It’s been a heartbreaking past few weeks for Nhlanhla “Nivo” Ndimande and his team at T-Effect as the independent label and management company has lost two of its clients, rappers AKA and Costa Titch, under tragic circumstances.
Costa Titch died on Saturday evening after he collapsed on stage at the Johannesburg leg of Ultra Music Festival. AKA was shot dead outside a Durban restaurant last month.
What’s worse is both their deaths were caught on camera and the videos have been widely circulated across social media.
“One day God is going to explain why all this pain, why all this hurt, none of it makes sense,” Nivo posted on his Instagram Stories on Monday.
“I'm mad at him like a child is mad at his parent.”
He went on to rue the prospect of having to tell Titch’s mother that everything is going to be okay.
“We are going to be ok but right now it’s just a lot of hurt and questions. I now gotta look at another mother in the eyes and tell her everything is going to be ok. How?! When I don't even believe that anymore.”
“I have to look another parent in the eyes with composure when everything inside of me is raging and screaming. How do I sit with another team and tell them everything is gonna be ok.”
On Monday evening, Nivo also shared a video of AKA and Costa Titch working together in the studio as they recorded “Work”, one of the singles from their joint album, “You’re Welcome”, which came out in 2021.
“Honestly just unfair,” he posted.
Akon, the Senegalese-American artist Titch had recently signed to, also shared a tribute to the 28-year-old: “Costa Titch was more than just an artist. He was a brilliant superstar and hard-working man with a kind heart which endeared him to all around him.”
He added: “Costa Titch had a vision that I knew for sure would take over the music industry globally and was on his way to doing just that when God's plan intervened.”