Fans fuel Ozi F Teddy, ATI and Young Black's beef
Spira Tlhankane | Tuesday October 25, 2016 18:00
The brutal diss track received a lot of attention on social media and most fans are now vying for the response from both ATI and Young Black. ATI, who has just released his new album entitled Envelope, immediately posted a response on social media indicating that he will not respond to Ozi through a diss track. “I will not be responding to Seopedi sa mo gae sa legodu. Ke busy thata,” read his statement on Facebook.
His statement sparked a lot of criticism from ATI’s fans requesting him to respond to Ozi’s track. “Otla go bolaa Ozi, ntsha response rra,” commented one of the fans. “O lekhete la motia and you should be ready for this. This thing ga di diss and beef is not a fight but a game. Mr, we are waiting for your reply not this,” commented another fan. Other fans said ATI was coming up with an excuse to avoid the issue.
“Even if it is not worth a reply. Batswana bone baago filla gore wamo tshaba! Just satisfy us and reply that diss track ntate. Sa batle gore bora, re emetse diss eo. Hope o busy le yone,” commented another fan.
However, Ozi F Teddy was accused of copying Cassper Nyovest and AKA’s diss track by some angry ATI fans. Even though they regarded him as a broke rapper, Ozi went in hard in the diss track entitled ‘Bodybag’. He said ATI cannot sing so he should focus on rapping. “I can’t believe I used to love you, you started hating on me I had to cut you,” he said in the song. ATI and Ozi F Teddy used to be friends while they were signed under the same record label back in 2012 at Rimzy Productions.
They have made collaborations in the past among others Ozi’s On My way and ATI’s Lekhete remix. In the diss track, Ozi F Teddy threw some insults and made some homophobic allegations towards ATI. Looking back, it was ATI who started the ruckus on social media when he accused Ozi F Teddy of being a thief.
Real name Ted Phaphane, Ozi F Teddy did not stop at ATI but went on to brutalise Young Black in the diss track. “You are lame, we don’t need you in the game. Young Black fall back nna kana re masole,” he said.
While he was skeptical about releasing a response at first, the pressure from fans forced Young Black to release a diss track entitled cold warm up (round 1) on Sunday evening. The track immediately received a lot of criticism with many people feeling that Young Black failed to live up to Ozi’s diss track. “Gao ise o nne serious, record another one, gape video ke bona o kuka ditshipi akeitse gore o supa gore o tla bolaa Ozi kana jang,” commented one of the fans. “Aah muna tlhwaafala o reply Ozi o lese go re senyetsa madi re reka dibundle, be serious Mr,” another fan commented. The fans asked Young Black to go back to the drawing board.
In an interview with Showbiz, Ozi F Teddy said his diss track was nothing but a response to ATI’s allegations, which were made on social media. “I am a musician so I didn’t go back and forth on social media. I decided to release a diss track as my response,” he said. The rapper from Thamaga said it all started on social media and escalated into a diss track. He said ATI used to be his friend until he changed values and behavioural patterns. “We used to make a lot of music together. I guess it is easy to lose yourself in this industry,” he said.
Ozi said he heard Young Black’s diss track and he is disappointed because he expected better. “I don’t blame him; my track is a tough act to follow,” he said. Ozi said local hip-hop is quiet these days therefore he wanted to go against the tide and come up with something orthodox. He said the beef is good for the industry because fans are now involved. He said the feud will not spill into violence. “This is a competition and these guys are professionals,” he said.
For his part, Young Black said Ozi started attacking their record label last year out of jealousy because they were contributing a lot to the music industry. The YAMAs award winner said Ozi insulted them for so long so they had to respond. “Some fans were looking forward to a vicious retaliation in my response but they are small minded people,” he said. Young Back said even though some fans felt he did a shallow job in the diss track, he thought he did his best. “We will do two more responses and we will be done with him,” he said. The Bang! Gae artist said Ozi will not respond again because he had been planning his song for a long time. “That diss track was rehearsed,” he said. He said the fact that he was lifting weights in the diss track video does not mean he would become violent. Efforts to reach ATI for comment were futile as his phone was out of reach.
Beefs are old as time and they started when artists and fans of the East Coast and West Coast in the United States started a rivalry in the hip hop scenes. Perhaps one of the biggest beefs to come out of the game was 2pac and Biggie and the rivalry transformed into violence as the two were gunned down one after the other in 1996 and 1997. The beef gave way for many other beefs among others 50 Cent and Rick Ross just to name a few. Even South Africa gave birth to the biggest rivalry in South African hip hop history when Cassper Nyovest took on AKA.
The most recent beef currently making the headlines is The Game‘s beef with Meek Mill therefore Botswana rappers’ beef is just a continuation of hip-hop’s tradition of rap feuds.