Motshabi: Teen with many talents
Thato Kala | Friday October 17, 2014 13:28
Nineteen-year-old Odirile Motshabi, who goes by the name Rhym Wa’lehipi, has these three talents to choose from as which route his life will take from here.
Equally passionate in at least two of those, sketching and rapping, Motshabi has just released a new single titled One Night Stand.
Shocking title for someone so young? For him, it is all about being ‘creative and thinking outside the box’.
He believes music is never necessarily about the singer’s experience, but usually touches on the things that happen around them.
He explains the concept behind the controversial track: “The song is a party song, but I was telling a story about a girl I met on my way to a bottle store and took her to a party. I was invited to where she spent a lot of money buying me drinks. She got fascinated by my rapping.”
The youngster adds: “She called me telling me that she wants to be more than friends the following day as I told her everything we had was just for that night only.”
He first shared the single digitally on Datafilehost some five months ago and says, ‘it reached satisfying downloads in no time’.
After an interview on Yarona fm’s Scramble for Africa hip hop show, he got some heartening feedback from listeners.
“I got some good feedback from people and that encourages me to keep working hard,” says the budding star.
Before that, he collaborated with one M.O.I on a track called Go Thata and a duo named Motswako Nation on a track called Viva.
He has previously done a song with former The Real Magosi artist, Moruti, titled Truth Be Told.
But that is not all Motshabi is gifted in, as he is endowed with some another skill, sketching.
He says: “I am good at drawing, people think I am a good artist.” Drawing is a talent he discovered during his early school days and has honed it with so much interest over the years.
But he is well aware that art is a talent that may not necessarily reward as much as music does and admits that may have a bit of sway on what he eventually pursues.
He has seen a few musicians locally make a decent living from music, but admits the same cannot be said about sketching.
Most of his drawings are portraits of people that are close to him.
And it is no surprise his favourite is a recent portrait he drew of his mother.
“I have quite a number of artworks I have done right from the ones I did for my final art project at Ledumang Senior Secondary School. I am still working on my self-portrait, but my favourite of them all is the one I just finished recently. I drew my Mum,” explains the youngster.
He says he is as comfortable with materials for blending, brushing, erasing, sharpening, masking and so on as he is with a microphone in hand.
Motshabi says his drawing materials will have to wait a little as he works on his debut full album.
“I’ve already started work on my debut album titled Ko Ditsheng. It’s basically about the township. I am featuring top local artists on the project and few upcoming ones to give it a bit of balance,” he says.
He plans to drop the album in the first quarter of next year and hopes he can keep away from his drawing pencils until then.
He already picks the track True Pantsula as a potential hit in the township. The track was produced by Ace Jay and will be released as a precursor to the album.
Interestingly, Motshabi is inspired by outmoded American musician Dolly Parton and does not flinch when questioned about his love for her music.
Motshabi also intends to shoot his first video.
“I will have to shoot more videos to sell the face to the people and perform in big shows. I guess that is how one positions themselves in this industry,” he says.
He signed with Promised Land Multimedia Group two years ago while still a student at secondary school.