“When You Grow Up In Hillbrow You Get Exposed To Stuff Like Crime,” Uncle Vinny On His Upbringing. The eldest of three kids, Uncle Vinny was born and bred in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, although his parents hail from Kwa-Zulu Natal’s south coast. Even big names such as Bonang Matheba and EFF leader Julius Malema seem to be part of the Vinny train.
“I mean if I want to steal I can steal. We’ve done it downstairs by the shop, obviously as a small habit. When you growing up in Hillbrow that’s the kind of life you get exposed to at an early age. So we have crews like JCC like whatever where you guys form crews like your CBD ‘Crazy But Dangerous’ like trying to be the bigger guy. Cause obviously you guys are looking up to those guy that are there, and you think these guys are cool, they’re drinking and you’re trying to be like them because they are feared by everyone. Why would you not want to be the Pablo Escobar of the hood,” Vinny explained.
It was this realisation that inspired his hustle. A precocious kid, the teenager quickly learned how to be street smart while keeping himself out of trouble. Raised in a tough environment with rampant drug abuse, Uncle Vinny says growing up in Hillbrow taught him many lessons.“ Growing up in Hillbrow was nice, but obviously when you are growing up as a kid you can’t see what’s happening in the hood. You think everything is peaceful, but as you grow up you realise: ‘This is not the life for me’,” Vinny said.
He credits community theatre for keeping him out of trouble, having participated in it from grade 4 until grade 7. His mother was against the idea, but his father encouraged it as it meant keeping Vinny off the streets. “I knew there is no life for me on the street. I knew early on that the circle of life is all about money, [without which] I couldn’t access certain places. I realised the theatre was harmless, there were no drugs involved. I could just be myself in a safe space,” he added.
