Five @ Five: with Thando Simelane

By: Tandaza Simama

When Thando Simelane dropped the visuals of yet another banger , Rude Boy featuring Khumo Pulumosa and produced by North The Gap , after Egoli , it was safe to conclude that he is indeed one of the hottest on the block and always has been . Described as “an enthusiastic artist with an entrepreneurial approach” , Thando is a designer, rapper and song writer who through his work brings the outside in on the ups and downs of a Joburg Hustler.

We collected questions from our social media followers and friends and selected five that we believe will give us more insight on what roams in Thando Simelane’s world.

Can you describe the journey of CTee to Mr Ubucwebe to Thando Simelane, that looks like it should be backwards, what be the story?

Shuuuuuu this question is beautiful and hard but here we go. So Ctee comes from the name Crazy. My brother was named Crazy by his friends, when he went to prison they named me after him, I started rapping so I added the “Tee” as the first letter of my name, cool. So anyone with a name like Thabo, Thabang can also call themselves CrazyTee so I shortened it to CTEE dopeboy , it was cool for high school before I turned 21 but I realized I’ve never sold drugs so why dopeboy so I changed the whole thing and plus more people started adding dopeboy to there names and as you have noticed I don’t like sharing names. Ubucwebe is a brand I started and people started calling me Mr Ubucwebe. The brand was there as I was changing my name from Ctee to my real name. Since I wanted to change my name I spent months tryna find a name that didn’t sound gimmicky, in those months I started accepting my real name cause for the longest time I never liked it, I thought it was too girly cause every school I went to I’d find a female Thando. So I just decided one-day Thando Simelane is my AKA now lol

What happened to Ubucwebe?

Ubucwebe is dead , I outgrow it and it limited me to African design or accessories only and I fell in love with other things as I grow. For about a year I’ve been secretly working on a new brand that is open to my growth and as a marketing and advertising student branding is important to me and as an older brother to my sister leaving a legacy is important too. Also, I think leaving a legacy for my sister is key.

How would you best describe yourself with three artists?

I can’t describe myself that way it would limit me to those 3 people but I follow artists like Ian Connor, Scoop Makhathini (believe it or not ), Virgil, Drake, 2pac, Mawillies, Magau, Alaska. Damn the list can go on forever, 3 is a limiting number. Ever heard of the infinite sign ? hahaha

How do you feel about South Africa’s creatives industry?

The industry is at a good place, the pandemic might shake it a bit. Creatively we good but in the business side of the industry there is a lot of improvement to be done, people can’t be paid with sneakers (at least that’s what I’ve heard, never experienced it ever) but I’m into the business side of it more than anything. I believe humans are naturally creative otherwise we would have still been living in caves if we were not.