweni…
Begcwala ngay’ emsakazweni..
Corner to corner
Coast to coast
Check no ghost.
They all drew the strength and courage to carry on, even when the chips were down, when you said:
“Ekse bhala tobetsa kyafana
Ungakhohlwa nyama sonke s’yaphanda
S’yabezwa bathi thina s’yadelela
S’yabezwa bathi thina sophela…
Samadelakufa sonke or kanjani.”
And, battered and bruised by the harsh realities of this world until their own bell tolls, they shall continue to turn up the volume and party up a storm when the chance arises.
“Sithi msindo phezulu
Ngeygubh’ ey’ shisayo
Sikhiph’ ey’ bandayo
Ezivuth’ umlilo…”
Uvaye grand outie, unyus’isingili ko Thuli Tillies, Geuzin, Brown Dash, Ndozin, Lolipop and SB Bless.
Agiza Hlongwane is a former Independent Media journalist.
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