PICTURE: INSTAGRAM/ CASSPER NYOVEST
Multi-award-winning rapper Refiloe Maele Phoolo, popularly known as Cassper Nyovest, recently took to his socials to honour the memory of the late Victor Bogopane who was famous as Doc Shebeleza.
This is after Doc’s untimely death after suffering a long illness. Cassper is known to compose songs about those he looks up to, such as Tito Mboweni, Hlengiwe, Bonginkosi (Zola), and Doc Shebeleza.
After Doc Shebeleza’s death was announced on Instagram, Cassper commented on how Doc changed his life and said, “RIP to a true legend. A great wise man. Changed my life forever. Not only did he change my life, but he poured a lot of wisdom into it. Thank you grootman.” In a follow-up comment, he said: “Eish, life is mad short.”
Doc will be remembered for his trailblazing influence in the Kwaito genre. His music has influenced and inspired generations of artists with his storytelling flare and cultural authenticity.
Another artist who was influenced by his music is Thato Lloyd Madonsela popular as L’Tido. The Hip Hop artist also took to his X (formerly Twitter) page to pay homage to the legend and remembered when he sampled one of Doc’s hits Ghets Ghetsa for his song Steve Kekana, and Doc sampled the song for him without a charge.
RIP Doc shebeleza 🙏🏽🕊️ he was a real Grootman. In 2014 I sampled gets getsa for my song Steve Kekana . He cleared the sample for me, without taking a percentage or charging me . That’s unheard off in the music industry! Condolences to his family pic.twitter.com/2S8SplUL2P
— 16V (@L_Tido) January 9, 2025
Also see: Doc Shebeleza has died | Bona Magazine
