WATCH | Exclusive #BTS footage of Oskido & Thandiswa Mazwai at work

Kalawa Jazzmee record label owner and DJ Oscar Mdlongwa, popularly known as Oskido has been in the entertainment industry for many years and though he's earned his stripes, he intends to continue producing music as it's his first love.

His latest contribution with singer Thandiswa Mazwai, Ayazizela, featuring Ntsika, is a song he did during the lockdown and is testament to how he's able to evolve and maintain relevance within the music industry.

“I'm not doing music because I want to seem fashionable, music is my life that's why I'm still in the space. I'm going to be in this space until God decides to say, 'Come home' ... I live and breathe music 24 hours a day. Music is my life therefore I will continue doing it.” he tells TshisaLIVE.

While Oskido is adamant he will never retire from the music space, he's expanded his career beyond the limelight by venturing into real estate and launching his restaurant, Daruma, at Waterfall too.

“In any business, it's very important for you to diversify ... so that you don't put your eggs in one basket,” he says.

In early February, Oskido revealed he had enrolled at the University of Pretoria to study project management with the intention of better managing his goals and career.

“I like challenging myself. The idea came when I was doing a 21-day fast with my daughter when I said I wouldn't eat meat for 21 days. I thought it was going to be impossible and I managed to do it. After that, we thought of the next challenge,

“It's cool for us to educate ourselves, the world right now is open for anyone to learn anything, there's so much information that is accessible for us, even if you've got basic education, the world has become one village. If you want anything, you go on the internet, you find it.”

Oskido says he'd love to leave a legacy in the world and is still contemplating whether to release a biopic or book to document his journey and when to do it. 

While he focuses on his businesses and studies, in the online space Oskido is known as the 'TikTok Dad' and has grown his numbers rapidly in a short space of time thanks to his 12-year-old daughter Naledi who manages the pages for him.

“When I started people were trying to say that TikTok is for children and that stuff ... but I started ignoring that and focused on my inner core and what I wanted to do. If I'm having fun with my children and this platform there isn't a lot of negativity ... I need to spend time with my inner circle, so I get to know who my children are.”

Fatherhood has become the core of his life Oskido says, finding different ways to create memories with his family and it has helped him suss out the more meaningful things in his life and shut out the outside noise.

“Covid-19 helped me a lot because I started spending a lot of time with my children at home and I realised it's very important because we end up not spending time with our children and focusing on the outer circle ... people that don't matter much in life so I realised for me, the more I spend time with my children.

“I've told myself that it's better if I focus on my inner circle and my inner self. Whatever the outside people are saying doesn't matter to me, it won't change who I am, and once I start consuming what they are saying and putting it in my thoughts or my subconscious, in my mind I just watch it and let it pass.”

LISTEN TO THE FULL INTERVIEW BELOW:

It hasn't been easy though, Oskido admits at one time he didn't find it easy to ignore the negativity on social media.

“Long back it used to affect me mentally, but for a thing that you don't have control of, you must just look. [Now] I meditate when I wake up in the morning, read things that give me positivity. I don't follow a lot of what's happening in the news and on social media.”

Speaking on mental health and the pressures that come with being in the entertainment industry, Oskido says while he has found his rhythm to deal with it, shedding light on the conversation at a young age could help a lot of people.

“We must start practising positivity ... Mental health is a big issue so I think first, it needs to be taught in schools, cause we've always ignored it ... if it's taught at school open how people can handle pressures on different things, especially now with social media.”

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