Not many people can say they’ve shared a stage with some of the continent’s biggest and most distinguished musical acts. To the greater population, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Black Coffee, Cassper Nyovest and Nasty C is really nothing more than a sweet, sweet fantasy. While we fantasise about these African greats and their musical prowess, one young man is living out his childhood dream of pursuing a career in music. This young man is Sindiso Moyo, professionally known as Jaycee Rapaddict. The name certainly speaks for itself – Rapaddict (rap addict) demonstrates his relentless commitment to rap music as a hip-hop aficionado.
Jaycee Rapaddict was born and bred in Filabusi, in Matabeleland South province of Zimbabwe, a town affectionately known as koGodlwayo. In 2003, 13-year-old Jaycee Rapaddict moved down south to neighbouring South Africa for school and to be close to his father. Keeping in touch with his paternal side of the family is something he needed to do at the time. However, while he was filled with the excitement of relocating to a land of opportunity, little did he know that a year later, his life would change drastically. A year after moving to South Africa, a young Jaycee lost his mother. The tragedy of losing a parent at a tender age undoubtedly took its toll on him. While it was a difficult period in his life, Jaycee Rapaddict turned to poetry as a form of expressing himself and as a source of healing. Amid grief, Jaycee discovered his passion for storytelling through music; “From an early age, I had an interest in poetry. After the passing on of my mother in 2004, I started writing songs and I gradually fell in love with hip hop, which sparked my desire to make music and perfect my craft”.
The spark grew into a flame and in pursuit of his dreams, Jaycee Rapaddict soon realised that he had his work cut out for him. He amusingly reflects on the slip-ups he made early on, “I used to make a lot of mistakes when I first got into the studio to record music. I am grateful for that learning curve as it helped me to improve on my style and approach”. Over the years, he honed his rap skills and in 2014, he released his debut album, which introduced him to the industry, giving him a significant amount of recognition. At this time, he hustled through distributing free CDs to anyone and everyone.
His passion for music saw him connecting with fellow musicians and in 2016, he formed a group with three other aspiring artists, one of them being Leon Lee, a vocalist known for lending his voice on DJ Obza’s hit, Mang’dakiwe. The quartet named themselves Jika Boys and in order to get closer to the heart of the city of Gold, the four moved from Soshanguve to Midrand. While there, Jaycee continued to pursue a solo career and released his masterpiece, Push, which catapulted him to popularity within Pretoria. It was while he was performing the hit track at a Dr. Malinga show that he was noticed by late Kwaito star, Mjokes (who was also a member of the legendary Kwaito outfit, Trompies). “That day is one to remember! At the last minute, Dr. Malinga put me on stage to perform as he had suffered an injury which made it hard for him to get on stage. I performed Push because it was trending at the time in Pretoria and the crowd went wild. I had no idea that Mjokes was there. He was impressed by my performance and afterwards, he organised a meeting at Kalawa Jazmee for the following day”. Kalawa Jazmee is one of the biggest recording labels in South Africa, co-founded by Oskido. The meeting was fruitful as it landed Jaycee and his crew members, Jika Boys a recording deal. Just like that, Jaycee Rapaddict was a Kalawa Jazmee recording artist! “Signing with Kalawa helped me to achieve a lot. Together with Jika Boys, I had many TV appearances, I mingled with celebrities and interacted with record label owners.”
Unfortunately, the glory was short-lived, barely a year into the 5-year recording deal, Jaycee had to leave the label and forfeit his deal. Recounting the painful experience, Jaycee sadly shares how his time at Kalawa Jazmee ended abruptly. “As Jika Boys, we began to have squabbles and disagreements and due to these issues as a group, we had to part ways. It is sad that we had to walk away from a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. This definitely was a bit of a setback in my career”.
Nonetheless, true to his moniker, Jaycee is a rap addict and has continued to relentlessly ‘push ipassion’. As an independent artist, he continues to make music and experiment with different sounds. His latest album Indlamuva is doing well and features an amapiano gospel song, Uhamba Nami, which gives glory to the Almighty even in trying times. Speaking of his experience since turning independent, Jaycee Rapaddict has no regrets. “Personally, I have found being an independent artist, works for me. I do not owe anyone my craft and I am not under any pressure to change my style to please anyone else. Yes, there are challenges here and there, but I am making it work”.
Excitingly, Jaycee Rapaddict has two music awards under his belt. For two years successively, Jaycee Rapaddict has won Best Hip Hop at the Amaqhawanentaba FM Music Awards in 2021 and 2022, which is a testament to his dedication and talent.
Locally, he has collaborated with Madlela Skhobokhobo and Mfana kaJobe; while in South Africa he has made music magic with DJ Callme, Svilla, Manny Yack and Miss Pru DJ just to name a few. He looks forward to working with Jah Prayzah and has plans to incorporate Amapiano movers and shakers, andAmaroto on his next project. His next project will be an album titled, Isicelo which fans should be on the lookout for.
