By Neo Kolane
Just when we thought we had become accustomed to Lesotho’s entertainment industry spawning artist after artist, the conveyor belt is blowing us away with its new kid on the block that’s set to get tongues wagging, and it’s a nine-year old rapper. Yep, you heard right – a nine-year old rapper.
His name is Tokelo Molato, and here’s his story. He has an unusually advanced sense of observation that belies his age. This saw him rapping his school notes while reading, which enabled him to permanently etch them onto his memory.
Little Tokelo started rapping at the age of five, imitating his big brother, NorthLs’ lyrics. He would later learn to create his own.
He was motivated daily by his brother who is into both acting and rapping. He owns a number of tracks like ‘Thaka bashanyana’, ‘Ha ke so lebale’ featuring Black Dash and Vertic Zee as well as ‘Covid-21’ which features NorthLS
Speaking with theReporter, the Matsieng born and bred laddie has fond memories of growing with his big brother (real name Liteboho) who doubled up as his babysitter.
“I would watch him belt out his songs and record other artists in the village, and then attempt to sing the songs myself while performing with him as my audience,” he reminisces.
Tokelo was featured on ‘Nthoetjena’ a song by The Hub Morija, which received massive acclaim on social media.
Besides rapping, the wickedly talented wunderkind has also tried his hand at acting, having first tasted it when he bagged a role in ‘Hopola hae’, a film produced by big bro. He went on make an appearance in in ‘Bo-ea-batho’, another offering by Lebohang.
This child prodigy with a cheerful and bubbly personality describes himself as a ‘determined and passionate rapper’; this can be seen in his aggressiveness and no-holds-barred demeanour while strutting his rap stuff.
“I am inspired by literally everything that comes to my mind, from when I play soccer to expressions I get in my books. I’m your typical never-give-up guy with an ability to constantly explore all available options when one fails,” he regales.
They say old habits never die. He still has that ‘umbilical’ connection with his big brother; only, this time he doubles up us our chap’s manager. Lebohang started off by giving his baby brother concepts and helping him write his own lyrics, while opening his eyes to different styles of delivering his lyrics.
Liteboho revealed to this publication that this helped him do better in his school work and learning new Sesotho words.
Liteboho further mentioned that Tokelo’s first ever performance was at The Hub Morija Open Mic show when he was six years; that’s when people actually started paying attention.
“Tokelo raps mostly about himself and how strong he is; plus other socially related stuff as well,” Liteboho revealed.
The multi-talented performer uses his finances to help his parents with his school needs.
Inspired by Malome Vector and Sadon, Tokelo possesses a high level of intensity in everything he does.
“He is always open to learn,” Liteboho said.
He is currently working on a few projects scheduled to be released this year, that include an upcoming track ‘Setsokotsane’ on which he collaborates with the likes of Q-Real.
Also, Liteboho stated that a number of artists have approached him as his manager in connection with the possibility of a collaboration.
“He is getting massive support because the short video of him on the song by The Hub was retweeted by one of the top artists in South Africa, Malome Vector and Nasty C,” Liteboho stated. It was also played on one of the DStv music channels.
