Watch! Toss Shares How ‘uMlando’Came About. His plan was to spend five days in the studio after Christmas making music that people will enjoy from the beginning of January till the end of December 2022.While people were fresh from celebrating the New Year, he posted a video of himself dancing to a catchy hook that got the whole on Mzansi rocking to it. It was his way of telling people that it was okay to celebrate themselves and their achievements.
The trio Toss, 9umber and Mdoovar said they didn’t think that the song would be such a hit. Producer 9umba, real name Letlotlo-la-bakuena Letlatsa (19), says they didn’t anticipate such a huge success because they only had a hook for the song.“The social media success pushed us to finish with song, and we have featured people who loved the song and they put their best foot forward so that it can live up to the standard of the hype it already got. The process of making the song was fun because it changed from when we initially wanted to record to a song that will definitely be part of people’s success and that is a win for us to be able to make such a song,” 9umba says.
He says growing up he liked kwaito and got into dancing and became known for dancing pantsula in Tsakane, East of Joburg. When he moved to the Vaal because he was a naughty kid, he then met musicians who introduced him to hip-hop music.“When I first went to the studio I knew that when I finish my matric I want to focus on making music. I told my dad, and he didn’t have a problem so I made sure that I did well at school so I can focus on something that I love.”
Popularly known by his stage “Toss”, a name he got when he was in a development team for Kaizer Chief, he says his life turned around when he recorded his song Gcwala. He recorded it at a time when he was ready to quit music because he left like there was no progress.“Gcwala is a song that made me find my sound. I was writing my music and my peers would tell me that I inspire them, and I kept going. Until one day someone said I should try writing and rapping in my language, I was on the verge of quitting music and trying something else, but that song blew up, I had to keep on making music. It was a kwaito song, and that is when I knew that kwaito is my sound and I will stick to it,” he says.
