The opinionated Ozi F Teddy speaks out
Love him or hate him, Ted Phaphane, popularly known as Ozi F Teddy in the musical circles, is here to stay.
In an interview with The Midweek Sun this week, the 25-year-old Hip Hop star bared it all - music, fatherhood, his past relationship with fellow rapper Sasa Klaas, and beef with ATI.
The University of Botswana Media Studies graduate is often described as mean and arrogant by fellow musicians, a representation he says, is made by people who do not understand him. “I’m very outspoken, opinionated, smart and confident. I pay attention to detail,” he says. The ‘BoomShakalaka’ hitmaker is a middle child in a family of three. He is fulltime into music. His take is that if artists remain professional, doors can open for them. “Singing, if done professionally, has the ability to introduce us to corporates.
We meet people, and people are watching us,” he states, adding that he has been an ambassador and worked with Coca Cola, Mooka Mageu and Sprite. He says artists should do their job with diligence, write press releases, profiles, do good music and look good for people to respect their brands. Ozi may have rubbed fellow artists the wrong way when he once remarked that, ‘Local music is trash.’ He would later apologise.
He however admits that Hip Hop and beef go hand in hand. He is no longer friends with fellow artist, Atlasaone ‘ATI’ Molemogi, with whom he has a hit entitled ‘On my way,’ which still plays on Trace. The war between the two likeable rappers went public when ATI called him a thief on social media last year. A month later Ozi would respond in a song called ‘Ware o lekhete.’
“People didn’t expect a diss from me. In Hip Hop, when you have a beef, you put it in a song. It is nothing new,” he says, adding that in all the shows where he performed the diss track, the crowd liked it. “I deliberately say his name twice in the song. The guy has lost focus in music and is popular for wrong things like his kidnapping case,” he says.
After hearing the diss track, the ‘Ke lekhete’ hitmaker would later post on Facebook. “I will not be responding to Seopedi sa mo gae sa legodu. Ke busy thata,” This did not sit well with his fans, who felt he was chickening out. “Otla go bolaa Ozi, ntsha response rra,” commented one of the fans. “O lekhete la motia and you should be ready for this. This thing ga se diss and beef is not a fight but a game.’‘Sasa Klaas and I were raised differently’Commenting on his relationship with fellow artist Sasa Klaas, which broke their fans’ hearts when it ended, Ozi says it only looked good on paper. He says they were two different people who struggled to find a common ground. “We started off as dope. But I’m a village boy and she grew up in Gaborone and so our values differed,” he states, adding that he would never bash her in his songs.
Actually, he reveals that he is a new father to a boy named Li, who is less than a month old. The mother remains a secret, but he could only say she is his home girl and that they are family friends. “I love her. Our son just entered the equation. I’m now a lot more focused and I believe I should work harder to provide for them,” he says, adding that he is working on two albums. His inspiration is Vee Mampeezy because ‘he is self-disciplined, honest and hardworking’ and Thato Scar Matlhabaphiri for his longevity.