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‘We don’t know when to stop competing and start building’ - Slikour

Siyabonga Slikour Metane
Siyabonga Slikour Metane
Image: Emmanuel Tjiya

Rap group Skwatta Kamp member and businessman Siyabonga "Slikour" Metane had a few words of wisdom to share with industry peers at the memorial service of Linda "Pro" Mkhize at the Newtown Music Factory in Johannesburg on Thursday.

Slikour did not mince his words, calling on black creatives to invest in themselves. “Our problem is that we don’t know when to stop competing and start building”, he said. “We’re too worried about shifting the culture when we should be shifting our behaviour.”

He said the problem was bigger than the question of why black artists were dying poor. “The question is not why artists are dying broke, the question is why black businesses struggle the most when it is black people who consume the most,” Slikour added, noting it is time to teach young people to shift their behaviour. 

“We’ve got to teach actors and musicians that making money from music doesn’t mean that you understand business or that you are in business. Having distribution, manufacturing, warehouses… that is business. The little we have is enough to change the paradigm.”

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