This time last year, Focalistic announced his arrival as one of the continent's brightest talents when he teamed up with Nigerian afrobeats star Davido for their anthemic amapiano collaboration, “Champion Sound”.
In the year since, Focalistic has extensively travelled the world and firmly established himself as the most prominent male amapiano artist behind the mic.
Now, as the next step in his journey, he’s released a new album titled “Ghetto Gospel”.
“Achu! We got President Ya Straata aka Pitori Maradona aka @focalistic on the pod! A beautiful episode with a lot gems and fun moments, click the link in bio to watch and listen,” shared the podcast.
During the interview, Focalistic shared some rare insights into his career and his personal life.
The 26-year-old’s first big break came when he started closely associating with Major League DJz around 2018.
During the podcast he explained how he met the DJ’ing duo after Sjava co-signed him on Twitter before Major League followed him shortly after and immediately asked him to come to the studio.
From there they worked really closely together for a while before he branched out and started doing his own thing.
He also shared his views on the power of manifestation in his career. “I think one of the most important things my dad taught me is the power of the tongue.
“So when I think of my conversations with my dad as a child he kept saying, ‘Don’t say this about yourself’…
“So I can’t speak in negatives. I have a song called O2 Arena, it’s never been released. But it happened. It was like a month later when we got the news.”
He went on to speak about regretting his aggressive response during an Instagram Live earlier in the year to what he perceived as a diss from Cassper Nyovest, an artist he’s repeatedly credited as an inspiration in his career.
“A lot of people have been waiting on me to respond. I’ve never been one to dwell on negative stuff. I just feel like we’re at different points in our lives from when we used to chill and be around Major League and Riky.
“For me that was just a mishap and something that should’ve never happened, I’m all about love and peace,” he said.
When one of the hosts, Mokgetwa, interjected to ask if the mishap was on his side, Focalistic responded: “Not on my side, on both sides. We can all agree that was a negative tone (from Cassper). I don’t like dodging around the bush.”
He went on to add that that’s why on the Instagram Live he went straight to the point and spoke openly on the matter.
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