Interview: Gaffi Turned Negativity Into A Promising Rap Career

Gaffi’s music video for ‘Eshe’, released in May, put him on the map. Performing shirtless in front of a shack with his upper body oiled up and his nonchalant delivery of slick Xhosa raps caught the attention of the internet. 

To keep the momentum going, the Cape Town-based, Motherwell, Gqeberha-born rapper released the EP ‘Machasa Galore’ towards the end of November. Gaffi produced three – ‘Ngaye’, ‘Izilatt’ and ‘Sithembe Wena’ –  of the five songs on the EP. The rest were produced by Sikho Beats and Deboii. 

Below, Gaffi chats to SlikourOnLife about the success of ‘Eshe’, the name of his EP and his hopes for the future. 

Break down the title of the EP, 'Machasa Galore'. 

Machasa is this guy from PE that all the kids used to say I look like because he was fat and he was well known for driving a taxi reckless, and people did not like him because of that. I took that name and made it special by making him look cool, and with this project, I wanted everyone either you small or big to know that they are sexy and beautiful too. Anything that people use to tease you can turn it into a positive instead of feeling sad, that is what I did and embraced the Machasa name. The name has become popularly attached to me in a positive way compared to how people used to tease me.

Your music video for ‘ESHE’ did quite well. How has it boosted your career? 

The ‘ESHE’ music video is the reason gained attention, Cape Town music scene gave me love and attention before my home town. It is the reason Cape Town is in love with me, everything that I have and achieved now is because of that video. Me travelling down to Cape Town and met other rappers, built friendships and networks, it all started from that video.

What’s with the oil on your body?

Lol to be honest, there is nothing much about that, it was just an idea that Thobela, my friend, had and we knew that if we did that most people will be triggered to watch that video. And people fell in love instantly, that’s what now catches everyone’s eye.

What do you hope to achieve with the release of 'Machasa Galore'?

To be honest, follow the video of 'Eshe' that broke the internet. I have been releasing snippets, clips and doing live on social media, playing unreleased music but I also realised that people are paying more attention to my brand. So, I need to prepare something small to give the audience in order to:

1. Gain more listeners and grow, introduce my brand to the people.
2. Free people from being scared of being different as well as testing my brand on a commercial scale. It does not give me that much of a pressure but I love the reception around it and taking from where I come from.

Stream Gaffi’s new EP ‘Machasa Galore’ below: