Shaba Stele in near-quit breakthrough
JOHANNES KAMBAI | Friday October 30, 2026 11:48
School had lost his attention. His parents opposed the music path and after finishing “I O U,” he told himself it would be the last song if it failed. Then it hit number one. The year flipped from lowest point to breakthrough, and every release that followed found airplay and listeners. Stele moves through multiple roles without forcing a single identity. Beyond the music he farms, gives back to the community through philanthropy, and holds family close as a brother, son, and uncle. According to the artist, most of his songs draw directly from the relationship with his partner. “They are all real life,” he says.
“There’s nothing I write that hasn’t happened.” That honesty helped “Hey Kalanga Girl” mark him clearly as a maker of love songs and R&B, even though it arrived at the height of the pandemic and still feels recent to many listeners. He learnt mixing and mastering the hard way through YouTube and prefers handling his own sound so the vision stays intact.
Along the way he has mixed vocals for artists like Jinger Stone before her wider breakthrough, Ubuntu Band in its early days, Sean Pink, Sasa Klass, and Maxy Khoisan. Collaboration sits at the centre of his approach With Teddy West and Abitola he combined separate projects into the joint album Kings of Bechuanaland, pooling fan bases instead of competing. “Collaboration over competition is my motto,” he notes, adding that discovering and supporting new artists remains one of his longer-term aims, including a possible future as a label manager. Stele refuses genre limits. His release pattern is deliberate: emotional and healing records early in the year, then Afro and Amapiano tracks once winter ends.
Consistency for him means working across four styles rather than repeating one. He is also a graphic designer improving his video editing skills and intends to direct and cut his own visuals. New music arrives November 19. He describes the project as special and best heard on a late-night drive. The local industry still frustrates him with its limited togetherness, scarce funding, and thin professional infrastructure, yet the obstacles keep him moving. “We all start somewhere,” he says. For Stele the work continues, rooted in real experience and steady output.