ONE look at Tumi Tladi, and one can tell he's a dancer. The MC Hammer pants he's wearing are a dead giveaway.
Settling for our chat Tladi makes it clear he's moving on. While he has gained some fame as a hip hop dancer, he is charting new territories in music.
All that the 22-year-old dreams about these days is being known as a rapper. There will be no name changes as he pursues this wish, he says.
"To be honest I actually wanted to be a musician first because I fell in love with both dance and music at a young age.
"But with music, I didn't have a mentor so that's why I decided to try out dancing."
A certain Craig Bullock became his tutor, which helped propel him into the finals of the International Dance Organisation (IDO) Hip-Hop Street Dancing Championships when he was just 14.
"The IDO gave me the opportunity to travel a lot as a contestant and later as a judge. I went to places like Poland and Ireland and just saw the world."
He spent some time in the US and featured as a dancer in the music video of Willow and Jaden Smith's hit song Find You Someone - directed by their parents Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Tladi is the son of renowned businessman and jazz promoter Peter Tladi, the man behind the annual Joy of Jazz festival.
"Since I was eight years old, he wanted me to be a lawyer.
"But when he saw the achievements I was getting with dance he started to take me seriously.
"It helped that I was making my own money from dancing as a kid, so I never bothered him with pocket money. I bought my first car from dancing," says Tladi.
His music is inspired by the likes of Chris Brown, Kid Ink and rap duo Rae Sremmurd of No Flex Zone fame.
"For now I'm making 'turn up' music, and making people dance. That's what we want to do because it doesn't make sense for me to make deep songs.
"I want you to pump my song in your car when you want to feel good," he says.
His first single is titled Punchline, and the music video is due to be released next week. He isn't in a rush to release an album yet, even though he admits to having 15 beats waiting for him to rap on.
"The problem with dance in South Africa is that dancers are treated like props, and me being a musician, I consider myself the voice of dance," says Tladi.
tiwaneb@timesmedia.co.za
Tladi dances to his own tune
ONE look at Tumi Tladi, and one can tell he's a dancer. The MC Hammer pants he's wearing are a dead giveaway.
Settling for our chat Tladi makes it clear he's moving on. While he has gained some fame as a hip hop dancer, he is charting new territories in music.
All that the 22-year-old dreams about these days is being known as a rapper. There will be no name changes as he pursues this wish, he says.
"To be honest I actually wanted to be a musician first because I fell in love with both dance and music at a young age.
"But with music, I didn't have a mentor so that's why I decided to try out dancing."
A certain Craig Bullock became his tutor, which helped propel him into the finals of the International Dance Organisation (IDO) Hip-Hop Street Dancing Championships when he was just 14.
"The IDO gave me the opportunity to travel a lot as a contestant and later as a judge. I went to places like Poland and Ireland and just saw the world."
He spent some time in the US and featured as a dancer in the music video of Willow and Jaden Smith's hit song Find You Someone - directed by their parents Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith.
Tladi is the son of renowned businessman and jazz promoter Peter Tladi, the man behind the annual Joy of Jazz festival.
"Since I was eight years old, he wanted me to be a lawyer.
"But when he saw the achievements I was getting with dance he started to take me seriously.
"It helped that I was making my own money from dancing as a kid, so I never bothered him with pocket money. I bought my first car from dancing," says Tladi.
His music is inspired by the likes of Chris Brown, Kid Ink and rap duo Rae Sremmurd of No Flex Zone fame.
"For now I'm making 'turn up' music, and making people dance. That's what we want to do because it doesn't make sense for me to make deep songs.
"I want you to pump my song in your car when you want to feel good," he says.
His first single is titled Punchline, and the music video is due to be released next week. He isn't in a rush to release an album yet, even though he admits to having 15 beats waiting for him to rap on.
"The problem with dance in South Africa is that dancers are treated like props, and me being a musician, I consider myself the voice of dance," says Tladi.
tiwaneb@timesmedia.co.za
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