Businessman and rapper Tebogo Thekiso, popularly known as ProVerb, recently sat down with DJ Lemonka, where he shared why he no longer releases music.
The former Idols SA presenter made a name for himself when he released the Book of ProVerb in 2005, and his name carried a lot of weight among the Hip Hop heads and his fans. He is known for hits like Blessed & Highly Favoured, The Beginning and ProVerb’s Manifest.
ProVerb shared on DJ Lemonka’s podcast that he took a decision to leave his passion (rap) and focus on what would bring in money to help raise his kids.
“I had just spent about R100 000 buying my master’s and got a quote of R150 000 to record the next project. Around the same time, my kids’ school fees were about R100 000 each,” he said.
“I sat in my car and thought, am I going to put money into something that might not bring anything back, or am I going to pay for my kids’ school fees? That was the crossroads.
“If you were to ask me to show you what I benefitted from this 20 year effort, I’d be hard-pressed to show you,” said ProVerb.
Hailing from Kimberly, the media personality also shared that he had to drop out of his studies at Wits Tech and at an institution in Midrand because he was building a name for himself as a rapper.
“It’s indicative of how desperately I really wanted this dream that I was willing to sacrifice anything. As soon as they put me on a bus to Johannesburg, my first thought was, ‘finally, I can achieve this thing’,” he said.
In recent years, he has channeled that same drive into other areas of his life, including his work in radio and television, as well as his writing.
He has published two books, one with the same title as his debut project, The Book of ProVerb and To Health With It, and has continued his studies, completing both a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) and a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Also see: Proverb celebrates 20 years of his album ‘The Book of Proverbs’