A rap duo from North West is steadily making a name for itself.

Ofentse Motshegare and Gabo Motshepa, who go with the stage name Lore & Ofentic, are not your typical rappers. While most rappers are known, and to a large extent bask in the infamy of their criminal past, the duo from Mogwase, near Rustenburg, are the opposite.

They are bookworms with tertiary qualifications. Motshegare received his degree in chemical engineering last week while Motshepa has a certificate in events management. They are smart enough to realise that music might not, in the long run, pay the bills.

"I don't go around telling people that I am a university graduate. I never lead with it. But I thought I should study, and the degree is more of a plan B in case the music stuff doesn't go well," Motshegare says.

"We make most of our money from live shows. We are obviously not yet at a stage where we'll attract 50000 people, so we are being realistic, so we normally charge promoters at least R6000," he says.

On how they first met, Motshegare says their relationship got off to a rocky start. "I used to watch him rap and I would tell people that I wanted to rap as good as him. When I first rapped for him, he said I was wack and told me to improve, now we are working together."

Motshepa admits that initially he was not impressed by Motshegare. "I told him to practise, and a few years later we ended up working together. We decided to work together because we realised that we were stronger working together than as individuals," he adds.

The two say their ultimate dream is to work with Motswako star HHP. "In fact, we'd like to work with all the rappers in North West. I guarantee that soon, we'll be known everywhere," Motshepa says.