Exploring the musical endeavors taken up by iconic South African football figures during the colourful 1990s and early 2000s.
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The story
The worlds of football and music have combined in recent years, with Youngsta CPT featuring Lyle Lakay in his "Benni McCarthy" video, Relebohile Mofokeng and Ronwen Williams joining Focalistic on the "Pressure" video, as well as Thembinkosi Lorch having a DJ Maphorisa and Kabza De Small song dedicated to him... The relationship between the two industries are symbiotic.
In the 90's and early 2000's — we saw three iconic moments of SA footballers crossing over to the music industry, namely Doctor Khumalo, Benni McCarthy and Steve Lekoelea.
Doctor Khumalo joined his friend, the late radio personality, DJ and musician Bob Mabena for the early 90's hit, "Get Funky," a remake of the Positive Force's "We've Got The Funk."
Khumalo, years ago to the Mail Guardian, revealed that he was coerced into making the song after initially not taking Mabena and Mdu Masilela (co-producer) seriously when they approached him with the idea of making the song.
It was the Chiefs legend's first and last venture into the music game, with the song also earning a South African Music Award nomination!
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In 1998, to celebrate Bafana Bafana qualifying for the FIFA World Cup in France, Benni McCarthy and TKZee got together to produce one of the most iconic Kwaito tunes, "Shibobo [The Final Countdown]"
The song samples "The Final Countdown" by a Swedish band, Europe, and it was made to be a theme song for Bafana's first World Cup appearance.
Benni McCarthy offered a truly memorable, bilingual verse, at 17-years-old at the time, and the legendary striker was one of South Africa's brightest prospects at the time.
Benni joined the TKZee crew in the football-themed music video for the track, which stood the test of time and is well remembered as a positive moment in SA pop culture.
It was the turn of former Orlando Pirates midfield maestro, Steve Lekoelea to make his mark on Mzansi's pop culture, by collaborating with Mzambiya for "Jezi Number 10."
Mzambiya was kwaito's golden child at the time and with "Chippa" becoming a household name in the black and white of Orlando Pirates, the collab was a match made in heaven.
Lekoelea wearing the iconic number 10 at Pirates inspired the tune, with Chippa, like Doctor Khumalo, making his first and last foray into music with a smash hit.
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