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MOSSEL BAY NEWS AND VIDEO - Move over Distruction Boyz, here comes Tebo the Nerd.
A 20-year-old student at South Cape College, might just be the next international entertainment export from Mossel Bay.
Tebogo Patric Kobola an upcoming DJ, who goes by the stage name Tebo the Nerd, is a recent winner in The 011 Awards, presented by City Awards Management, a chain of awards shows across South Africa. The awards celebrate the achievements of individuals working across 15 categories in the entertainment industry. Hosted in Johannesburg, the nominees receive a full expenses paid trip to attend. Tebo the Nerd was recently crowned Gqom Artist of the Year scoring R15 000 worth in marketing contracts.
The awards event took place on 6 June, but due to the Covid-19, the nominees had to watch a live announcement of the winners online.
Recorded by accident
He always dreamed of becoming an artist because he saw how it changed people's lives. "At a very young age I realized I had a talent for music and didn't want to waste what God gave me," Tebogo told the Mossel Bay Advertiser this week.
With a gqom* song he recorded that was doing well, Tebo took a chance in submitting it on various platforms where the guys from 011 Awards noticed him. As a result, he was nominated as Gqom Artist of the Year. "This was actually quite funny, since I recorded the song by accident."
He started writing music when he was 15 and recorded his first song aged 16. "I met DJ Nyeko at a barbershop and since then, we have always been in the studio together."
Tebo explains he was up against some serious competition. "DJ Micheal is an international name. I won't lie, I was afraid of him because he does crazy internet numbers and tours internationally."
Support
Tebogo says the support and encouragement from his family, fans and "fellow nerds" spurred him on to succeed.
His sister, Remember, comments that despite being a small town artist, her brother has big dreams.
"We struggled to promote his music, but as a family we told ourselves that living in Mossel Bay is not going to stop us from making sure his talent is recognized." They arranged small performances, turned his room into a studio and she acted as his agent. "He recorded his songs from his bedroom. My mother did what she could to sponsor him. And a very close friend did his beat and helped with music," she explains.
Watch a video below:
Tebo the Nerd
His musical influences share a common denominator – they are super talented, never settling for less than being the biggest and not afraid to push their boundaries. "This is slowly happening to me," says Tebogo.
As for the choice of his interesting stage name, he says that he chose it to make his music stand out. "I changed my name after an incident that happened when we had a family dinner. I can't elaborate. It's an inside joke."
He reinvents himself after every recording. "It's all about having that special uniqueness that fans notice. It's me just being me."
His future plans include completing his EP and continuous hard work.
His message for Youth Day 2020 is that the youth must believe in themselves. "If we do this, others will believe in us too. We are living in a time where the world is literally in our hands, thanks to the internet. Let's use it to our advantage to promote, trade, sell and act."
* Gqom is a genre of electronic dance music that emerged in the early 2010s from Durban.
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