Lil Shane wants to bring change through his music

The Tafelsig rap artist wants to bring about change through his music.

Hoosain “Lil Shane” Abrahams, 23, recently released a new single called Ek is ‘n kullid which is about the heritage of coloured people and inspired by their daily lives.

“I'm motivating people to stand up and recognise their true identity as Khoisan people. I am speaking my truth of what I understand about what's happening to coloured people in my mother tongue and slang,” he said.

He started writing his own music at the age of 13. And when his father died of a heart attack in 2011, he started writing about his emotions and putting it to music.

He said among the issues affecting him are crime, service delivery, housing, and education to name a few.

“These problems affect all of us. We should all work together to help one another and make this system work for all but it becomes difficult when we don’t do that.

“I would like to see a better tomorrow for coloured people. I see how they struggle and how life gets hard sometimes for those at the bottom of life. Through my music I want to highlight these issues as people should be aware of the problems affecting our lives,” he said.

Ruwan Saayman, a colleague, said Hoosain was a good rapper who expressed truth in his music.

“Lil Shane’s music is about our reality in this country. I am inspired by his music as he is the light we all need in the world. We need someone sharing the real stories with us, to help fix this system and make the world a better place,” he said.

Producer Nathan “Loggy B” Cyster said he met Hoosain in the 2000s and “the rest is history’’.

“Something stood out about his character. He was respectful and had so much passion for the music. I could see the effort he put into his work. He has developed a great deal throughout the years. We are proud of him,” said Nathan.

Friend and rapper, Rameez “Otto.Dcking” Johnson said they met each other at the age of 11 and that rapping in their mother tongue had always been their way of remaining rooted in their culture.

“We danced when we were younger but we could see that wasn’t his heart, rapping was. Since then we’ve helped each other with our future plans and endeavours,” he said.

Hoosain attended Huguenot Primary School and Tafelsig High School in Tafelsig, but had to leave school to support and help his mother. He is currently employed at the Portland Butchery, he said.

“My wife, my son and my family have been supportive. My son, Yaseen Solomon, 3, keeps me going. He inspires me to do great things. He knows all the words to my song. He also started creating his own rhymes. He looks up to me, hearing him sing the words to my song, makes me want to do more,” he said.