Amapiano superstar Musa Keys refers to himself as the “Tsonga” Michael Jackson, noting that the name was inspired by his flamboyant style and the late king of pop.
Born Musa Makamu in Giyani, the muso was raised in Polokwane in Limpopo and has been dominating the charts since he burst into the limelight with his infectious hits. Some of his hit songs include Wena, Vula Mlomo, and Selema.
Like Black Coffee who praises him, Musa Keys’ ultimate dream is to become a global music superstar.
In a wide-ranging interview with Sunday World, Musa Keys related how he broke into the music industry, sharing that his formula was to surround himself with the right people.
“It wasn’t easy getting into the industry but what made it easier was me associating myself with the likes of DBN Gogo,” said Musa Keys, who started making music at church when he was 13.
“She was very accommodative in my life; I would go to gigs with her and watch how everything was done and from there I knew I could do it too.”
He shared that growing up he did not know what field of study he wanted to follow. At some point he toyed with the idea of venturing into civil engineering or architecture, having done technical subjects at a technical high school.
“I dropped out from pursing my engineering qualification because life happens, and it was so simple for me. Given the opportunity to do what I had always wanted to do, I would if only it didn’t require me to read a lot of books.”
Musa Keys, who is currently on tour in Australia, has been nominated for the artist and record of the year SAMA28 awards and was recently featured on the Forbes 30 list.
“I have always aspired to travel the globe, it has always been the plan and right now I want to go bigger and co-sign with bigger names in the industry,” he shared.
“Believe it or not, I am one person who meditates a lot, so some things happen when I already know that they will. I have always wanted to have a house and a car at the age of 21 and I managed to do that.”
The amapiano powerhouse, who was also honoured by Formula 1 champion Lewis Hamilton who recently danced to his song to celebrate his own success, said he will not be releasing an album in 2022, but wants to grow his record label Tayo records.
Currently, the record label has three artists, one of which is Konke who is known for the hit single Kancane.
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