Costa Titch went from being a SoundCloud rapper to one of the country’s biggest stars in just a few years. He’s done a joint album with AKA and has one of the most popular music videos of the last few years on ‘Big Flexa’. Akon, who was brought out by Costa at Cotton Fest, inaugurated the Mpumalanga-born rapper into his Konvict Muzik imprint. Big moves!
Costa’s rise has been nothing short of amazing, and here are five things to learn from it.
Stay in your lane
In order to grow in this business you need to create your own path and many artists do that but as soon as they get successful they forget their purpose getting lost in the source. Costa Titch hasn’t been seen riding everyone’s waves. Instead he has brought people into his world i.e. in sound and visually. His biggest hit, ‘Big Flexa’, has no famous guest appearances and only his signature choreography and visual aesthetic which he has come to be known for.
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Don’t lean on your co-signs
Costa Titch’s career was heavily boosted by AKA and Riky Rick, specifically when they jumped on the remix for his breakout hit ’Nkalakatha’ in 2020. Costa didn’t stay in one place; he made sure to leverage that hype and build on his career. Even after a full album with AKA, Costa kept it moving and just did his thing. Collaborating on an album with an artist like AKA is a huge feat for any artist but Costa did the promo and content run and moved on to the next.
Be intentional with your branding
Costa Titch has remained consistent with his branding; he incorporated the colour green in his aesthetic, and used dance to position himself through choreographed videos that tap into an urban culture that’s inspired by dance battles. The effort to coordinate and organise a team of dancers and keep it a staple on the visuals require an intentional effort and this has worked incredibly to differentiate him in the rest of Africa.
Block out the negativity
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Costa Titch is polarising; some peeps feel he’s appropriating black culture while others feel Costa has every right to identify with black people because of his upbringing. Artists being criticised for their music is already leading many to depression but to be criticised for doing what you’ve been doing for most of your life with friends who never saw your race couldn’t be a major dampener.
Costa hasn’t entertained those conversations much, instead kept his head down and while the masses debated, he did the fucking work!
Tap into all your talents and package your skills into one product
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Costa Titch has used all the skills we know to build his career, he’s beatmaker, video editing, rapper, dancer, social media geek. He’s used all his skills to be independent and not need to ask anyone for anything. Repeating this again and again has led to where he is today. No skill has been wasted and, as he grows he learns more, begging the question, what’s next?
