Family of rapper Costa Titch confirm he has died aged 28

12 March 2023 - 10:26
By TshisaLIVE
Costa Titch has died.
Image: SUPPLIED Costa Titch has died.

Rapper Costa Titch has died, his family confirmed to TshisaLIVE.

The 28-year-old rapper collapsed while performing at the Ultra Music Festival at the Expo Centre in Johannesburg on Saturday night.

In a statement sent to TshisaLIVE, the rapper's family expressed their devastation.

“We are thankful for the emergency responders and all those present in his last hours on earth. As a family we are faced with a difficult time as we try to make sense of what has befallen us and we ask that we be afforded the time and space to gather ourselves,” the statement read.

Read the statement below:

Costa Titch, whose real name was Costa Tsobanoglou, hailed from Mbombela in Mpumalanga and had been in the entertainment industry for a few years as a dancer, but recently branched out into rap.

His style of rap, aesthetic and language of choice made him the talk of the town when he broke into the industry.

Costa rapped in English and the Pretoria dialect s'Pitori, and could dance better than most people when it came to moves created for amapiano beats and songs.

His iTunes bio described Costa's music as a “dance-friendly iteration of hip-hop that taps into South Africa’s rich cultural landscape with deft flow in isiZulu, Sesotho, English and Afrikaans”.

He was accused of cultural appropriation by other people but that didn't stop his shine.

Earlier this year, he received a major co-sign from Senegalese-American musician Akon, who praised him and predicted he would be “a game changer”.

Later, Costa announced he had signed a global deal with Akon’s record label, Konvict Kulture, and they would be teaming up for the Big Flexa remix. They even performed together at this year's Cotton Fest.

Tributes  have started streaming in for the young talent: