TV presenter and actress, Boity speaks to Helen Herimbi about pivoting to her passion: rapping
Boity is busy. On the day that we catch up, she had caught the worm when she exclusively premiered her debut song on Metro FM’s Fresh Breakfast before people clock in for work. Then she was wrapped up in a meeting that slightly cut into our talk time. But all of this is expected.
After all, the TV presenter and actress is embarking on a new journey in her career. On Friday, Boity’s first rap official rap song, called Wuz Dat featuring Nasty C, was released to all digital music stores.
“Now that I have gotten the response (from premiering it on Metro), I feel a lot better,” she told me. “At this point, it’s not about being on top of the charts. The initial foundation of this is: this is something I have been wanting to do for so long so I wasn’t thinking that I’m starting from scratch, I was just thinking: ‘oh my gosh, I get to do this!’ I don’t take it for granted.”
In June 2017, Boity left etv’s weekly music show, Club 808, and for the finale, she brought on Nasty C to perform her own remix of the award-winning rapper’s Juice Back. That performance prompted Nasty C to encourage Boity to take rapping seriously and a few weeks later, she called to take him up on an offer to work with her.
Five months and three songs later, Boity was the surprise performer on Nasty C’s set at the Joburg leg of the Migos Culture Tour. She performed a verse from a song called Half in front of thousands of people.
“The thing that made me call Nasty back is: even though I thought he was joking, what he said stayed with me,” she recalls. “He was just like: ‘you’ve got something and I need you to believe in yourself and try it out.’ I called him and I’m so happy I did.”
It seems Boity took the advice to heart because she sounds like she believes in herself on Wuz Dat – which is pronounced “what’s that.” Her signature raspy voice gives her a nonchalant swag that glides on the beat as she talks about the foreign cars in her garage, the SMSs she receives from her bank and how she doesn’t see competition.
I would be remiss to talk about Boity’s new journey without acknowledging the criticism the likes of TV presenter-turned-rapper, Nomuzi “Moozlie” Mabena endured in order for other entertainers to pivot or transition a lot easier. Especially because patriarchy is rife in rap music, Boity, like Moozlie has in the past, will initially have to field questions about whether they write their own rhymes or not.
“The beauty of working with Nasty is he is a musical genius,” Boity says. “Obviously I’m not going to claim to know how to write rap. There is a difference between knowing and believing you can flow and deliver but I saw that it was completely different when I was trying to write.”
“So I would write something and he would take the idea and say: ‘rather put it this way and say it like this because (otherwise) it wouldn’t make sense for your flow.’ So I appreciate him for that because he wasn’t like don’t even try writing.”
Boity has a few tracks recorded already but she wants to steer clear from promises and pressures of releasing a body of work any time soon. “I feel like I’m expected to be absolutely-insanely-magnificent, blow-our-minds, Tupac-must-rise-from-the-dead incredible,” she laughs.
“I have never claimed to be the best rapper ever. People shouldn’t ask if there’s an album coming. I’m getting into this because it’s something that’s been so dear to my heart and I’m taking advantage of the opportunity that God and the Universe and my team has given me.”