Underground rap sensation Siyabonga “Face” Dulani shudders when he looks back at his life as a gang member.Face – as he is popularly known in the township music circle – dealt in drugs and belonged to the Nasty Boys gang.
He quit the life of crime in 2007 when three rival gang members raided his shack and robbed him of money and drug stock at gunpoint.
Reliving the terror of that July night, Face said: “At one point one guy cocked the firearm and pulled the trigger in my face. Luckily nothing came out but I could have died that day. That’s when I decided that my life as a gang member was over.”
The memories and gang tattoos on his body are what’s left to remind him of the dangerous life he once led – a powerful life lesson for the school dropout.
As a gang member he had been jailed twice for robbery and assault. “I joined the gang when I was 16. At first it was just for fun; then I saw it was a hard life – bad things happened. I lost a friend too,” he said.
Today the Duncan Village-born rapper has surrounded himself with a group of other young aspiring rap musicians and write and records songs in a makeshift studio. He recently released a song titled Siphum’eloxion, about the struggles faced by youth in townships.
Community radio stations like Kumkani and Mdantsane FM play his music from time to time.
“I belong to a group called Unknown Strangers. We make hip-hop music with a kasi flavour. The success has been slow but it is better than crime.”
Unknown Strangers want to take the industry by storm but said there was not support from local government and donors.
The group aims to perform in the Buffalo City Metro’s carnival festivities.
Fellow group memeber Lelethu “Akheem” Mini said: “We need a strong profile to show the municipality we are capable but we just do not have resources.” — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
SPECIAL REPORT: Former gangster finds new life as a rap musician
He quit the life of crime in 2007 when three rival gang members raided his shack and robbed him of money and drug stock at gunpoint.
Reliving the terror of that July night, Face said: “At one point one guy cocked the firearm and pulled the trigger in my face. Luckily nothing came out but I could have died that day. That’s when I decided that my life as a gang member was over.”
The memories and gang tattoos on his body are what’s left to remind him of the dangerous life he once led – a powerful life lesson for the school dropout.
As a gang member he had been jailed twice for robbery and assault. “I joined the gang when I was 16. At first it was just for fun; then I saw it was a hard life – bad things happened. I lost a friend too,” he said.
Today the Duncan Village-born rapper has surrounded himself with a group of other young aspiring rap musicians and write and records songs in a makeshift studio. He recently released a song titled Siphum’eloxion, about the struggles faced by youth in townships.
Community radio stations like Kumkani and Mdantsane FM play his music from time to time.
“I belong to a group called Unknown Strangers. We make hip-hop music with a kasi flavour. The success has been slow but it is better than crime.”
Unknown Strangers want to take the industry by storm but said there was not support from local government and donors.
The group aims to perform in the Buffalo City Metro’s carnival festivities.
Fellow group memeber Lelethu “Akheem” Mini said: “We need a strong profile to show the municipality we are capable but we just do not have resources.” — zwangam@dispatch.co.za
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