He collapsed on stage. An investigation has been opened following the death in the middle of a concert of Costa Titch, a figure in the rap scene in South Africa, police told AFP on Sunday.
The 27-year-old artist “collapsed while performing in concert” on Saturday evening in the suburbs of Johannesburg, police said. The cause of death has not yet been established, an autopsy is scheduled.
The death of Costa Tsobanoglou, his real name, comes a month following the assassination of another popular rapper in South Africa, Kiernan Forbes or AKA. The latter had been shot by two men at the exit of a restaurant in Durban (south-east). The case is still ongoing.
“A great talent gone too soon”
Costa Titch was known for his amapiano title “Big Flexa”, which recorded 45 million views on Youtube. He recently released a remix with American-Senegalese rapper and producer Akon. Derived from house, the amapiano was born in the townships of South Africa before enjoying worldwide success in recent years.
On videos of the Saturday evening concert widely shared on social networks, the white rapper, microphone in hand, collapses for the first time, seeming to make a simple fall. He continues to sing but once once more collapses further upstage, with the artists performing with him then rushing to pick him up.
A flood of tributes flooded social media on Sunday. “A great talent gone too soon,” tweeted South African rapper Da LES Leader of the radical left-wing EFF (Economic Freedom Fighters) party Julius Malema posted a broken heart with the name Costa Titch. The music rights society in southern Africa said it was “saddened”.
