Being an Upcoming Artist is a Challenge For Schecki
Formally I am known as Oatametse Kebonye, I was born on February 05, 1997 and was raised in Palapye by my grandmother. I am the only child from my mother who passed away when I was about three years old due to an unknown cause. I grew up like any other child, I have never allowed myself or anyone to define me in any different way because as we know, when you are an orphan there is a certain way people around you would want to treat you, mostly with pity, so I never allowed that. I knew that being an orphan didn’t mean that I was handicapped or limited to some extent, which is why I feel like I played a vital role in moulding myself to become the person I am today. That is a musician, a digital artist, a father and a graduate with Bachelor’s Degree in Community Development.
I have six years in this industry, I started exploring my musical talent back in 2012 while I was in Junior School and decided to go professional in 2015 because I felt like I was ready to share my gift with everyone. Being an upcoming rapper in Botswana has been quite a challenge for me really. Batswana are less receptive of artists as opposed to other countries like South Africa or the USA. Most of us upcoming youngsters have been on the edge of success, but the support still lacked which is why even up to today renounced artists such as Vee and others still triumph over us. Not that we are all less talented, but because the people we are trying to entertain and inspire with our music are less receptive of us. It is why even to this day I am still struggling with finding stability, but I am praying and looking forward to a more stable music career in future.
Nonetheless, I have a handful of people who started supporting me ever since I started my music journey and I’m proud to say that over the years I have gained more supporters through social media who are always looking forward to my work and always there to help me push forth as an artist. Their loyalty is real and truly overwhelming and I can never thank them enough. I am not certain of weather I have an audience outside the borders but I have made contacts at Lesotho when I went there for my graduation. They are supportive in terms of sharing my music with others that side. I had actually planned a joint project with one artist at Lesotho by the name of AtomicWolf, which got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic but with hope, we will resume our plan and start working.
The pandemic has disrupted a lot of my projects, in September last year I released an Official Demo Complication titled FROM PALAPYE WITH A DREAM. Things didn’t go as planned and I feel it’s because my timing wasn’t an ideal as people were more concerned about the Covid-19 and the political atmosphere of the nation. However Im planning a re-drop of the project soon.
Most of the time when I write a song, I actually write to myself. I talk to myself, guide myself and inspire myself. It has worked for me because I rap about real and relatable issues. I find true inspiration in myself and send positive vibes through music.
I am into working with upcoming artists like myself. I have worked with Noello and looking forward to work with more renounced artists. My biggest challenge is that the fact that I had to relocate from Gabs to Palapye after i finished school has made my work difficult as there are limited resources required for production in Palapye. But in a bid to tackle it, I recently acquired a home studio which allows me to record from my station and email my projects to producers in Gaborone.
I am currently working on visuals for my music. I am also preparing to drop a brand new single titled Pure Intentions, an exciting and religious project which I worked on with my all-time beat maker Uniq-Thus and sound engineer AxeOnTheBeat from 205 Affiliated Entertainment Studio in Gaborone.
Duncan Sebeso 
Administrator