Establishing his career as a rapper more than 20 years ago, Siyabonga George from Humansdorp finally saw his hard work pay off when he won the award for the Best Hip Hop Artist 2023 at the Mzansi Arts and Media Award (MAMA) on September 16.
George, who is better known as Exxo daSniper, was born in Fort Beaufort and moved to Humansdorp in 1998.
He began his career as a rapper in 2001 when he was in Grade 9 at Lungiso High School and formed a rap group, Ghost Riderz, with seven of his friends.
Unfortunately the group dissolved a few years later, since many had moved on to different schools and some had beguan working.
George said he has always loved music and to this day his mother, Nobekelephi, still reminisces on his childhood and how much he loved waking up early to visit their neighbour who often played his favourite music.
“My son would wake up early in the morning and run to our neighbour as they liked to play music on weekends. He stayed there the entire day and refused to come home,” said Nobekelephi.
George said his experience of growing up in the township played a big role in his style of rapping, with his popularity growing because he proudly represents South African “Kasi” (township) life by rapping in a mixture of vernacular and English.
After spending some time apart, in 2008 he joined forces with a few of his previous group members, Exxo and Jay, and had rappers K’Dogg, Skopas, Theris, Lady Lodja, Tiggaz, and the late Gentro join as wel,l under their new group name, Dogg Squad.
George said that as a group they had released four albums and multiple mixtapes together.
In addition to the music he created with his band members, he said that he also collaborated with various artists on their albums and mixtapes.
George said that it has always been his dream to become a famous rapper and establish his own clothing line which represents township culture.
Inspired by the clothing label, Loxion Culture, in 2015 he finally took the plunge and began working on his own clothing brand, Kasi Sniper, which has been in high demand.
Currently he is focused on his clothing, and he is working hard on his first solo hip-hop album.
“A lot of people have been demanding to hear my voice live on stage over a microphone,” said George.
While continuing to work on his debut solo album, he recently released his first single in May titled, Kwaze Kwamnandi, featuring rappers Zakwe, Merel, and Procasette.
Kwaze Kwamnandi was produced by Stidow from Gqeberha and is available on all digital platforms.
While working on his clothing brand, he continued producing music and cementing his career as a rapper.
“I am the first artist in the Kouga region who has won this award,” said George, speaking on the Best Hip Hop Artist for the year 2023 award.
“When they called my name as a winner, I was so happy, but at the same time I knew that I deserved the award because of all my hard work and dedication.”
Proud of his accomplishments, George said that he plans to continue working even harder on his debut solo hip-hop album which will be produced by KayMasta and K’Dogg.
