@TTGO17 Explains His Hiatus From Music & Announces Debut Album

“I took some time out, I worked on myself, my mental health, my happiness. I worked hard enough to feel like I was good enough to give again,” TTGO says about his time on hiatus. 

South Africa first met “Mfana Pitori,” better known as TTGO, in the 2015 season of VUZU’s The Hustle. Before then, the rapper had been working to grow himself as a musician with the support of friends and family in Pretoria. The show grew his following exponentially, offering him greater public visibility as well. 

However celebrity is something for which one must prepare...and TTGO tried. Between the months that The Hustle had stopped filming and when it finally aired, he spent time trying to ready himself for the kind of change his life would become. “I thought I was ready, but it still overwhelmed [me],” TTGO explained to us in conversation.

Hyper-visibility requires a level of maturity and mental stability if the goal is to be successful and healthy for a lifetime. Over the past year and a half, TTGO has struggled to maintain success in his career on account of his struggle with his emotional well being. After The Hustle he describes the work he produced, being one released song and one music video, to have been lackluster in terms of what he *should* have done. 

“I was going through real life shit...I wasn’t in a good space. I wasn’t waking up to a positive vibe within myself.” Recently, he shared a press statement online detailing this to his friends and fans. 

This year, however, TTGO is ending his hiatus and kicking it off with the release of “Lifestylion,” the first single from his debut album, also titled Lifestylion. The album will be available will be available for pre-order on January 18th, 2019.  

Image shot by @SirAdolph