Pretoria - South African youth aren’t just turning up in their numbers to get their Covid-19 jabs; they’re also encouraging others, through the power of rap music, to get their jabs.
“Vaccinate, vaccinate, it’s not too late don’t procrastinate,” are some of the lyrics of the song released by a fifth-year Faculty of Health Sciences medical student from the University of Pretoria.
Rostum Ogbuehi, who goes by the stage name “Ross the Boss”, released a catchy rap video on YouTube and Instagram to dispel myths about getting vaccinated.
Since its release, it has garnered at least 25 000 views.
Ogbuehi said the idea for the single came from the dean of the faculty, Professor Tiaan de Jager, who reached out to him to compose a song and video to aid with the promotion of the government’s vaccination programme.
“I saw the importance of it and decided to go ahead with the project, and I must say, I am pleased with the outcome. Within less than a week, the video had more than 15 000 hits on social media,” De Jager said.
Ogbuehi said he used information from acting head of the Department of Infectious Diseases, Professor Veronica Ueckermann, to craft the lyrics.
Working alongside medical students
Vincent Mathenjwa and Tsholofelo Mphahlele, as well as oral hygiene student Reatlegile Mangope, he said the song was based on a “Drake-type” beat that he stumbled across on YouTube.
“I really loved the beat and asked my brother, Comrade Junior, to remake it, but with some slight alterations to make it unique to me. I would say the song borders on hip hop and rap, though it has a trap feel to it.”
However, he said as he believed listeners would connect better with him through a visual representation of the song, he and his fellow students recorded a video shot at the university’s Prinshof Campus in the Tswelopele lecture theatre complex.
Pretoria News