The South African entertainment industry and hip hop scene have once again lost a young creative this year. Rapper Itumeleng George Tlali popularly known to many hip hop heads as Tumi Tladi sadly passed away at 30 years old on Sunday. His untimely death has since taken Mzansi by shock.
The family of the multipotentialite rapper, singer, songwriter and producer, videographer and dancer confirmed his death in an official statement on Sunday. They described him as a “creative and energetic” young man who had a right future ahead of him.
“Son, brother and uncle, Tumi Tladi (30), sadly passed away in the early hours of this morning (10 July 2020) in Johannesburg. He leaves behind his parents, five siblings, his niece and nephews,” reads the statement.
The statement continued, "Known by his stage name Tumi Tladi, he was deeply loved by his family, friends and the entertainment industry as a whole.”
The Tladi family has since requested privacy and prayers from the public during this grieving period for the death of their loved one and in preparation for the funeral.
Who Is Tumi?
Tumi’s music career started in 2015 after he had become famous as a choreographer. In 2015 he released his debut single, Punchline 2015.
He then made his big break in the global entertainment industry in 2012 when he shot a music video for American stars Willow and Jaden Smith as a dancer in Los Angeles.
He’s since gone on to share big stages with entertainment heavyweight and rapper Cassper Nyovest as one of his dancers.
While he’s released several other tracks, he became popular for his hit song Basadi and most recently for his single with Nadia Nakai titled Presidential.
In 2020 Tumi released his six-track EP titled Excuse Me For Being Me.
Some of his recent songs include Dumelang, Strong Enough featuring Tyler ICU, Basadi featuring Rouge and Moozlie as well as Presidential with Nadia Nakai and Mustbedubz.
The son of legendary South African promoter and concert impresario Peter Tladi, Tumi has choreographed for Cassper Nyovest and danced his way to the top from the age of 11 years old.
He trained as a dancer at Danceweb and in 2012, he travelled to Los Angeles, USA, and stole the show doing a music video for Hollywood actor and singer Will Smith and actress Jada Pinkett Smith’s children Willow and Jaden.
Since his passing, Twitter has been flooding with messages from fans and industry mates about the kind of person the rapper was. His star power was beginning to finally pick up and he was well on his way to stardom.
Music producer and DJ Zan D, rapper AKA, rapper and producer JR and hip hop culture socialite Nkanyezi Kubheka were some of the popular names that took to their Twitter timelines to share their loss and heartbreak.
“We had so many plans but I guess the higher power had different plans for you. Tumi Tladi was such a genuine bro. The lights were already on him. Things were moving for him. He was ready to own those stages,” tweeted Zan D.
RIP to the young King, Tumi Tladi. 🙏🏾 Death be not proud.
AKA also shared, “Rest in Peace my boy,” and JR, “RIP to the young king Tumi Tladi. Death be not proud,” while Nkanyezi wrote, “I was talking to Tumi Tladi just yesterday. I am so hurt, can’t believe this is happening.”
