On Monday, 21 August, South African hip-hop artist IFani – real name Mzayifani Mzondeleli Boltina was interviewed on The Hustler’s Corner SA by DJ Sbu and got candid about some of the factors that contributed to him stepping back from his career and laying low.

The 37-year-old Mthatha-born hip-hop rap artist is best known for his banger hits titled Shake, Chocolate & Vanilla, Ewe, and several others. He left the music industry for nearly six years due to the immense pressures of the music industry and other personal reasons.

 

 

During an interview on DJ Sbu’s podcast, IFani said that he didn’t intentionally take a break from making music and revealed that his daughter was born and “life just happened”. On top of that, he had been clashing with the late rapper, AKA – real name Kiernan Jarryd Forbes who was killed on 10 February in Durban.

At the time, the late rappers AKA, HHP, ProKid, and Khuli Chana were the big dogs in the rap game, IFani recalled. He shared that he and AKA didn’t get along and that took him by surprise because it was as though the slain rapper was intimidated by him stepping into his territory – music-wise of course – which was not even possible as a Xhosa rapper whose music was popular mostly in the Eastern Cape.

“That thing really got me confused. It got me lost as an artist and as a human being… that wasn’t the only thing, that was just the straw that broke the camel’s back,” he said.

IFani didn’t want to get into too much detail about his beef with AKA and looked extremely uncomfortable even sharing the little that he had. DJ Sbu on the other hand added that it wouldn’t be in good taste to speak ill of the late rapper as he wouldn’t be able to tell his side of the story.

IFani
IFani slams record label for hogging his money. Image via Twitter @Ambitiouz_Ent
MORE ABOUT THE XHOSA RAPPER
IFani expressed that his need to soul search also influenced him to take a step back from music. Eventually when he had, he said there were some perks including learning more about the people that he surrounded himself with and seeing their true colours and intentions.

“There were times I didn’t want this fame no more,” he added.

The Xhosa rapper had previously relocated to Port Elizabeth to get away from the big city, Johannesburg, ZiMoja reported. His career has since been on a slippery slope as he had previously attempted to make a comeback in the music scene. However, this time around, the Milli hitmaker’s music career has not taken off. Instead, he has been at loggerheads with his former record company Universal Music which has reportedly blocked him from receiving his money for one of his well-known songs.