WATCH | ‘He danced like a black boy’ — Touching moments from Costa Titch’s memorial

Dressed in black with a touch of green, friends, family members and the “Titch Gang” gathered on Saturday at Bloom in Bedfordview, Johannesburg to celebrate the life of the Big Flexa hit maker. 

Constantinos “Costa Titch” Tsobanoglou was described as someone who was kind-hearted and positive about life. 

His manager Khotso Moeti said they had a five-year plan on how Costa was going to conquer the music industry.

He recalled a chat he had with the late rapper when they first met in Randburg.

“We had a five-year plan, we did every single thing. We were three years into the plan. The only thing left was to go mess it up in the US and the Drake feature. But I believe Costa ran his race. It is very sad to be here.”

He explained how the team behind Costa Titch was formed and the success they achieved.

“We travelled together, we touched many lives. We did more than 23 countries in one year. Not a lot of people can do that. We were about to go on tour in Canada and the States. Costa was someone who didn't like commotion because we know how the industry is. They tried their best to bring us down and Costa was positive no matter what. We didn't have a lot of industry support, we did it ourselves. Big Flexa became his biggest song more than 45-million views without the industry. We just needed the Titch gang.”

Choreographer Sne Mbatha was emotional when she recalled Costa's life as a young dancer.

“Titch was about dance so much. You guys are dancing to his music. Titch left Freeze Frame and they created their own crew. From there he was dancing for Cassper Nyovest, touring with him. Titch lived dance. Titch spread the knowledge of dance. I was sad when he wanted to become an artist. I was like 'hao we are losing more dancers', but he kept saying 'nah my boy, don't worry'.”

“This guy sacrificed so much, paused dance to be an artist but a dancing artist. I need you to understand what this guy did. It was not just about rap. He did the impossible. He rapped in Zulu, Setswana, he danced like a black boy.”  

Musician Alfa Kat said Costa was tired of discrimination. 

“My boy was so confident and he instilled so much confidence in all of  us even though he was mostly underrated, mostly unflavoured. Nobody saw him coming and they never thought he would be where he is. Through all of that he would always say 'we move'. When Costa says we move, we move. Nothing was supposed to faze him. ”

He said talks have been going around that the rapper was tired. 

“Costa was hard-working , passionate, driven, focused, giving and inspirational. But that tired you are talking about, he was tired of all the hate. He was tired of the discrimination because of his ethnicity. Costa was tired of always having to work 10 times better than anyone and being treated like he was for all he did. We need to acknowledge what this boy did. If it wasn't for him we wouldn't have amapiano in Estonia, or Germany or the Netherlands.”