Stogie T's incredible story as one of the pioneers of South African hip hop will be getting the silver screen treatment after the rapper confirmed his biopic is finally ready to make its debut.
Tumi Molekane, who we now know as Stogie T has been in the local rap game for the last decade and a half. The 38-year-old veteran kicked off his career in 2005/06 with the release of one of the most important albums in South African hip hop history: Music From My Good Eye and since then he has forged a formidable career one of the country's most gifted lyricists ever.
And now his story is going to be told in an eye-opening biopic for the world to see at the upcoming Cite Des Arts festival in Reunion Island. Tumi previewed his upcoming flick on social media by sharing a bit of his backstory which involved moving to South Africa as a teenager in 1992 after growing up in Tanzania, where his parents lived in exile.
He wrote about the entire biopic on Instagram where he said:
"I arrived in South Africa when I was 13 and was thrown in the middle of SOWETO and told ‘this is your family, love them’. I knew nothing but ‘foreign’ lands but everywhere I went was home because of my mother. She had fed me stories of her home and they all sounded so fantastical, mysterious. Stories of inconceivable hardship, debilitating poverty, defiant love and impenetrable complexity.
The day I wrote my first rhyme I knew I was one day going to have to tell this story. The story of Central Western Jabavu. The little four roomed home to a mother and father that fought tirelessly to keep their 8 children safe from the untenable horrors of apartheid. It is from this strength that I found the courage to write and develop an epic poem that interweaves their intricate lives."
The film is going to be directed by Cannes Lions, D&AD and SAFTA award-winning filmmaker Tebogo Malope and and will be scored by James Poyser, who is a keyboardist for the Roots.
Stogie T dedicated the upcoming biopic to his grandparents when he added:
"I hope to share this experience with you if you can make it and if you can’t say a prayer that my grandmother and grandfather may be honored by this performance."
Instagram embed
Are you looking forward to Tumi Molekane's highly anticipated biopic? What stories are you hoping to see told on the big screen?
