Music

BET Award-winner Sjava's new-found success has been a long time coming

25 June 2018 - 10:00 By PEARL BOSHOMANE TSOTETSI
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Host Terrence J (left) presents Sjava with the Viewers' Choice: Best International Act Award at the 2018 BET Awards on June 24 2018 in Los Angeles.
Host Terrence J (left) presents Sjava with the Viewers' Choice: Best International Act Award at the 2018 BET Awards on June 24 2018 in Los Angeles.
Image: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for BET

It took South African artist Sjava (real name Jabulani Hadebe) 25 hours to get from Johannesburg to Los Angeles to attend the 2018 Black Entertainment Television (BET) Awards.

But the long journey to California was well worth it: the KwaZulu-Natal-born musician won the prestigious Viewers' Choice: Best International Act Award.

It's been a big year for the 34-year-old, who was one of three South African artists to feature on the Black Panther film soundtrack, released in February. Curated by American rap superstar and Pulitzer prize winner Kendrick Lamar, the album also features appearances by Babes Wodumo and Johannesburg-based rapper Yugen Blakrok.

About being approached for the soundtrack, Sjava said: "Kendrick loved how I stayed true to the culture and how I represent where I come from. If I was making the music they have in America, I don't think he was going to reach out. I have something that they don't have."

WATCH | Sjava accepts his BET Award in LA

Musician Sjava made South Africans proud when he won the Viewers' Choice: Best International Act Award at the 2018 BET Awards on June 24 2018 in Los Angeles.

Sjava, who has a new EP coming out this week (his debut album, Isina Muva, was released in 2016 and went on to reach gold), said that while he might seem like an overnight sensation, his new-found success had been a long time coming - he's been making music for 16 years.

DID YOU KNOW?

Sjava was also once an actor and had a recurring role as Zonke on SABC 1’s 'Zone 14'.

About "making it" in his 30s, he told the Sunday Times: "Sometimes I thank God it took time because [the music] was not going to be this mature, I was not going to have these stories that I'm talking about, I was not going to have my life as a testimony. I've looked at [the struggle to make it] in a positive way. It's like going to university - you have assignments, you fail some, you pass some, you'll have fees problems. It will be a long course."

Sjava is especially proud that he's become successful on his own terms, by staying true to himself.

The BET Awards will be shown on BET (DStv channel 129) on Tuesday at 8pm.

• This article is adapted from one originally published in the Sunday Times. Read the original article here.


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