Focalistic Speaks On Blowing Up Pre-Pandemic. Focalistic, real name, Lethabo Sebetso is arguably one of 2019’s break-out stars. He has been making music for way longer. The rapper refers to himself as Pitori Maradona. He was formerly a footballer before he started developing an interest in rapping. He has jumped on straight Trap beats to more Kwaito influenced ones and more recently, Amapiano, in all of them showcasing his rap skills.
The star changed the amapiano movement when he dropped the hit single ‘Ke Star’ featuring Vigro Deep last year, and that was then and there when he blew to fame. This was after the pandemic had already started. Speaking on this, Foca said: “There’s a song where I say I blew up ka Corona, so the wave is a pandemic. So for me it’s like, it’s still the same even after the pandemic, we’ll still be doing what we have to do, touching people’s hearts. I’m not that person, I never think of this might have happened and that’s why “Ke Star” was dropped during the pandemic and went gold during the pandemic. So, I’ve always been a person of fighting the norm so yeah.”
Speaking on rapping over amapiano, Foca told OkayAfrica: “It was never a discussion. I was in the studio and I was trying out new things. I think that’s the first day I recorded my first freestyle over an old school song, I can’t remember which one. And then we realised we enjoy that more, I enjoy it more… so I’m not a person who writes lyrics, so for me it’s like Jay-Z, he goes into the studio and you do four bars, stop, eight bars, and so on… That was the most natural thing when I did house beats. And then getting introduced to amapiano by Snow Deep. At the time, it wasn’t even known. And he was like, “I need you to rap on this, I know you can do it”, and that’s what happened. That’s why we’re here where we are right now. It was a natural thing, I never tried to force it.”
